Tearing the Heavens
by Cepel
Summary: A young soldier from a once great family is thrust into the future and ends up in an unfamiliar and bizarre world, where his presence can cause complications both ancient and modern. He inadvertently becomes a trainer through mere misunderstanding and sets off in a journey to discover his own self and where he stands in a world that isn't his own.
1. Blazing Horrors

**Criticisms welcome. There WILL be blood, plenty of violence, and extensive potty mouths. If you dislike darkness, this may not be the story for you.**

* * *

Screams and roars echoed, their sounds clashing yet coming together to form a new wave of hell.

Among that hell a young soldier ran across the battered excuse for a battlefield. Creatures and men fell around him. The dust and dirt stung his eyes and clung to his skin like a sticky veil, leather damp and soaked from sweat and blood.

His lungs burned as he ran, men falling to arrows treated with Ariados venom, their muscles clenching as the toxin coursed through their veins. His legs felt like they would fail him, but he kept running, intent on making it to safety. His unit had been ambushed and vastly outnumbered. The army scattered in different directions as scores of arrows rained down from the sky, while arcs of flame and lightning scorched skin and charred bones on the ground.

Madness. A frenzied state of affairs. No sense could be made of this. There was only this scene, a void of muffled noise contrasting against the anguish.

The blood never seemed to stop flowing, the once brown soil was now stained a dark red. On top of it lay soldier after soldier, along with all the fallen creatures under their command.

Few of them remained, no longer in formation to fight. And so, they ran for their lives, enemies in hot pursuit. Dodging flamethrowers, lightning bolts, and hyper beams, they managed to enter a small forest. The forest was a shadow of what it once was, devastated by fire and war. It once was home to thousands of creatures and trees, which bore fruit that could cure a vast array of ailments. Now, the life it boasted was dead and ash.

Arcanine hunted them down, gaining ground rapidly on the fleeting men. Glancing back, the soldier saw his comrades and friends being engulfed in flames and bitten with fire infused fangs. Their skin sliding off their bodies like wax on a candle as fire passed over their mortal flesh. It was a horrible sight. The smell of burning bodies was grotesque and repulsive, nearly compelling him to puke.

The acid in the soldier's muscles pierced his sides like a knife, burning with every breath of air. Still, he pushed his legs to the absolute limit, zigzagging through the forest in an attempt to evade the advancing flames. He could hear the sounds of fire roaring behind him, with the cackling and crashing of trees being set ablaze and felled by searing hot flamethrowers.

No backup, no chance, no time. Their only hope of survival was to hide and pray that their hunters could not find them.

Roughly ten of them remained, seven men and three Mightyena. They were beginning to tire. All of them were. Three men clenched their sides and stopped, unable to continue due to the acidic buildup in their muscles. That was their limit. They were in death's hands now.

Glancing back, the Arcanine caught up to them and stopped, charring their bodies until nothing was left but black ash. The smell of death clung to the air , heavy and thick as they continued their hunt, burning down anything in their path.

More fell victim to the effects of fatigue and stayed behind, panting and gasping for air as they clasped a hand to their chest, accepting the embrace of death and wishing the rest a good fortune.

Their salute was unbearable to watch, a spear of guilt, regret, and sorrow engulfed the soldier's entire being, briefly contemplating the thought of death. Rest. Forever. About to give into the temptation, a hand struck his back. His closest_ living_ friend, Nemos.

"Keep…running…Riven…" He huffed out, trying to speak despite his fatigue and heavy breathing. Riven looked at his face, and knew what he was about to do.

He stopped, along with the three mightyena who ran alongside them, and beckoned Riven to go. Drawing his blades, he turned around and assumed a battle stance, intending to face the three arcanine in an attempt to stall time. For him.

"Nemos, No! They will kill you! Do not do this! We can make it out, please!" Riven cried.

Nemos was a friend, one of the only ones left at this point. He'd been there with him since he first joined up with the army when they were just children, sick and dying from hunger in a rundown town. After all the loss they sustained over ten years of struggle, he was the first and now the last. The rest had fallen long ago to the viciousness of war. But now he would die too? By the same bastards who took everyone else ten years ago too, his family included. And yet again, he was powerless to stop it.

He would ask why, but he knew exactly why things were this way. Things had been this way for thousands of year. They would continue like this for another thousand. What did it matter if they were gone? Nothing would change.

Nemos smiled weakly and said, "Riven, go. You are more important than any of us. I cherished our times together and I hoped we would be able to share many more. But my time is over, this day would come sooner or later. Now go! Your bloodline must live! You cannot die here!"

"No..." Riven reached out, attempting to limp over to him, halting when he pulled out a blade and pointed the edge at him. Steel glinted in the afternoon sun.

"GO!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. Turning back, Riven kicked the dirt with his boot and began to run again.

Nemos turned his head and watched as Riven moved away, a black blur heading further into the forest. Turning back to face the arcanine, he brandished his two blades and leapt into the flames. Gazing into the colors of the fire, he remembered the moments he lived with his friend and smiled, a single tear running down his right cheek, landing on his right blade, turning into mist as the flames glided over his body.

His eyes danced as he faced death without an ounce of fear.

* * *

Riven's feet pounded the ground ferociously, no longer running, but sprinting, fresh adrenaline coursing through his blood as he shut out pain, resolving to honor Nemos last wish. He wanted him to live, to continue on, to never give up. And to rebuild the bloodline that was nearly destroyed ten years ago. He would fight to his last breath if he had to. He wanted to live.

Approaching a cave, and no longer seeing the arcanines after him, he took refuge inside, hoping the darkness of the cavern would conceal his presence and deter the beasts from entering. The young soldier sat on the cold rocky floor, catching his breath and panting for air. Smelling the dampness of the cave with every breath, he hoped they would not find him. But he would not pray for it. Not after everything that happened to him and his friends. God would not solve anything, only watch as the world went to hell.

Just like he always did. A long, bitter laugh of irony escaped him, echoing along the cave walls.

Suddenly, a massive roar pierced the skies above and broke him out of his laughter. His heart rate jumped and an electrifying shock traveled up his spine, making the hairs stand on end at the back of his neck. That was no Arcanine. No. The sound was so powerful the earth itself rattled, and the sky seemed to crack. He could only assume that whatever was behind this was short of divine, such a roar could only belong to a being of legendary power. Or perhaps that pitiful excuse for a god finally decided to stop being useless. The ground trembled and shook as if the earth underneath him was being split in two, dust and pebbles falling from the ceiling of the cave onto the shaking ground beneath.

A sonic wave from a second roar ripped through the air and as it made contact with him, a strange feeling overcame his body, slipping into darkness moments afterwards.

Blue lights and vortexes of light enveloped the youth, who was in a deep slumber, pushing him along the currents of time. The boy drifted along the fabric of time and space, finally reaching an entrance that brimmed and radiated light. As he passed through, the chaotic plane behind him faded, giving way to the material world once again.

When he awoke, his head felt like it had been hammered into dust and built back up again, with more than a few pieces loose. There had been a roar and then…? He couldn't quite recall.

Riven lifted himself off the ground, damp and soaked to the bone by the pool of shallow water in the center. He looked around the cave, trying to see where he awoke. It seemed the same as before, although the ceiling now had noticeable pointed stalactites hanging from the ceiling. And there was a pool of murky water in the center he was currently half submerged in. That was _definitely _not there before.

_How did this water get here? There was not any before, when the arca…._

_The arcanine. I almost forgot about them. Are they still looking for me?_

Dripping, he walked towards the mouth of the cave and peered outside, the rays of the early morning sun warming his skin and bothering his eyes from the sudden flush of light. There were no signs of any commotion or disturbance, only the sound of wildlife bustling about. Riven nearly stepped out of the cave absently when apprehension and caution slid back into his brain, reminding him that again, something was wrong.

There was no forest here. He would know, after all, he was running through the damn thing when it was being turned into charcoal. For all the young soldier knew, it could be a trick. How they managed to set up a realistic looking forest in such a short time was astounding. Assuming they did, anyway.

Maybe he was already dead and someone was just playing a sadistic joke on him. Like say, life. Seemed likely.

Riven stepped out of the cave, alert and ready to engage any threats that could come after him should they be foolish enough to do so. He walked thirty feet ahead, catching a glimpse of a suspicious road that simply screamed man-made. It was beyond bizarre, seeing no blood or bodies on the floor they were littered about minutes ago, but trees and grass growing in their place. Fruit hung from their tall branches, ripe and perfect for eating.

He might have dismissed a trap back inside of the cave, but this? This had to be. Looking at those berries, his mouth nearly watered.

After carefully scouting the area and finding nothing that wanted to rip him apart, he began climbing the trees to reach the delicious fruit. Better than the usual nuts and roots the army had been surviving on, anyway. There were entire trees full of the things here, no need to be conservative when starving.

Riven plucked them _dry_.

Picking about twenty or so berries, he stuffed them inside his bag and jumped down, landing on the floor with a crunch. Pulling a fruit from the pack, he smiled and took a bite, its well rounded flavor reminding him that his taste buds still somewhat worked. Finished with the fruit, he looked for materials to build a fire, and a stream to bathe and gather clean water for some food.

After thirty minutes of work and foraging, the young man gathered sufficient wood and materials to make a fire, and enough water to make a stew. He placed the water inside of a small iron pot and set it over the decently sized fire, then adding the fruits add flavor. Meanwhile the stew was cooking, he waded into the stream and cleaned himself, ridding the body of the grime, sweat and blood that accumulated on his uniform and skin. The stream not being poisoned or fouled by something also made for a pleasant surprise. Different from what he was used to, but good. Least he smelled better than before.

Now clean, he went over to check on the stew. It was bubbling nicely and fit to eat. Grabbing the pot with his gloves, he poured some of the stew into a crude bowl and began eating. The stew was not the most delicious thing he had ever tasted but it would do for the time being.

With luck, a Stantler or a Sawsbuck would eagerly prance into his sights and become dinner. Wishful thinking there, though. Riven tugged at his quiver, optimism plummeting as he did an inventory of his things. Disappointment arose fairly quickly when he noticed that there were only three usable arrows. The other one carried a nasty toxin that could stop a man's heart in two minutes. If he ate anything killed with that, he could potentially kill himself. And while the thought of suicide via dinner was fairly ironic and a little hilarious, it would work out poorly, to say the least. Of course the only downside being that he would be, uh… well, dead.

Scowling, Riven continued on, discarding some heavier supplies into the water as he did so.

Walking along the riverbank, he heard a commotion inside the forest. He dashed inside in search of dinner-to-be, finding nothing of the sort, much to his disappointment. As the disillusioned soldier turned back, he heard a sharp yelp and numerous growls. His body sprung into full alert, and drew his blades, slowly walking towards the clearing where the peculiar sounds were coming from. Cutting away the vegetation, he saw the source of the sounds from before; a pack of wild Mightyena slowly circling two strange looking creatures he had never seen before.

One of them appeared to be peculiar mix of a feline and canine, with snow white fur and a sharp horn attached to the side of its head. A sharp bladed tail swayed viciously behind it like a dark blue scythe, just like the horn. Its eyes were blood red and its fangs were bared, clearly trying to scare off the Mightyena.

Which seemed to be going rather swell, considering they were _not _backing off.

The second creature was a small humanoid like creature with what appeared to be green hair and a red spike protruding from the center of its head. It cowered behind the white furred animal, shaking in fear of being eaten by their hunters. Both strange creatures were seemingly small and he concluded that they were probably newly hatched, or at least fairly young. Inaccurate assumption maybe, but they were significantly smaller than all the other Mightyena.

_Huh, interesting._

His common sense told him to walk away, that it was just nature running its course and had nothing to do with him. But nature was a gigantic ass, and he was not a fan. Riven looked at the two and saw the raw determination of the white creature as it snarled, ready to give up its own life to protect the smaller creature beneath its feet.

"Why not?"He muttered to himself, shrugging as his hands fell to his hips. "Might make me feel a little better."

Drawing his blades, Riven jumped out and steel sang.

* * *

**I hope it interested you, dear reader, and I promise i will try to update consistently because I like being... well, consistent. It irks me when people last update around the cretaceous period and then suddenly come back. Seriously, at least give a warning.**


	2. New Encounters

_Shit. This is bad. There's six mightyena here. That's six on one! Talk about unfair! Why don't they take me one on one?_ The absol thought to herself, trying to formulate an escape plan._ Hmmmm. maybe this will work._

"_Hey! Why don't you cowards face me one on one! Too afraid to die, is that it?_" She taunted, attempting to lure them into her trap.

Unfortunately, being used to employing such strategies, were well aware of tactics like that and instead of barking back and accepting her challenge, they merely reeled back and let out a cackling laugh.

"_Hehehe…This pup has some fight in her, doesn't she?_"-The biggest and most scarred Mightyena taunted back. He was most likely the alpha male of the group.

"_Oh yeah...she does, nice and feisty. Can I have my way with her before we kill her? I haven't been with a female in a while since we went out hunting last month._"The second Mightyena said as he stuck his tongue out, licking the air hungrily while staring at the female Absol.

"_Do what you will with her. She has not even seen her seventh moon yet. What I really want is that little thing behind her._" The Alpha responded, whose gaze was fixated on the small form behind the Absol's feet.

"_Oh, the Ralts? Psychic isn't it?_" The third mightyena asked, not taking his eyes off of the absol's pretty white mane.

"_It's a psychic. They just taste so delicious and the meat is so tender, full of juices and flavor. You all really need to try it sometime._" The alpha smirked, drool falling from rows of sharp white teeth as he pictured the ralts' meat in his jaws.

The pack began to circle the absol and the ralts, slowly advancing onto their position, growling and taunting them, trying to scare them. The hunters were sadistic and enjoyed raping and mutilating their prey without killing them, making them live through the whole thing before dying a gruesome death. This would be the second time within a week that the alpha would be tasting psychic flesh in between his teeth, the first being a nice little family in a cave a little ways a way from here.

Oh, he remembered.

* * *

The desperate cries of a little Kirlia echoed in the night as she tried to run away, her attacks sliding off the dark types as they stalked her throughout the darkened forest. Blending in with the darkness, the only thing that the psychic type could see of the creatures were their murderous red eyes. The hunters cackled with glee, smelling the fear that radiated from the small pokemon, the scent was delicious and sweet. They loved this.

They stalled, giving the Kirlia a window of opportunity to reach the cave. Safety. Her father, a Gallade, would protect her from the dogs. She nearly stepped into the cave when one of the Mightyena leaped out of the darkness and crunched his jaws closed on the Kirlia's leg. Pain surged up her body, its dark fangs causing more damage to her psychic body. Her face hit the dirt and she was dragged back a few feet away from the cave entrance, rocks cutting her cheeks scraping her mouth and nose. She glanced up and saw a Gallade emerge from the cave, his face contorted in horror and devastation. The Kirlia smiled knowing her father would save the day.

Then the alpha male bit down on her neck and twisted, breaking her neck. Laughing maniacally, the Mightyena tossed the Kirlia's lifeless body aside, and prepared for a fight.

The battle lasted thirty minutes. The psychic fighter impaled two of his hunting buddies and beat two others to a bloody pulp with close combat, before his pack overwhelmed him. The alpha male stood over the restrained Gallade and with one swift motion, tore its throat out. Spitting it out, he glanced over at the cave and spotted his next target, the mother.

It wasn't long before the remaining Mightyena were able to ground the Gardevoir and bite into her neck, right in the vein, a clean kill. The pack gathered up the three dead psychics and began gorging themselves, savoring the succulent meat. They howled up at the moon with a crazed manic glee.

He would never forget the taste.

* * *

_Today I'll get to taste it again._

The pack moved closer, causing the smaller absol to rear back and growl, trying to prevent them from advancing any further. However, one of the hastier mightyenas pounced and paid dearly for it. The Absol positioned herself under him and turned her head up and to the right, impaling his neck with her sharp horn. She pulled out and flinched as a gush of blood erupted from his neck and stained her white fur a deep crimson. She had slashed through the artery in his neck and he yelped, feeling the damage that the horn caused, backing away weakly due to the massive blood loss from the wound. Leaning against a tree, he slumped onto the floor and passed out. Soon he would be dead.

The alpha male stopped and stared at the gushing wound, rage building up inside of him. He didn't want to play around with the Absol anymore, he wanted it _dead_. Now visibly snarling, he and his pack moved onto the cornered Absol's position, killing intent flashing in his dark red eyes.

He leapt onto the Absol, dodging her sickled horn and pinning her to the ground with a loud thud. Opening his mouth, he was about to strike the final blow when the bushes rustled violently and a large form appeared out of the forest, holding two long shiny pieces of metal in its arms.

_Shit! A human! What's it doing here and what are those things it's carrying? I've never seen those bef-_

Pain interrupted his thoughts and he looked down at his front left leg, which had a deep gash going across it. She used this distraction to kick the Mightyena off of her and slashed his chest with her sharp horn before retreating back towards the psychic. Positioning herself in preparation for another leap, she waited and growled. Blood dripped from the alpha's wound but he was too distracted by the sight of the human slaughtering his pack.

The long metallic blade in the human's right arm impaled one of his hunters in between the eyes, instantly killing him. Pulling it out of the fallen mightyena with ease, he spun around holding the blade in the opposite direction, stabbing another canine sideways, perforating organs and muscle alike. He brought the dog down with a mighty thud and left the blade inside of his packmate's body.

The other two mightyena remaining were the alpha's two best fighters, surely they would kill him.

They both pounced at the same time, but with complete calm, the human sidestepped both of them and with one sharp motion, swung the piece of metal diagonally upward. Nonchalantly looking back at the two mightyenas, the human smirked as he saw one of the dogs fall, its intestines spilling out of the large cut across it's stomach. He had disemboweled it with one quick slash. He pointed his bloodied sword at the other mightyena and taunted it with a garbled rumble from his human throat.

His enraged packmate lunged at the human but instead of stepping aside, the human raised its hand and allowed him to sink his teeth into his arm. The leader of the pack nearly smirked in assurance of victory until he saw that there was no blood seeping out of the human's limb. The man stabbed the alpha's packmate through the center with the blade in his right hand and twisted it, making the dark type yelp in intense pain. He removed his blade from the corpse and unceremoniously dropped the lifeless body on the floor like a piece of spoiled meat.

Flicking the blade clean of blood, the human stood in place observing the last remaining hound with a cold expressionless face. He looked rather bored. Seething in rage and drunk with bloodlust, the Mightyena grit its teeth together and snarled viciously, cursing the human while vowing to rip out his throat .

_"I'll kill you! You fuck! I'll rip out your disgusting throat and leave your body out to rot! Insolent human scum! Die now!"_ The mightyena ground out in a murderous howl sinking his paws into the soil, ready to pounce. His injuries would limit his strength obviously, but it was more than enough to overpower a weak human, despite the blades. He would have to disable the human and get rid of the razor sharp metal in his hands.

Plan set and ready in his mind, the Mightyena lunged forward, narrowly missing the blade as he slammed into the human with all of his body weight. Biting savagely into his hand, the dog caught the hilt of the blade and threw it backward, disarming the human. Having the man exactly where he wanted him, he attempted to rip out his throat, but was stopped when the human held him back with both hands, struggling to remove himself from such a perilous position.

The Mightyena's jaws snapped forward again, missing the human's throat by mere centimeters as he pushed him back once more. Looking at the alpha's injured chest, the young man knew what he had to do. Sticking his index and middle finger outwards, he thrust them into the Mightyena's gaping wound, causing the injured dog to howl in pain. He then swung his elbow outwards, striking it with a deafening crack across the mandible. Managing to throw his attacker off, he saw the canine's jaw hanging limply to the side, clearly broken.

Not wasting any time, the man pulled out a dagger from a hidden compartment in his cuirass and jumped onto the injured animal. Now in control, he smashed the side of the mightyena's head with the hilt of the dagger, stunning it momentarily. Repeating this action, he left the dog bloodied and beaten, barely conscious.

Slowly positioning the dagger over the creature's heart, the repulsive human looked into the predator's eyes and saw a plea for mercy. Coldly staring back, Riven sank the blade into the predator's chest slowly and painfully, watching its legs twitch and its eyes grow wide. He sank the blade all the way to the handle and looked one last time into the creatures red eyes, twisting the blade with both hands, forcing it to exhale its last and final breath of life.

Taking the dagger out, he cleaned it and placed it back in its compartment and went back to retrieve his blades.

_Those mightyena were not hunting for food._ He thought darkly. _They were circling the other two, they could have easily killed them long before I arrived. Those Mightyenas were sadistic. I would bet my life that they have tasted human flesh prior to this. Who knows how many more they would have killed if I had not come along and halted them._

"At least I did the world one small favor," he said, surveying the area around him. The ground had splatters of blood everywhere and corpses of dead Mightyena scattered about, contrasting with the forest's grass and soft brown soil. Retrieving his blades, the young man placed them back in their sheathes that clung to his hips, and turned towards the white maned creature and her humanoid friend.

As he approached, the Absol got into a stance and growled lowly, giving a warning to the advancing human not to come any closer. Although she did this out of instinct, she knew there was no way that she would be able to hurt this man, not after seeing him near effortlessly kill all of those Mightyena and in her current state of affairs. An ice beam _might_ work, but if he dodged, that was it.

The black haired human stopped five feet away from the pair and just stood there, eyeing them both. It was a little awkward, standing in the middle of a bloodbath while Taillow chirped away in the forest around them. Suddenly, he reached into his pack and took something out of it.

The Absol was startled, did he mean to catch her like other humans did to her parents? Reliving moments of loneliness and longing, she didn't notice that the human had already thrown something at her. The object hit her on the nose and fell to the ground with a soft thump. Looking down, she saw it was a sitrus berry. Was this some kind of peace offering?

_Is he friendly? Should I trust him?_ The female disaster pokemon asked herself. _He did save us from those mightyena. Maybe he isn't so bad after all… No, I can't trust _them._ Humans are evil creatures._

Sensing his friend's apprehension, the small psychic stepped forward, picked up the berry and said, "_Haona, you really should eat. It'll heal your wounds! Besides, you can't take him anyways. He'd kill you in less than a second._" Spreading his arms, the Ralts simply stated, "_You run and pounce the way you are and you're dead in no time flat. I wouldn't do much better, you saw what he did to them._"

Grinding her teeth in frustration, she accepted the fact begrudgingly.

She knew she couldn't take the human on, she was only a pup after all, and she could maybe get in a few hits, but those metal weapons of his were dangerous. Hesitantly, she took the berry in her paw and bit down, savoring the berry's flavor as it began to slowly mend the bite wounds she sustained from her fight with the alpha. Forgetting all sense of dignity, she gave the human a wanting look and walked up to him, begging for more fruit. The Ralts, Bib, as she called him, walked alongside her and extended his tiny hands, also wanting some more.

Although Riven had no idea what the creatures were saying, hearing only ab-sols and low chimes, he immediately knew what they wanted as they came over to him and looked at him longingly. Laughing to himself, he kneeled down and placed a hand on the Absol's head, ruffling her fur. She recoiled and backed off.

"Soft." Glancing at the small humanoid, he remarked , "Heh. It looks like a small child." _Cute_. Mentally kicking himself, he knew that if Nemos was here, he would never hear the end of it.

_Nemos…_ He thought, looking at the floor. _He really is gone…_

Shaking his head, he snapped back to reality and reached out into his pack, pulling out two more berries, handing one to each of the creatures before him. Smiling as he saw their faces light up at the sight of food, he stood up and began to walk away, back towards the road. He walked a few steps until he felt something tug on his trousers. The source was the small human like creature with the red horn sticking out of its head.

"What is this? You want to come with me?" Riven asked, unsure of the creature's response.

It responded with a nod and a small smile, looking back at his friend the absol, waving a hand as a sign of assurance. Turning around, Riven looked at the absol's face and could not help but smirk. It looked downright annoyed. He snorted, along with the littler one, which also seemed to enjoy poking fun at its strange choice of friend. The Absol huffed in response and looked up with her eyes closed, trotting past them in annoyance.

"_Free sustenance_," Bib said to himself, as if it was an achievement. He grinned._"For all the bad things we all think humans are, free food is not one of them."_

Haona groaned loudly. _That devious little bastard. Does he not see ANY downside to this? At all? He's a human. Humans are bad news._ "_Great._" She responded, now even more annoyed than before_._

"_Come now! It'll be fun! Free food and protection. What more could we want?_"

"_Why do I even bother to put up with you_?" Haona grimaced_, "this doesn't mean I trust him, yet, Bib."_

"_You don't have to trust him. Just eat the food and hope he doesn't kill you."_

"_Very comforting."_

* * *

The sun was starting to set, illuminating the sky and clouds with hues of orange and red. Sunsets were Riven's favorite, not only because of their beauty but because they marked the transition between day and night, an event that fascinated him ever since he was a boy.

He had managed to find and kill a Stantler, taking two well placed arrows to kill the buck. Placing it on the floor he began setting up a fire and on which to cook it on. Once the brush and logs had caught fire, he took out his dagger and started to skin the animal and take out the unwanted parts, leaving only the edible parts behind. Slicing some of the meat off with his dagger, he impaled it on a stick and stuck it over the fire to cook. Waiting for the food to cook, he bandaged up his arm where the mightyena bit him, not wanting the bite to fester. Once he was done, he looked over to the absol sitting next to him, watching the fire.

Looking at the succulent piece of meat, Haona's mouth began to water. She only had Stantler once before in her life but she knew that it would be delicious. Bib however, was a little uneasy. He had never eaten meat before, instead choosing to eat berries and the like. _Well, you need to try something new some day._

Sniffing up the scent of the cooking meat,she automatically moved forward, right next to the evil human. Her senses were completely focused on the food and not on the human. Sweet, delicious meat. She stared at it like an impatient little puppy and attempted to sneak a nibble when the human pulled it out of the fire.

Seeing her impatience, Riven gave her the first piece and observed her reaction. Blowing slightly on the cooked meat, the absol devoured the haunch and smiled in delight, savoring the explosion of flavor in her mouth. This was Riven's first time seeing the stubborn little absol actually have something other than a depressing frown plastered on her face. It was a nice change. Especially after she tried biting his finger off when he attempted to pet her. She was immensely stubborn and proud, a trait that most woman have too much of an abundance of. She did not quite trust him yet, judging by the wary glances she took whenever she got close to him.

The other one was far more agreeable than the 'absol'. He did not know the name of the creature because it did not speak its name whenever it spoke. It let off low chimes instead of repeating its name over and over. Nonetheless, it opened up to him much more than the 'absol' did, sitting close to him and hiding in his pack. He was a hungry fellow that seemed to have a pit in his stomach because he could not stop eating. In just thirty minutes, the creature managed to devour nearly all of the berries in Riven's pack, startling him as to how such a small thing could consume so much food.

It seems that the little "child" also seemed fascinated by Riven's blades, looking at the sheathes with awe and wonder.

_Huh. Creatures usually have no interest in human weapons. Maybe killing those dogs inspired him?_ Riven pondered, perplexed by the creature's strange behavior.

He had never encountered them in his life, so he had no clue what they would become or if they could grow at all.

Enjoying a nice meal from the now fully cooked stantler, the three prepared to go to sleep. It took a bit of prodding from the absol to get the ralts to stick the meat into his mouth, bickering and growling in frustration as he refused. It was a comical sight for Riven, watching the absol bury her head in her paws before muttering something and trotting away to go to sleep under a tree. The display almost made him forget about his own strange situation.

Laying down on the soft grass next to the fire pit, weariness overtook him and he fell asleep.

Haona watched the human instantly go lights out.

"Huh. Out like a light. Do they usually go to sleep that easily?" She asked Bib. "Do they not worry about attacks?"

"I don't think so. He might be tired from all that wood gathering, hunting, and carrying a heavy deer around," Bib responded.

Sounding reasonable, she simply nodded her head and continued watching the sleeping human. After a five minutes of looking at his chest rise and fall, she began to nod off. However, she was awoken when the human started to move about restlessly, cold sweat breaking out on his skin. It was a nightmare of some kind. Silent tears slid out of his eyes and his fists clenched tightly, whatever it was it was _bad_. The last time she saw this was the day after she found Bib, shivering and crying in his sleep.

His parents and sister were murdered in front of him. He still didn't feel comfortable talking about it. Just what could this guy have lived through to experience nightmares that intense?

Slightly worried, she stood up and walked over to him, nudging him lightly, trying to wake him.

* * *

_I know this place. It's my home. How can that be? I was in the forest, far from here._

Looking around, he saw all the wooden and stone buildings with one huge palace in the distance. This was his home. It was his home, yet everything about it felt….._wrong_.

No people or creatures. No laughter of children or murmuring of shoppers in the market stalls. No chimecho hanging from the porches of houses, no wind, no sounds. There was no life. Empty.

Walking for what seemed like ages, he reached the large building. Surprised to see that the doors were unlocked, he stepped inside.

Not a soul in sight, everything inside was still and nothing looked out of the ordinary. However, he could not shake the eerie feeling in his spine. Something was waiting for him. He climbed up the stairs to the second floor, passing suits of armor and mounted weapons until he reached his room. Hesitating, he opened the door and a foul odor assaulted his nostrils. The smell was a stench of rotting and burned flesh.

Turning on a candle, he held it up and his eyes widened in horror.

In the room, he saw his entire family dead. Some were horribly disfigured, others burned, and some beginning to decompose. This was wrong. When his family died, he never even got the chance to see them. The town outside was not ashen and immolated, there were no charred remains on the streets, just empty houses devoid of life.

This was not real. A dream, caused by his own conflicted mind, and yet… it felt horrifyingly authentic.

"Riven."

Turning around instantly, he saw Nemos standing behind him, his eyes filled with the same sadness as the day he died.

Nemos stared into Riven's eyes," I am sorry. So sorry. So sorry…".

Riven ran. Ran towards his friend, trying to embrace him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. Almost believing that he was not dead, that he was right there with him again.

His friend only smiled with a heavy sadness. "So sorry…I could not protect…you. That I failed to ensure you lived to bring our people back..." Saying these words he turned to ash in Riven's arms. Soon the world around him faded away into nothingness just like Nemos had, leaving Riven stranded in a place of endless black space.

_This is your life. Empty. There is nothing for you. There is nothing left. Your world is but a husk. Wake up. All you will taste is ashes in your mouth. You will find nothing but pain and despair, you pathetic shell. Disappear._

Hearing those words, Riven fell to his knees and barred his teeth, holding his head in his hands in a fit of cold rage, the words creeping into his mind like drips of poison.

He jolted himself awake, sweating profusely, skin as cold as ice. He saw two worried looking creatures staring back at him, concerned for his well being. Bolting himself upright, he fumbled onto the riverbank, splashing his face with ice cold water, trying to forget the images he saw. Trying to forget the words that pierced his soul.

_Your world is but a husk. You will find nothing but pain and despair. Disappear._

He growled madly, trying to force those torturous words out his mind. Pounding the floor until his knuckles were red, he looked at his reflection in the water.

A man with midnight black shaggy hair stared back at him, his eyes cold and menacing, one black with the darkness of the water and the other a dark blue the color of the deep sea. Then the image changed and he saw himself, pale and gaunt, stiff with fear.

Standing up, he looked up at the sky and roared.


	3. Clueless and Confused

A roar shook the surrounding forest, causing flocks of Taillow to fly away in a state of panic. Haona and Bib froze, feeling a brief but intense surge of dark energy.

She and Bib recognized this feeling. It was hatred, raw untamed hatred. She felt it whenever she would think about the humans who took her parents, often during strong depressive periods on her own in the wild.

Bib, who was hypersensitive to emotion, felt the hate far worse than Haona. He knew it down to his very bones. Hate so powerful that it coiled around the heart like a vice, driving murderous thoughts into the mind and corrupting the soul, destroying its host from the inside. But it wasn't _his_. It felt worse than acid being dropped on bare skin, more painful than a stab in the stomach. Bib clenched his teeth, fury rising throughout his body. His psychic abilities subconsciously began levitating objects and twigs off the floor, sharpening them into razor sharp daggers, ready to destroy. Ready to kill.

Haona saw the visible change in Bib's usually jolly happy go lucky demeanor and nudged him.

"_Hey. Are you alright Bib? You're scaring me right now,_" she mentioned. She had never seen him this way before. It wasn't pleasant to look at.

The Ralts once glowing blue eyes then returned to their normal red color and left the pokemon slightly dazed and confused.

"_Huh? Why did I- Was that me?_" He looked around the fire, noticing the pointed sticks and branches littering the floor. He couldn't even manage to lift two objects remotely three feet off the ground before.

Haona stared at him, concern lining her pristine features. "_Yeah, that was you. As soon as the wave came at us, you just…changed._" Awkwardly glancing away she asked, "_The hate. You felt it too right_?"

Bib stared at her, perfectly serious. "_Yes. I did._"

"_I know the Ralts line is really sensitive to emotions but I had no idea that it was that strong._"

Turning away, Bib faced the direction in which the roar came from. "_It isn't…Let's go._" With that he ran towards the riverbank , tiny legs carrying him as fast as they could.

_It isn't? Does that mean that part of that overwhelming hate was his own? His parents…? Or something else?_

Dropping the subject, she shook her head and ran in the same direction Bib had. Upon arriving at the riverbank, she saw the Ralts standing before the collapsed human near the edge of the water.

Looking at his body, she felt something strange. She had picked it up before but never thought much of it. He felt like her. Like her kind.

_It's almost as if he's like me. But how? Humans just don't have the abilities pokemon have. Or their weaknesses. Nothing about him makes any sense. Was he the one who roared earlier? _Eyes widening, she looked at Bib's equally perplexed expression. _No. Couldn't be. That sounded like a Tyranitar's roar. Something much more powerful than a measly human. His lungs would burst into shreds releasing that kind of noise._

The Absol's face now held a look of utter terror, looking at the human as if he was some kind of monster.

Frantic, she told Bib ,"_Bib. We need to get out of here. This human. I don't like it. He's dangerous."_

"_I'm not leaving_."

"_What? One day with a human and already you're his pet growlithe? I thought you knew better than this, Bib,_" she snarled, disgusted with her friend's response.

The Ralts was deathly silent. He simply stood there, not taking his eyes off the human for a second. Finally turning around to face the angry Absol, resolute and eerily calm, he said, "_he killed my parent's murderers_."

His reply shocked Haona, suddenly remembering the Mightyena pack that the human had slain some hours ago. Suddenly realizing what this meant, she looked at the floor in shame.

"_I-I didn't know. I'm sorry._"

"_I saw them die you know. How they tore them to shreds. I hid behind a rock like a coward. Too afraid to speak, too afraid to do anything._" Bib's tiny hands clenched tightly, nearly cutting off circulation. "_I hated them with all my being, but most of all, I hated myself. Now thanks to him, part of that hate I once felt is gone. But some of it is still there. Because I couldn't save them. They say humans make us stronger, stronger than we can ever become by ourselves. I want to see if that's true, and if he's dangerous, I don't care. I want the power to protect my family and myself, so you or anyone doesn't have to get hurt for me."_

Haona stayed silent, unsure of what to say, unsure of what to do. She couldn't possibly leave her friend. Closing her eyes, she nodded. She would endure the human for him. She promised she would protect him when she found him huddled in a tree stump a few months ago. If that meant she would have to deal with a human, then she would.

Bib understood and turned back towards the human, placing a small hand on his forehead_."I felt the same thing in him. He needs help or that rage will eat him inside, until it drives him insane, turning him into a monster that wishes only to destroy, robbing others of what was stolen from him long ago. He's alone. He needs us."_

Nothing about him felt good, his psychic intuition told him to get as far away from him as possible, the malice that came from him in that brief moment made his stomach churn. Still, he believed that the human could be reasoned with.

The Absol hesitated for a moment, pondering the psychic's statement. She stared at the sleeping human and relented. "Let him sleep then," Haona said, feeling a gentle breeze glide across the riverbank.

"_Yeah. Just dunk him into the water later._" Bib smirked mischievously, attempting to use his playful demeanor to distract the dark type.

It seemed to work, as she curled up next to the strange human, calling Bib over to sleep on her soft fur.

"_There's the Ralts I know. Serious doesn't suit you_."

* * *

Riven stirred, back slightly aching from sleeping on the floor, he opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of the rising sun. It was dawn. His eyes started slowly closing again, drifting off to sleep. Before they closed fully, he caught a glimpse of a white blurry ball.

It was approaching rather quickly.

His mind was still groggy and didn't register the hit until after the white furball collided with him, sending him over the riverbank and into the gentle river water.

Now fully awake, he pulled himself out of the water, sputtering enough curse words to put a latrine to shame.

Eyesight still a bit hazy, he looked at the culprit with silent fury. No one enjoys a rude awakening after a peaceful slumber. _No one_.

"YOU! Why would you do that?! Could a simple push not have done the same thing? Next time you decide to brood and sleep , I am going to pour ice cold water on YOUR face." He ranted for a couple minutes, dripping on the forest floor, black hair sticking to his face.

The Absol just sat on a rock, like a regal and _pompous_ little stubborn queen, licking her paws and fur clean. She looked completely nonplussed.

"Are you even listening to me?!" He yelled, trying to get creature's attention.

She turned her head facing him, a small smug little smirk on her face, taunting him.

_Taunting me? Argh. Should have known. Demonic creature for sure. Fantastic. She pushed me into a blasted river! Who does that to a sleeping person?_

Clearly amused, the smug little "queen" leapt off the rock, holding her head high and smiling. She had won, trotting back to their camp in proud strides.

"What am I going to do about that one? It behaves like an actual human woman! Thanks, god. Yet another torture for this poor soul. First I wake up in a world that makes no sense, then I get stuck with this dog-feline that loves to play tricks." Riven grumbled, hair and clothes still thoroughly drenched from his unexpected dunk.

He started back towards camp. Catching sight of a rather mischievous looking creature, he immediately knew the mastermind behind the act. Looking at the ralts, fistful of berries in its mouth, he fumed.

"Hey! Stop eating all the berries!"

The small creature clutched his sides, rolling on the ground laughing his tiny little ass off.

It was now nearly noon, the forest now alive with sounds and activity. Taillow could be heard squawking in the distance as Linoones scurried about, with Seedots serenely swaying with the wind in the trees.

It was a calming sight. Although it did rub Riven rather strangely. Not being chased by things that wanted you dead just did not sit well with him. Perhaps it was his overcharged nerves.

"Are forests always this peaceful?" He said to himself, eyes surveying the tree tops. Creatures swang through the branches and birds flew overhead, occasionally chirping and squawking.

"Absol Ab." The white demon responded, he had still not forgotten this morning's incident at the river.

"I cannot understand your speech , demon spawn." Riven declared , glaring daggers into her. It seemed to be clearly ineffective as she just laughed and gave an infuriating grunt in response.

_I have an ominous feeling she might try something devious tonight as well. Who knows what her and the child are concocting at this very moment. _Riven inwardly remarked, warily eyeing both the White queen and the Spike of Mischief. _Yes, those will be their pen names from this point onward._

Turning away from the two with a dramatic huff, he eyed a peculiar metal sign. Scanning the area around for any lurking threats, he walked up to it and stood in front, probing it with a finger and jumping back a few feet in case a metal trap went off and decided to shower his face full of shrapnel. When no such threat to his face came, he relaxed.

The sign read, "Route 101".

_What does that even signify? Why would anyone be foolish enough to waste metal on a lowly sign? What a disastrous and stupid usage of resources. _He looked around the edges, trimmed and cut to an expert degree, almost knife edge exact. It nearly brought a tear to his eye._ Using an expert artisan, no less. Whomever is responsible for this needs to receive a massive scolding for misuse of military resources. But it is very well made..._

"Route 101. No other place to go besides onward correct?" Walking to the left, he could see faint outlines of something. They looked like buildings.

Memories and caution slammed into his mind, making him instinctively reach for his blades. _There are no buildings here. There should be no humans residing in this area. _Then again, the forest did not belong here either. Nothing was how it should be.

Waving a hand forward, the Ralts and the Absol sensed his caution and ran up to him, also scanning the area for danger. Human settlements were dangerous for them as well, more on the off chance of getting caught than anything.

Finding no indication of or trace of hostility in the surrounding path, Riven and his companions continued down the road, walking with a just a sliver of paranoia and plenty of caution.

Grasping his blades, he started to remember bits and pieces of what occurred last night. Much of it was like a haze, and none of the memories were aligned, only glimpses of images and feelings coming to him. He recalled how he got close to the river, pounding the floor in desperation. He remembered seeing his reflection in the water.

Then all he saw was a pitch black darkness. He must have rendered himself unconscious. And then… whispers? Silencing the faint voices he seemed to hear in his skull, he kept walking, recollecting his thoughts on last night's events.

_If only White Queen could talk to me. I would _persuade_ her into informing me of everything. Knowing her, she would rather misguide me as a form of entertainment though. I cannot seem to remember anything else. Perhaps I should try again at a later time. _Approaching the buildings he now saw something that amazed him.

Every single building looked beautiful. The houses were beautifully painted and had perfectly tiled roofs with flower gardens growing around them. He had never seen so many houses in such a gentle state. War had a way of making even the most elegant edifice nothing but an ugly stump sticking out of the ground.

_These people must be wealthy. Those buildings over there, are they made of metal too? By hell, is that red dye?_

Bib and Haona walked alongside Riven, looking at his absolutely befuddled expression. He seemed genuinely amazed by the houses and that building they called the laboratory. It was as if he'd never seen a building like that before.

"_You don't think he was raised in a cave do you?_" The Absol speculated. "_Humans are raised in those city things, right?_"

"_Looking at his jaw hit the floor each time he sees a new building, I'm starting to wonder if he's lived under a Geodude his whole life,"_ Bib proclaimed, slightly amused by his human companion.

Haona snickered. "_I think you may be right_."

Bib snorted.

Pointing to the amazed young man with her horn, the Absol lifted Bib onto her head and ran ahead to catch up to the human. He was now standing in front of the pokemon lab, seemingly debating whether to step foot inside or not.

Haona rammed into him, pushing him through the sliding doors and into the building.

"Ah! The doors opened by themselves!" He let out an unmanly shriek, startled and intrigued at the same time. "How do they _do_ that?! Some kind of magic?"

"_Hey, Bib. I think your clueless idiot theory certainly applies now_."

"_Told you. I'm always right._"

Riven looked dumbfounded as he looked around the interior of the laboratory. He looked at the television screens in a mix of awe and shock. Images of various things flashed across them, somehow fitting half a person into a small rectangular surface.

"What in the blazes are those!" The clueless human stammered, jaw hitting the floor. Again.

"Ah! Come to register for the pokemon league hmm?" An older man with a white lab coat and sandals asked as he entered the room.

"Uh, what? Poke what?" Riven asked dumbly. "Leag-"

"Yeah, I know you're so excited you can't wait to start your adventure, even if you look much older than my regular trainers to be!"

The professor clapped him on the back , pushed his palm onto a scanner and told Riven to straighten up for a picture. Trying to process all of this at once, Riven was hardly aware as a flash of light illuminated the room for a split second.

"Great! You're set! Now it's time for you to choose!" The professor beamed, excitement evident throughout his body. Ah, a new trainer, a new adventure. Always amazing to see a trainer start the next phase of their life. Places to see, pokemon to catch…

"Wait! What did you just do to me?" Riven hissed, automatically assuming the worst. The man did not appear to be hostile, but whatever he did must have meant he had _some_ ulterior motives.

"Huh? I registered you for the pokemon league. Isn't that what you came here to do?" The professor explained. "All I did was take your fingerprints and your picture so the system can register your ID number. It's all automatic so the paperwork gets created for you, no tests or qualification exams, since you're probably over sixteen anyway."

"The what can register what? I have no honest idea what you are trying to say to me." The trainer to be objected, still stupified.

"You mean to tell me…" Birch raised a concerned brow, "that you signed up for the pokemon league without knowing a single thing about it?"

Riven raised his arms to his head. "What in fuck's name is a pokemon?"

"Oh dear god." Birch murmured. "This is a joke, right? You can't be that dense. My son is dense and even he knew what a pokemon was well before he started his journey. Were you living under a Geodude these past ten years by any chance? Well maybe more than ten. You look about seventeen or so." The professor replied, now as confused and astounded as he was. How did anyone, anywhere not know about pokemon?

Riven heard snickering behind him and frowned, seeing White Queen and Mischief struggling to contain their laughter at mention of the Geodude.

"I think I would have noticed if I had been living under a rock with a face," he retorted, starting to get a bit annoyed.

"Errr, okay. I guess you'll have to get crash course in training from your pokedex then. But for now you have to choose your starter!" The professor pushed him along through another set of automatic doors and into a room with all different manner of equipment. Images were being projected on the screens, and strange beeps came from the boxes around the room. "Here we are. In each of these pokeballs there is a starter pokemon that you will choose as your very first official pokemon. Choose wisely because you cannot trade it in for the other ones."

Riven stared at Birch in _palpable_ incredulousness. _Either this man is a stark mad lunatic or does not possess the power of logic. It is not possible to fit any pokemon bigger than my fist in there._ "You cannot possibly fit a cr-pokemon in such a small sphere. That is impossible, it makes no sense."

"Really now? Well then... here's to your sense! Torchic, come on out!" The man exclaimed as the ball opened up in mid air and projected a white light on the ground. The light assembled into a form and then cleared, revealing an orange colored chick in its place.

"Torrrrrr-chic," it chirped, glad it could be out of its ball to stretch its legs.

The young man stood there completely stupefied.

_How? What. In. the. Fuck? A pokemon just emerged out of that ball! That puny… I… Abjrekggjenbm! _Dazed and looking like someone had slugged him with the logistical equivalent of a megaton bomb, he sat down on a nearby chair. Hard. The boy needed some time to take in and assess what just occurred. Mindblown was the most apt term to describe the boy's expression.

Meanwhile ,White Queen was rolling on the floor laughing so hard she couldn't breathe correctly.

"_Oh! His jaw went through the floor, around the earth and smacked him! Did you see his face? Priceless!_" Giggling uncontrollably, she hesitated to get up before collapsing back onto the floor in a laughing fit.

Bib was speechless, having already laughed more than he could bear, he just sat on the floor clapping like a stupid Sealeo, tears of laughter coming out of his eyes.

Birch put a hand on Riven's shoulder, watching the two pokemon laugh uncontrollably. "Haha! Take your time. The shock should wear off in a few hours, want some lemon tea?"

* * *

After Riven had staggered over and gulped down half a pitcher of tea while fighting feverish symptoms, the professor, spent the next few hours explaining to him about pokemon and how the balls worked, as well as the pokemon centers and the pokemon league.

Riven listened intently but was left with even more questions than he had before. It was still being processed but he got the general gist of it, despite giving him a massive headache. Since when did ten year olds go out on their own and into the wild to survive on their own devices? Since when did people start caring for pokemon as pets? Nobody was trying to viciously rip each other's throat out? What kind of screwed up timeline did he end up in?

"Riven, my boy, I see you have two pokemon following you right now. Do you want two pokeballs so you can register them as your own?" Birch wondered, addressing the Absol and Ralts that tailed Riven as he walked around the lab.

"That is up to them to decide." He responded hesitantly, still thinking about the world he came from and how different it was from the one now. What was he going to do now? Become a pokemon trainer and take on the league? Or search for answers?

Figuring he could do both while becoming a trainer, he reached out and took the pokeballs from Birch. The trainer part was a secondary and a means to an end, at this point it mattered little to him what the League did or stood for.

"Absol and Ralts. Do you accept me as your trainer?" He respectfully asked, not wanting to force them to do anything they were not comfortable with.

White Queen came up to him, sniffing the ball.

_Bib is staying. So will I._

She pushed the white button in the middle with her horn, opening the pokeball and sucking her in. After a few moments of stillness, the ball clicked. She was his. The Ralts followed suit soon after, pushing the button and getting sucked into the ball.

Moments after, the balls re-opened and the two pokemon came out. Riven still was a bit perplexed by the ball's ability to condense matter and shrink it. He would make a note of studying said subject later on in his travels.

Birch was a little surprised to see both pokemon come out of their pokeballs on their own, usually only pokemon who didn't like the virtual reality did that. It was that or they felt confined in the ball, wishing to be outside better.

Turning to Riven, he put his hands on the boy's shoulders and asked, "Are you ready for your journey?"

The youth nodded in response, before turning around and glancing back at Birch. "Thank you, Professor Birch. With luck I will find the answers I seek, and understand some of this insanity." He blinked. "Maybe, I guess. Goodbye. But before that, I would like to know the whereabouts of some sort of library or location with a collection of old books. I feel like I am missing a lot of things I should know, and I am looking for something."

The man scratched his beard and cheerfully answered. "Why that's easy! Rustboro City is your best bet. Devon Corp. is also there. I suggest you pick up a PokeNav and a holo caster. It's new tech from the Kalos region that's very convenient. Good luck on your travels! Oh and don't forget to fill up that pokedex!"

Walking out of the lab, Riven felt a change in the wind, marking a new start. A new opportunity, a new world.

Bizarre to the nth degree, but it was a new start regardless.

_Good, I can work with bizarre._


	4. Bloody Misfortune

Shortly after leaving the peaceful and breezy little town named Littleroot, Riven and his team headed back down route 101, in search of the next town. It was fairly quiet, the sun was setting and the forest was peaceful, a gentle draft coming from the west, brushing against the trees. It was a perfect evening. Unfortunately, perfect evenings never lead to anything good. Everything is just swell and you have not suffered quite enough yet?

Surprise! Something wanted to kill you.

Riven knew first hand after all. Every good evening or day for that matter either ended in tragedy, ambush, or misfortune. Sometimes, if God, fate, and whatever legendary bastard that governed luck decided they wanted to watch him squirm, all three.

Mountain side suddenly gave out as you passed under it? Just another day in the life. Sudden snowstorm and no shelter for miles? Typical.

Having nothing happen at all was just wrong. It made him uneasy. Hearing the bushes rustle now and then at odd intervals just seemed to fuel his overcharged nerves. Everywhere he glanced he saw ambushes or something laying in wait, ready to cut his throat.

He could just be paranoid after all. But the life of a soldier was rough and full of surprises. Surprises that were seldom good and more gruesome and horrifying than anything. He flinched, remembering the time when a stray cinder from the campfire ignited a piece of dry brush and then torched their tents to the ground. And three fourths of the forest along with it.

Mistakes were made.

Or maybe that time when a loose boulder had crushed the soldier next to him when they were passing through the mountains while they were maneuvering to flank. That was…unfortunate. Cleaning blood and dust off your boots was _never_ an amusing task to be sure. Alas, he would just have to wait and see what was in store for him today.

Haona and Bib exchanged looks between Riven and each other, scanning his odd behavior of flinching at random intervals. He seemed to be thinking about something unpleasant, which made him flinch. It was a strange sight but it was slightly entertaining. What a quirky human.

"_You think he's a bit weird?_" Haona asked.

"_Psh. All humans are weird, my dear lady._" Bib shrugged. "_Besides, I guess it's a good thing we didn't get stuck with some dimwit. I'll take jumpy and alert over stupid and cheery any day._"

"_Yeah. That's true. I've heard of other pokemon getting caught by complete idiots, disobeying them and sometimes even hurting them. Then the humans put them down. It's pretty sad. Oh and by the way, don't call me lady. It sounds wrong coming from a little mischievous pervert like you._"

"_Hey! I happen to be a respectable young boy."_

"_Sure you are."_ Haona closed her eyes, giggling at his reaction. Sometimes he could be really fun to tease. It was pretty cute. Silencing her laughter, she turned to him again, this time a bit more seriously. "_So what happens now?_"

"_I guess he's going to go do human things and enter us in battles for shiny metal objects_. _And flaunt his ego_."

"_Sure,but something tells me that he isn't interested in that at all. Well maybe the second one is possible, if he can stop acting so surprised at everything he sees._"

"_Could be. Who knows? It's not like we can read minds right?_" Bib said, not realizing the irony in his statement.

Haona scowled at him. Either that was a joke, or Bib's brain failed him for a second.

"_What?_"He questioned, unsure why his previous comment made her reac- oh that's right. Well, now he felt a bit stupid. "_Yeah, I should have thought about it first. Funny thing is, I can't read minds yet. I'm only a Ralts. I can't even pick up four objects without getting winded._"

Haona recalled the forest incident the night before and gave another judging glance. Surely he had to remember _that_. You don't just forget a momentary lapse of immense power. Bib was pretty powerful, he just didn't know it yet.

Bib recognized that look, knowing full well what she implied. He sighed, _"Haona, that wasn't me. I couldn't control what I was doing. I don't know how I even did that. Or how I was evenableto do it. It feels kinda fuzzy whenever I think about it, like I'm searching for a single Ledyba in the middle of a whole forest full of screaming Tyranitar."_

Haona was about to reply but was cut short by Riven, who held up a closed fist and stood perfectly still, listening for sounds. Something was approaching, and _fast_. It was coming from the east, inside the forest. The leaves of the trees shook furiously as a_ very_ loud hum was heard.

_What could that be?_ Riven thought. He had a few ideas of course, one which did not thrill him in the slightest. Either that was a swarm of Beedrill, which meant they were in for a bad time regardless, or something entirely worse. And far worse it was.

It didn't take very long for the three to see the damage the swarm was causing. Trees were falling everywhere, leaves were being shredded like paper and pokemon scurried about in a desperate attempt to escape all of the falling trees. What swarm could possibly cause such destruction?

Riven had no clue whatsoever. Haona and Bib, on the other hand, knew_ exactly_ what. Their fears were confirmed when they caught a dash of bright green. Eyes widening as wide as the moon, both pokemon sped on ahead, running for their lives. Riven stood there dumbfounded, unable to realize that things were about to get worse.

He stood motionless when a flash of green emerged from the forest, followed by hundreds of bright green figures. "Huh." Flipping out his pokedex, he pointed it at the pokemon, which instead of displaying its information, the screen only read_; Run. NOW._

Looking at the razor sharp scythes on each of its arms, then looking at the extremely irritated mob behind it, Riven quickly heeded the pokedex's advice. He kicked off the ground running as fast as he could, trying to catch up to his two pokemon who were a little bit a ways away from him. The unfortunate part about humans? _Not_ fast. Riven was fast, for a _human_.

Compared to a pokemon with wings? He was a Torkoal—without a shell. Sprinting away, he could hear the furious buzzing of the Scyther swarm behind him. They were going to catch up very soon and they looked famished. Which meant one of two things, either hold your ground and attempt to fight your way out, or keep running and eventually get slashed to the ground. Hungry pokemon didn't stop very often, especially with how famished the Scyther looked. The swarm must have not had enough to eat, judging by the sheer number of bug pokemon behind him.

_Damn those pokemon are fast. Running might be a little pointless. They can bloody fly! Angry creatures that want my head on a plate. Nothing like good old times. I guess some things never change, even in the future pokemon want to eat my face._

Now running alongside Mischief and White Queen, he eyed the entrance to some neck length grass. Usually it wasn't a good idea to jump into tall grass, but this was an exception. It was either death by unexpected mauling or death by Scyther. Neither was preferable of course, but the tall grass just _might _not have things that could potentially maul you. Taking a chance, Riven motioned to both pokemon to follow him into the grass, hopefully to shake the rapidly approaching swarm of Scyther bound in their direction.

Diving into the tall grass, Riven and his pokemon dared not move or even breathe, laying low to the floor to reduce body image. With luck, the bugs would have trouble finding them. But as these things always went with Riven, his luck had other plans. Scythes slashed through the grass like a blade through butter, the once tall grass now cut short just above their heads. The Scyther flew past until one of them managed to spot Haona's white fur, and then all of them.

"Scythe!" It called out, pointing its blades in Riven's direction. The _whole_ swarm then turned 180 degrees in the other direction. Now facing _them_.

"Uh, shit," Riven swore, now slowly rising, placing Mischief into his pack. White Queen also rose slightly, noting the menacing array of sharp chitin pointing in their direction.

_Death by Scyther it is._ Riven snorted, admiring the irony of it all. _I survived through all of that hellish war to die to a bunch of bugs? Universe, how gracious of you._

Locking eyes with the White Queen, he conveyed a message by shifting looks between her, the swarm, and the trail outside of the tall grass. _On my signal, we run. If we fight in the tall grass, we are _dead_._

Haona, understanding the gist of the message, prepared her legs, waiting for the signal. Riven then slowly lifted one finger in the air, then two and then- RUN!

Riven and White Queen darted back towards the trail, leaving the thick brush and heading out onto open ground. The grass would slow them down and because they couldn't fly, the Scyther would destroy them. Not that it would make much of a difference anyway but at least they could take some down with them.

Now standing in the clearing, the youth brought out his pokeball and released the pokemon inside. An orange chick emerged from the pokeball and chirped in happiness. Then it turned around and froze. Seeing all of the angry Scyther approaching, the Torchic ran back towards its trainer, trying to click the button on its pokeball to get sucked back inside. No way was it going to fight all of _that_.

_The professor just had to stick me with a trainer with tendencies for bad situations._ She gulped, thinking about what she could have experienced had she not been with someone so disaster prone. _Well, he does have an Absol. It makes sense._ Accepting her miserable fate, the Torchic stood by her trainer's feet, slightly grumbling about how unfair life was and how she wished that smug bastard Mudkip would be here instead.

She was cut off by a sharp snap from her trainer's fingers. "Focus," he said. "Get in the pack with Ralts. I want you to drive off any Scyther that come close with your ember. The fire should deter them or drive them away. Bugs hate fire as much as I hate my luck, this should work. Theoretically at least. There is a high chance we might end up as pieces by the end of the day. All is well with the world."

_Theoretically?! Great. _The Torchic felt no sense of encouragement from her trainer's amused bleakness. _Why not? I'm already dead._

Riven then spoke to Mischief and the White Queen. "Mischief, I need you to support me with your psychic abilities. I know they are not the strongest nor can you handle multiple targets but I want you to use confusion on any Scyther that come close, and slow any blades that come close to me. White Queen, I need you stay close and sucker punch any of the ones that I am occupied with. You know ice beam so it will be our best weapon against them. Freeze their wings to immobilize them. Then kill them with your horn if needed. Remember not to stray too far."

Haona and Bib were surprised. Their human was actually rather intelligent, speaking like a semi-decent trainer.

Muscles tensing, and fresh adrenaline creeping into their bloodstreams, the gang waited for the bugs, gulping.

Smirking, Riven drew his blades, recognizing he was probably screwed regardless.

* * *

Professor Birch sat in his lab, uneasiness welling up in his stomach. It wasn't his lunch, but the young man he sent off a couple hours ago. His entire presence just shook Birch in a way that was unnatural. His eyes, one dark brown and the other a dark blue, struck him as very strange. His clothing was also very strange. If Birch didn't know any better, he'd say that the kid was reenacting some kind of play, but no actors were in town for that. He wore some kind of leather that was reinforced at the knees and elbows. It also had noticeable damage and slash marks.

_Just what has that boy gotten himself into?_ Birch wondered, trying to think of different scenarios that he could have lived through._ Could have been a bunch of wild pokemon with sharp blades. Maybe even Scyther_. How he could live through an attack by a Scyther swarm was beyond Birch. Hardly anyone unlucky enough to get caught by their attacks survived, the few that did were not unscathed. Why would a person be wearing leather in times like these? It made no sense.

There was also that strange insignia that was emblazoned on the shoulder pads. He'd never seen the symbol before in his life. Who was that boy?

Strange. Very strange.

Tired of pondering the subject by himself, he took out his holo caster and dialed up his friend and colleague.

"Ah, Professor Birch. Good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, Steven. How's work?" Birch inquired, noticing the large bags under Steven's eyes.

"Nerve-wracking to say the least. We found new rock specimens in a cave near Lilycove and we haven't slept at all. The patterns and molecular structure of the rocks are superb. I've never seen anything like it before." Steven responded with a cheerful tone. "So, professor, why the sudden call?"

"Well a trainer appeared at my lab a few hours ago and I sent him to Rustboro to go pick up a holo caster and his pokenav. The bill was already sent so he can just pick them up. They are registered under Riven," Birch explained. "Huh, I forgot to ask for a last name. Must have slipped my mind."

"Is that all? I have a feeling that isn't important enough to make such a sudden call. I'm fairly busy."

"No. That isn't it. I'm not sure if it's just me but this boy…He just doesn't add up."

"What do you mean?".

"He registered for the pokemon league and didn't even know what a pokemon was. He also asked what a television screen was. When I released a Torchic from its ball, the boy's mind nearly exploded. He sat down in a chair looking bewildered for thirty minutes. I had to use a Chansey and a lot of tea to slap him back into reality. I had to explain to him how pokeballs and the pokemon league worked." Birch drew a breath, "He also claimed he was from this strange sounding place and that the metal signs on the routes were a waste of resources and skilled craftsmanship. Bizarre boy."

Steven looked equally perplexed and skeptical. "What did he live under a Geodude his whole life? How can he sign up for the pokemon league and not know what a pokemon _is_?"

"I asked the same thing! Apparently sarcasm is lost on him. He called his pokemon, an Absol and Ralts, _creatures_."

"That's a bit strange."

"It is but that isn't the strangest part. He's dressed like a soldier from one of those weird post-apocalyptic shows. He's wearing leather armor and chaps, with shoulder pads that bear this insignia." Birch showed Steven the crude drawing of the insignia he saw on Riven's shoulder pads. "It's damaged substantially and has slashes and burn marks all over it. This boy has been in serious tussles. With _big_pokemon."

Steven analyzed the drawing, trying to see if he'd seen it anywhere, on glyphs or on the internet. He recalled nothing and said,"I've never seen it before. What could it be?"

"I don't know. And there's more. One of his eyes is blue while the other is brown. He carries a strange glowing stone around his neck on a necklace."

Steven hummed, "Heterochromia? It happens, it isn't something to worry about though. But that stone. I'd like to see it."

"Well, it's black and seems to flash blue across its surface at random intervals. It was very peculiar. And well..." Birch paused, gathering his thoughts."He carries around two long blades. They are extremely sharp and he demonstrated impressive skill with them both. The metal used in the blades looks nearly identical to the stone around his neck. He also sliced through an entire steel cart with minimal force."

"Blades?! What would a kid be doing with those? Where did he get them? Only collectors own quality blades. To carry two of them and be proficient in their use…? Is this kid from Kalos or Kanto? Certainly uncommon for them to come to Hoenn… And an entire steel cart? Even pokemon have trouble doing that. I'm curious to see what they're made of if they didn't dull after something like that."

"Now you see why I called you?" Birch glanced down, sighing. "Steven, I need you to keep an eye on him for a while. Show him around and get him fixed up with some new clothes. I have a feeling he's going to wade into a dangerous situation if left unsupervised. That and I don't want him to murder someone, you've seen the things that have been happening lately."

"He sounds slightly interesting. I'll try. But I can't do this every time you encounter a new trainer that defies the norm. He better be a special case. I'm more interested in the stone than him." Steven admitted, unsure of what he would encounter.

"One last thing Steven. I checked medical records and residencies in every directory in Hoenn." Face darkening, Birch continued. "He was basically a ghost up until yesterday. It was like he never existed."

Hearing this Steven looked warily at Birch, concern filled his eyes. Silent, he nodded his head, pondering over the thought of this.

_No one in this day and age isn't listed in a record. Either he was a serious criminal or this guy is something else. This is far from disturbing, it's downright terrifying. Armed, dangerous, and young. That's just asking for trouble. Hopefully he makes it in one piece._

Ending the call with Birch, Steven paced around his desk, and stopped at the window of his Devon office. Looking towards the direction of Littleroot town, the same feeling of uneasiness welled up in him too.

_I hope you're still alive when you get here, Riven._ _Whoever you are. I better not be wasting my time._

* * *

His chances of survival were dwindling fairly rapidly. The Scyther had attacked. Three were brought down in the first wave, two by Riven's blades and the other by an ice beam.

Parrying a scythe, Riven turned around, thrusting his blade into another bug's abdomen, releasing a gush of blood and fluid. A scythe came down, aiming for his head, before it was stopped by a psychic force. Taking advantage of the moment, Riven flipped the blade in his hand and thrust it upward, impaling the Scyther through the bottom of the chin, where the blade emerged out of the flying bug's skull.

His Torchic threw off two other Scyther attempting to X scissor him from behind with a steady stream of ember, their thoraxes burning away, making the bugs gasp in pain. Riven was slicing through them with Bib's help, who was stopping the sharp chitin from reaching his trainer and confusing bugs farther away, prompting them to attack their own kind.

Bug after bug fell but another took its place, fresh and ready to fight. Haona tried her best, freezing wings and immobilizing the bugs, allowing her to easily tear into them with her horn. She was beginning to tire, as was the Torchic, Bib, and Riven.

_Just too many._ Haona thought, when she felt a sharp agonizing pain in her side. A chitin blade had slashed her side, not deep enough to slice through bone but deep enough to leave a horrible, bleeding gash in its place. Raising its other appendage to finish her off, a blade suddenly emerged through its throat, spraying blood in front of it.

Kicking the Scyther off his blade, Riven noticed the wound on the Absol's side. It was large and a considerable amount of blood continually seeped out of it. A puddle began to collect at her feet. He needed to get her help. And soon. Standing over her, he stood his ground waiting for more bugs to charge them. Slashing and stabbing through carapaces and thoraxes, Riven was left a bloody mess, cut up by their sharp appendages and covered in blood. Bib was visibly exhausted, exerting himself to stop blades from killing their trainer. The Torchic was running out of steam, her embers growing weaker and weaker, driving the Scyther back less and less.

As Riven was occupied with two other bugs, another one descended behind him, raising its glowing scythe, ready to kill her trainer with a charged x scissor. Feeling a sudden and intense urge to protect her friends, her horn glowed a light green and extended , becoming a large green blade the size of her body.

She had learned mega horn. Jumping to her feet, and with the last of her strength, she swung her head viciously, horn now a large blade, slicing cleanly through the Scyther. It fell onto the floor, now a bleeding disgusting mess. Too tired to continue, Haona blacked out from fatigue and blood loss.

Seeing his friend fall unconscious, Bib felt furious. He did not want to lose another friend. No. He would not lose his family like he had before. This time he would fight. Resolve coursed through him, as strong as well made steel, and his body began to glow white as he pushed himself further.

The Scyther stopped their assault, momentarily reveling in the brilliant display. Bib's body changed into that of a small lithe figure, resembling a little girl. Now filled with more psychic power, Bib lifted his hands, causing the Scyther's blades to move according to his will. Raising their blades with psychic power, he placed them at their throats and swung his hand horizontally. Nearly fifteen Scyther fell to the floor, profusely bleeding from the throat, killing themselves with their own blades.

The Scyther swarm, now only harboring a few bugs, began to retreat, knowing that this prey was too difficult to kill. Flying away, Bib fainted, having used up too much psychic power in such a short time. Torchic was also barely hanging on, feathers now stained red with blood.

Riven was shaking, bleeding from his arms, legs and face. A large cut ran down from his right pectoral to his hip, bleeding profusely but not deep enough to cause major damage to his internal organs. He had lost a vast amount of blood and felt weak, but his only concern was for his pokemon. Looking at Haona's rapidly deteriorating state, he fed her a sitrus berry to keep her awake and help stagnate the bleeding.

Picking her up in his arms, he started to run forward, staggering and panting in exhaustion and blood deficiency. He ran like the wind, not stopping for a second.

_I will not let her die. I will not let her die. Do not die on me now, White Queen._

Seeing the mid sized town ahead, his legs began to quiver and ache. Too exhausted, and he'd been bleeding profusely. Arriving in the town, he set the Absol down and dropped to his knees, shouting for help at the top of his lungs. The shout used up the last of his remaining energy and he collapsed, a bloody stained mess on the town's concrete foundation.

Townspeople rushed toward the sound of the scream, noticing a man and a badly wounded Absol on the floor, bleeding significantly. A sad looking Torchic chirped at them, asking for help. Horrified, the citizens called the hospital and the pokemon center, calling for a serious emergency.

The paramedics arrived and cursed at what they saw. Gruesome couldn't even begin to describe the extent of the Absol and its trainer's wounds. Loading them onto the truck and inserting IV's and medicine into their veins, they carried them off to the hospital. They needed immediate attention, their time was ticking.

In the hospital, the doctors tore off the young man's armor and began surgery. The fact he was still alive was a miracle.

_Any normal person would have already been dead. Whatever did this to him nearly killed him. He barely got away with his life._ The doctor grimaced. _Let's just hope he survives the night._

At the pokemon center, nurse Joy and other doctors were desperately trying to save the Absol's life. The gash was massive and she had suffered numerous other cuts along her body. Her blood loss was substantial and was now at critical levels.

Suddenly, the sound they all dreaded came, she was flat lining.

Her heart had stopped.

Nurse Joy screamed, "Get me the defibrillator!"


	5. Recovery

The doctors emerged from the operating room, slightly relieved but still worried. The two paramedics that brought the young man in and a few other bloody citizens stood in the hallway, requesting an update on his condition.

The paramedic, a short man with a bushy mustache, asked first. "How's he doing now? Is he gonna make it?"

The doctor, Dr. Page, sighed and placed his hands in his white coat. "We've managed to stabilize his condition so his life isn't in immediate danger anymore. However, surprises do occur."

"Ah that's good then." The paramedic shifted, unsure about whether to ask his next question. Deciding that he needed to know , he inquired, " Do you know what did this?"

Dr Page wanted to know as well. However, any wild pokemon could have done this, it was hard to know for sure. Many bug pokemon had bladed body parts or arms capable of cutting. Page clarified, "No. We don't know what kind of wild pokemon could have done this."

"Yes we do." Another doctor emerged from the operating room, wearing blue scrubs. He was an older man around his fifties, with graying hair at the sides. He looked disturbed and a bit sick, having just seen the boy's injuries.

"Dr. Royce. What makes you say that?"

"Well, just look at the sheer amount of injuries he sustained. And what _kind_ of injuries they were." His voice grew deeper, giving more weight to his words. "Twenty seven cuts and slashes across his legs, arms, face, and torso. All of which were done by a bladed weapon of some sort. There is no way that a trainer or criminal did this, the cuts were much too large and were irregularly shaped. A pokemon did this." Wild pokemon did not usually hunt on the main roads, many of them were wary enough of humans to actually avoid the main roads. Attacks like this were uncommon at the worst of times.

"Well that maybe so but what pokemon?" asked Dr. Page, listening intently to Royce's hypothesis. The older man was fairly good at deducing things like this. He was an ex detective after all, before he went back to medical school to become a surgeon. He could trust his assessment. Granted, no one could accurately guess what happened but it was worth a try.

"I'm assuming that it wasn't beedrill. They typically leave stab wounds not slash wounds. The only other pokemon capable of large swarms is…damn. The only other pokemon capable of that is a scyther."

Everyone in the room gasped, knowing just how deadly hungry swarms of scyther were. They'd lost good people to them in the past. Trainers and normal citizens alike. The scyther just swooped in and shredded them to pieces. No one really survived to tell the tale. The last had been heart breaking. Three young trainers traveling together were cut down by presumably, the same swarm. They were so young too, the tender age of eleven, going back to Littleroot to visit family. Obviously, they never made it.

"Scyther? Holy shit. Why didn't he run? Even experienced trainers have been overwhelmed by scyther swarms before. He was just a starter! He couldn't possibly take them on!" Page exclaimed, appalled by the trainer's carelessness. He knew most young men were reckless and impulsive but not quite like this.

"Page. Don't be so quick to judge. Scyther are quick, too quick for a human. Even the _fastest _human couldn't hope to outrun a single scyther. If he tried, he would have been cut down soon enough. He stood and fought, and because of that he's alive. Of course, he was carrying two blades. Sharp too."

"Swords? What does he need swords for?"

"Does it matter? Imagine if he wasn't carrying them Page."

Page grimaced, acknowledging the fact that it was probably the entire reason why this kid wasn't dead yet. "Okay. Point."

Royce turned to the paramedics, "What about his absol? Any news?" It had arrived in a far more dire state and it was bleeding much more than the young man was. He'd have to go check up on it soon.

The paramedics shook their heads slowly. There had been no news coming from the pokemon center. The doors were closed but the lights were still on in the operating room, they were still fighting to save the absol's life. Nurse Joy declined to comment on the pokemon's state, tears visible in her eyes as she spoke with a shaky voice, urging them to come back later.

Dr. Royce turned his gaze towards the floor. "I see. Well. I'm going to head down there and check up on it. I want to be able to tell the young man what condition his absol's in after he wakes up. Hopefully alive." Excusing himself, he walked towards the exit. "If anything comes up, don't hesitate to holo cast me. I'll come as soon as I can."

After watching him leave, the rest of the concerned citizens and doctors stood in the lobby, awkward silence spreading throughout the room. It was broken by a woman, who asked how this even happened.

A man answered her question, giving her details of the terrifying experience. "I saw him come through the gates, he was limping and panting real heavy. He was carrying a bloody absol in his arms and was basically dripping blood like a damned fountain. I've never seen so much blood in my life. It was …something else." He shuddered, remembering the sight. " Anyway, he screamed and then collapsed. His kirlia was out cold in his pack and his torchic was the only thing that wasn't knocked out or dying. Hell, it could barely stand. They must have fought hard, really hard."

The woman cupped her hands over her mouth. She imagined her boy, who was about to turn ten that year, coming into Oldale a bloody mess. Her eyes started to water, and soon sobs were heard. Other concerned parents also pictured their children ending up like that, which made them very uneasy about letting their children go off on their own at such an age. A nearly fully grown teenager with three pokemon and weapons couldn't hold them off. What would a young, unarmed little child do?

* * *

The rain fell outside of Oldale hospital, rivulets of water running down the windows of Riven's room. The steady drumming of the water woke him from a drug induced sleep. He opened his eyes slowly, feeling immensely sluggish and disoriented. His entire body ached like mad and his head felt like someone had bludgeoned him with a hammer.

White walls surrounded him and equipment similar to the ones found in Birch's lab were scattered around the room. Strange beeps filled the room and a strange smell reached his nostrils. It was unpleasant and nauseating, making his head spin. He was still very weak and could not move much at all at the present moment. He felt useless. Not being able to move around, he glanced at the window, watching the rain.

_I hate the rain. I always have. It is so gloomy and depressing. Like the world itself cries in sorrow. The sky is not vibrant but dull and dreary_. He sighed_. _

A nurse came in and jumped, seeing him awake. She ran out of the door and returned a minute later with a doctor. Forcing painful memories back into his brain, Riven turned his head weakly towards the man, unable to do much else.

The doctor then spoke, "Young man. I need to ask you some questions. Do you mind?" Riven shook his head side to side, giving permission to the doctor to ask him anything about the attack.

"Do you remember what happened?" Riven nodded. The doctor continued, "Alright. What do you remember?

Feeling drowsy, Riven opened his lips, "Traveling…..buzzing….s-stop." He coughed violently. "buzzing….scyther….at-t-t-ack…pain…absol." Remembering the critical condition in which his absol was in, he tried to get up, feeling only immense pain.

"Stop! You are still healing! If you move around too much you will reopen your wounds and bleed out again. Do you want that?" The doctor said, scolding Riven's reckless behavior.

Riven slumped back into the mattress, feeling helpless, feeling worried about his absol. She was his friend. He wanted to know how she was doing. Looking the doctor in the eye, Riven gritted his teeth and asked the doctor, " Ab…..absol…..how?"

The doctor's face shut down, looking back at the nurse, then back at Riven. "I'm sorry but we haven't received any updates from the pokemon center since you arrived last night. We will inform you of anything regarding your absol. Please excuse us."

Riven clenched his teeth and his fists together, head crashing into the pillow. He was sitting here recovering while White Queen could be dying or worse_. If she dies, I will go back there and kill every single one of them until there are none left. I swear it. They will not take her from me._ He thought to himself, looking at the rain outside. His body was covered in white bandages and he was dressed in a white hospital gown. White everywhere. He hated this place_. I do not want to return to this place ever again. The colors and the smells are all wrong, all they do is reek of death and suffering._

Leaving the room, the doctor headed back out into the lobby.

"He woke up at least." The doctor informed everyone. "He's still weak from the drugs but I'm surprised he's healed that quickly. He may only need one week before we remove the stitches. His healing rate is quite remarkable. He must have one powerful immune system."

"That's good news."

"At any rate, Dr. Royce was right. The boy confirmed it was a scyther swarm. Honestly, if it weren't for the leather he was wearing, his wounds would have been far more severe. It was already badly damaged but it did take most of the damage for him. I don't know whether to say he has luck or that he has none at all." Page paused, "I mean seriously. What kind of luck do you have to have to get attacked by a rabid scyther swarm on your first day as a trainer? By Arceus, the legendaries must hate him."

The people in the lobby nodded in agreement, wondering what cruel beast could do such a thing. Feeling much better now that the young man was on the road to recovery, the people headed back to their homes.

The doctors watched them go and scoffed. One moment they act like they are his parents and the next they just leave him to his own devices like an abandoned child. "Hypocrites," Page hissed, bothered by such fake concern.

Opening his holo caster, he dialed Dr. Royce to receive any news on the kid's absol. Royce picked it up after twenty seconds. _Always so punctual_, Page mused.

"Hello Dr. Royce. I've got good news. The boy woke up and is on his way to recovery. He'll need about a week to fully recover and then we can take his stitches off." He flashed a smile, which quickly faded when he saw Royce's tired face.

"Hey, you look exhausted. What happened there?"

Royce blinked a couple of times, licking his dry lips as he formulated words to describe last night's events. "The absol is incredibly stubborn. And she nearly scared us to death a couple times. We didn't sleep a wink at all, we kept expecting another incident."

Page laughed a bit, wondering why a straight laced guy like Royce would say that.

"Treating it-her, was a rollercoaster." Royce rubbed his eyes, trying to ward off the sleepiness. "She flat lined three times."

Page stammered, unable to reply coherently. _Three times?! Usually most people or pokemon are done at one or two. But three? This absol _really_ didn't want to die. Her will to live must be incredibly strong. Heh. Just like her trainer._ I guess that some pokemon really did resemble their trainers. Both of them are incredibly stubborn to have lived through that, go critical and keep on kicking. He had to commend them, it was impressive.

"She just flat out refused to die, Page. She kept coming back again and again. She hung onto her thread with a vice last night. She's fortunately stable now. Hopefully no surprises anymore. I'm done with surprises." Royce rubbed his eyes again. " She's receiving rapid recovery treatment at this moment." Royce concluded. _Now maybe I could get some fucking rest._ Shutting off the holo caster, Royce dumped himself on the couch in the waiting room, falling asleep within seconds.

_Fucker hung up on me._ Page thought, smiling to himself. Looking out of the lobby window, the rain had subsided and the sun shone through, creating a beautiful rainbow. Oldale no longer had a dark gloom lingering over it, now replaced by a cheerful aura like always. Walking back to the boy's room, he whistled gleefully, ready to deliver the good news.

Opening the door, he peered through the door and noticed the young man wide awake, blankly staring at the ceiling. He looked bored out of his mind and an emptiness of life could be seen in his eyes.

Momentarily forgetting the trainer's situation he asked ,"Hey what's going on? Why the long face?" Absolutely _wrong_ question to ask a patient. He forgot the number one rule of being a doctor, never ask how a patient's day is going, if they're here, it's not by choice. He flinched, expecting the boy to erupt in a fit of rage like most teenagers do. Instead, what he got was something that scared him stiff.

Riven slowly turned to him looking into the doctor's eyes. Riven's eyes were not like a normal person's anymore. His eyes promised cold murder. That look could drill holes through a person's damned _soul_.

Riven spoke up, coldly furious. "Do you know how to get rid of a body, Doctor?"

"Errrrr…no?"

"Because I do." A simple statement.

It pretty much translated to, _Ask me another stupid question and I will feed you your teeth with a sharp object. _Terrifying, but effective nonetheless.

Pace, who was now sweating rather furiously, nodded his head in agreement, unconsciously stepping back a few feet. He stuttered to speak before letting out a short statement. "S-S-Sh-She's alive."

The young man's face lit up instantly and his eyes instantly returned to normal, losing the hollowness Page had seen the moment before. He tried to get up but yelled in response to the pain of his wounds. The white bandage covering his largest wound now became slightly reddish, he had reopened his wound with the sudden motion. Growling lowly, the boy slammed back into the bed, nearly tearing his hair out in frustration. _I want to see her. I want to see if she is alive and well. She may be a stubborn little queen but she is my friend. One of the few I have made in a very , very long time. Guess I need to be patient until I recover sufficiently. _

Accepting defeat, Riven motioned for the doctor to leave, which Page did without hesistation. He definitely was not going to stick around with a scary _thing _like that. _I felt bad for this guy? The kid is a freaking psycho! Do I know how to hide a body? What kind of fucking question is that? _Shaking himself off, he walked into the smoking area and fired up a cigarette. _Damn crazy, that one._

* * *

A nurse and a few others were now stitching his wound again. Great. _This is only the first day too._ Thinking about staying bedridden for a week made him grow even more restless. He was useless and uncomfortable. He wanted to _move_. Staying idle for extended periods of time largely aggravated him.

The long idle waits he endured for months back in the regiment were the _epitome_ of torture. Nothing to do. Just clean out the ditches, sharpen some swords, pick some dirt out of your fingernails, stare at the campfire for hours on end, and wonder when this damned conflict was going to end. At the time, it seemed so foolish, waiting for a one thousand year old war to end so soon. Now he was not so sure. But if a person were to ask what was the worst thing about war, every soldier would agree that it was the accursed waiting. Everyone hated it.

Riven turned his head to the right, looking at the clouds outside. Everything seemed peaceful in this world, except for murderous swarms of pokemon that wanted a piece of you. Literally. People were not killing each other, or exchanging knife edged words that cut like real blades. They were genuinely friendly, something he did not have the luxury of in his world. That world was simple. _Kill or be killed. There was no in between. Feels…strange, not being there. _

He knew this was not his world. Not anymore. Nothing was the same. On one hand he was glad, but on the other, he felt empty. No purpose, no goal.

_What will I do when I find my answers? Shall I continue onto this pokemon league? _ So many uncertainties, not enough definitive answers. For now, all he could do was wait.

Resting his head on the pillow, Riven tried to will himself to sleep, which did not seem to work very well. The more he thought about sleep, the less sleepy he actually felt. He had issues falling asleep, partly due to nightmares and trauma he sustained during the war, watching his comrades die. The only reason he fell asleep was because of the "drugs" they used on him. Futuristic remedies sure worked rather amazingly.

They could put someone to sleep and numb pain, something that would have worked magnificently well when limbs became infected and needed amputation. Biting on a cloth until your teeth nearly shattered sounded horrifying. Luckily he had managed to avoid most damage during his service. He had scars, sure, but he always took the utmost care dressing his wounds to prevent infection. Burning the wound worked well but these disinfectants worked wonders, while not permanently destroying tissue._ Quite remarkable. Medicine sure has improved._

A bittersweet smile came to his lips. _Progress. Any time someone tried to make the world a better place, someone else just came in and ruined it._ Teeth gritted together. _Just like what happened to my family_. _Try to change an era and reactionaries rip you to pieces. _Someone had to try. One thousand years of war never did anyone any good. By the looks of this world, someone _had._ And succeeded.

"_Change is a frightening thing,"_ his father had once said. He was a proud man, strong and collected, with a cunning wit and tactical brilliance that inspired fear in his enemies. The Rossean troops would call him the Devil's Hand, whose tactics would decimate entire regiments of soldiers, even armies. He frightened them so much that they ran when they saw his army. _"Miniscule amounts of change alter very little and take years and even decades to bring about something greater. This is the most effective form of change as it gives others the chance to adapt and adjust to these fluctuations. They do not feel threatened but rather, embrace change. Tempers do not flare and wars do not erupt. However, this chain can be easily broken. One opposing decision and the process is degraded, requiring more and more time to fix, eventually spiraling into chaos. As you see here."_

Riven would stare at him in wonder, hoping one day to become a master tactician like his father before him.

His father would point to their city and continue. _"However, on the opposing side, there is change on a massive and grand scale. It is the most controversial and most radical form of change. The alteration is quick, violent, and ultimately irrevocable. Such an act could shift the world out of balance and transition a new era, one for the better or worse. This by definition, terrifies people. It threatens their way of life, the only thing they know." _His father looked back at him, like a master teaching a student_, "Remember this Riven, the thing that frightens man and beasts the most is not death nor having enough to eat, but the aspect of the unknown. That is why the fear us, Riven. That is why they fear the dark and also why they fear change. They are walking blind into something they know nothing about."_

Riven, only seven at the time, was confused, his father's profound words lost on his young mind. However those words would stay with him forever, and would guide him through some of the most important decisions of his life that were yet to come.

His father looked at the map, eyes fixated on the enemy's cities. _"Such change, is sometimes necessary. When views are divided and small picks are insufficient, a furious blow must be dealt. If it brings the entire world to our doorstep then so be it. We will pay that price. It is the risk that comes with such radical action. It must be done, to ensure that we do not destroy ourselves. Ponder this Riven, for you must decide your path as well."_

"_Will you chose to be a river, carving canyons over the decades, or will you be the eruption of a furious volcano, changing the land and the earth in an instant? Think my son. Think and choose."_

Those were his father's last words before the Rose clan raided the city, torching it to the ground and killing all of its inhabitants, including the royal family. All except one. He had wandered out to the forest that day, and came back to smoke and flame.

Decades of work, craftsmanship, history, culture, and technology lost in a single night. Their entire people snuffed out like a flame under water, extinguished like a light. His father was right, they feared them. And what his father and the rest of them were trying to do.

_But all of that does not matter anymore. It is gone. Lost to time. What should I do now? What next?_

Mind heavy with thoughts, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Haona's eyes fluttered open, taking in a room unfamiliar to her. She was on top of a metal bed, covered almost entirely in a bandage. It was painful to move, painful to breathe. She felt alone unsure of where she was. Where were Bib, Torchic, and Riven? Why weren't they here?

Her limbs wouldn't move, they felt like heavy logs tied to her. The only thing she could move were her eyes and mouth, she felt trapped in her own body. It was like an electric pokemon's paralysis but far worse. She panicked, causing a monitor on the screen next to her to start beeping uncontrollably, monitoring her heart rate.

Nurse Joy came crashing in, startled by the sudden spike in the absol's heatbeat. Saving it's life had been one of her most intense tests yet, driving her to the absolute edge of her wits and ability. She noticed it's eyes darting around the room before locking with hers, full of mortification. Sighing in relief, Joy walked up to the absol's bed and placed a gentle hand on her soft white fur.

"Shh…Shhhh." Joy smiled, reassurance and kindness radiating from the simple gesture. This seemed to calm the absol down slightly. "It's alright. Don't stress yourself out too much okay? It's just a strong paralysis medicine we used so your wound wouldn't hurt as much." Joy ruffled her fur. "We don't have to use it if you like but don't move around too much, it can reopen the wound we worked hard to close. Also, the pain might be unbearable if we do remove it."

Haona visibly relaxed, heart rate gradually dropping back to a normal healthy beat. Joy had a magical way of calming pokemon down. Her smile and her touch seemed to melt worries and erase fear. However, she still wanted to know where her trainer and her friends were. Straining herself with a dry throat, she cried , "Ab…sol…absol."

Although Joy couldn't understand the absol's strained speech, she knew that she missed her friends. "Your trainer is still recovering at the hospital. He will be released in about five days, judging from Dr Royce's information regarding his condition. He was hurt pretty bad, but not as bad as you. He's as stubborn as you are." A light hearted giggle. "Your friends, the kirlia and the torchic, are in the lobby. They've been worried sick these past five days. They care about you a lot. Bonds like that aren't easy to come by. It's heart warming." She smiled again. " I guess that's why I love this job so much. I get to see the bonds between a trainer and pokemon. It makes all the gruesome and tiring experiences memorable and well worth it."

With that, Joy turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door slowly. Joy was always respectful to pokemon, treating them like she would a person. They were friends not pets.

But the female absol just wouldn't stay out of her mind. She thought reflectively, _She's strong. All of them are. They are going to do something amazing one day, I just know it._

The door shut and Haona was once again by herself. Joy's words brought serene relaxation to her mind, dissolving worrisome troubles. She rested her head on the soft pillow underneath her, now enjoying the feeling. She wanted to see her friends but she knew she had to wait. She didn't want to scare them by suddenly reopening her wound and gushing blood everywhere.

The thought sent memories flooding back into her mind. Back to when they were fighting the scyther.

She remembered the pain in her side as one of the scythers' blades raked across her side, cutting her open. She remembered Bib desperately trying to stall the scyther blades, torchic blasting them away with embers. But most of all, she remembered seeing her trainer. The way he stood over her like a protective angel, not daring to let any of the scyther touch her. She saw every painful slash he took for her, every scyther he cut down just to save her, to save all of them. Haona already had respect for him ever since he saved them from the mightyena. With this, she felt even more admiration for him.

Before, she never thought she would ever trust humans because of what they did to her life by taking her parents away. The depressive episodes were unbearable and miserable, tempting her with thoughts of taking it all away with one quick dive into the canyons below. However, now she saw what some humans were really like. Some were kind and considerate, like Nurse Joy, and others that were selfless like Riven. At least for her.

It felt liberating, to replace hateful thoughts with new ones, new ones full of hope and trust. She now understood what Bib felt like, back in the forest. To see someone else wash away your pains and demand nothing back made you want to pour your heart and soul into them. Making them happy made you happy. Leaning on each other like a scale, balancing each other out. Was that what it was to be a trainer's pokemon? It brought a smile to her lips.

_When I see that quirky human again, I'm going to tackle him._

_All that's left is the wait._

* * *

The final days of his recovery blurred together for Riven. The last five days he spent his time watching the Hoenn News channel and talking to his pokedex. Apparently it was some sort of "artificial intelligence" that thought and felt like a human being. It was fascinating, seeing the extent at which technology had grown.

His pokedex was named Charles and spoke in a seemingly Curian accent. Although the Curians were one of his family's most bitter enemies, he had to admit their eloquent way of speaking words made them sound very intellectual and suave. Charles was polite and actually responsible for warning him about the scyther a few days ago. Something he was grateful for.

Flipping the pokedex back, he bid a good sleep to Charles and took a metal box suspended by cables down to the lobby. It was an elevator, a magnificent and efficient contraption. It made it far easier to ascend and descend, and saved time.

Now in the lobby, dressed in his normal attire albeit significantly damaged, he walked out of the hospital doors, waving his hand up in the air before shooting a glance at Dr Page, who cowered slightly.

Feeling fresh air fill his lungs and not the smell of disinfectant, he stretched his arms and legs, reveling in the cool breeze and warm sun. Spotting a building with a red roof, he merrily walked to its doors, excited to see his friends again. Which felt odd... considering pokemon as friends. But they were friendly enough, and were not taking an active role in furthering his death. He would allow it.

Before he was fully inside, a white blur collided with him, tackling him to the floor. Licking his face once then rubbing her face on his, the now fully healed White Queen was delighted to see him. Riven laughed, seeing her gleeful reaction.

She continued licking his cheek. "Ah hey. I miss-Gah! I missed you too, White Queen." Looking past her, he saw a smiling Kirlia and a joyful Torchic standing a few feet away. Riven scowled, " Mischief, Torchic! What are you doing? Come here!"

The Kirlia and the Torchic walked up to him, happy to see him alive and well. Their trainer then let out a snort, pointing to Bib, he said , "Hah. You look like a girl. And with a dress at that." Bib responded by psychically flicking a pebble at his head. Torchic chirped, further lightening the reunion of the group.

Riven's laughter died down and now looked at the small fire type with curiosity. "Hey Torchic, I have not had the time to give you a proper name have I?" The orange chick shook it's head, affirmative. "Well, you are a fire type and female. So, do you feel content with the name Aine? It means fire."

The torchic thought for a bit. _It sounds cool, awesome, and mystical at the same time. I like it! Fits too. He has good taste._ She chirped back loudly, confirming her choice.

Riven smirked , pointing to route 102, "Well then. Aine, Mischief, and White Queen, shall we?" His pokemon nodded, eager to get moving again after a week of recovery and idleness. "But first, the doctor told me to go pick up some medicines and supplies at the mart."

Bib face palmed, Haona buried her head in her paws, and Aine frowned slightly. The young trainer reeled his head back, laughing at their exasperated faces. "I will be back soon. Wait for me."

Picking up his supplies: ten potions, five super potions, and ten pokeballs, he put them into his new bag, which he received for free from the clerk. Slinging it over his shoulder, he looked at his friends in front of the store. Grinning like an idiot, he signaled them to follow him, heading towards the town exit to route 102. "To Rustboro!"

_And so the adventure continues._

* * *

**If any of you are wondering what Curian sounds like, just picture a nice _fancy_ English accent. Monocle worthy, I assure you.**


	6. Interaction

Exiting Oldale Town with a bag full of medicines and pokeballs, Riven and his team walked along the main road on route 102. Looking at the metal sign that read "route 102", Riven still could not understand how the signs were cut so perfectly_._ _They must have some serious artisans around._ Turning away from the beautifully cut sign, he walked further ahead, black shoes stepping on the wet ground with an audible _squelch_.

There was an earthy scent in the air due to the rainy weather around Oldale for the past week. Tall grass and ferns grew around the main road, footprints marked the ground along the road, making it easily distinguishable with the surrounding greenery. Tiny footprints were everywhere. Riven could tell that young fledgling trainers passed through this area recently, some tracks were fresh.

This route was similar to route 101 with its abundance of trees and grass, but was traveled more often, judging by the multitude of tracks along the dirt road. Sweeping the area with his eyes, he looked for threats. No such thing as too careful. After what happened on route 101, Riven was taking _zero_ chances.

That week in the hospital was hellish and painful, both on Riven and his absol. Going back there so soon was definitely _not_ on their to-do lists.

Another surprising feature about this route was that the pokemon were surprisingly bolder. Some linoone and zigzagoon crossed the road, darting between both sides of the forest. It seems like they were playing a game of sorts. Aine looked rather excited, wanting to play tag with the wild pokemon. _Bib and Haona are so lazy. All they do is sit around and rest under the shade. I want to play!_

She was about to run after them until Riven called out to her. "Aine, I know you want to play but we need to get to Rustboro as fast as possible. Nights in the forest can be treacherous, dark types come out then. And they _love_ ambushes." Well, White Queen was also a dark type and he preferred the darkness anyway. Dark types would not be able to sneak up on them so easily. However, that did not lessen their lethality. Mightyenas were common in these parts, according to Charles.

A few hours of walking later, his pokemons' feet started to ache and he could tell they were getting hungry. Hell, he was getting hungry. He had picked up a bag of pokemon formula mix from the clerk in the pokemart for free as well. Those townspeople were very generous. However, that only covered his pokemon, not him. Of course, he could just eat their formula too but that would be…uh, not pleasant. Granted, it wasn't something he hadn't done before, but he preferred real food any day.

Placing a hand on his chin, he thought of any wild pokemon he saw earlier that would make a good meal. "Linoone and Zigzagoon? Too bony and tasteless. Best find another." Sitting on a rock with a pensive stare, a pokemon came to mind. A furret. " Furret are rather tasty…."

Deciding that he would hunt himself a furret, he shot up from the rock, surprising his pokemon, who were currently devouring the formula. Apparently they liked the stuff. Aine was flat on her back, belly full of food, White Queen was still stuffing her face, and Mischief sat under a tree, telekinetically floating the food towards him.

"Lazy bastard."

Mischief only smirked, putting another puff into his mouth. Riven rolled his eyes and grinned slightly, walking over to a small stump. Arming himself with his blades and his trusty bow, he turned back towards the group. "Hey. I am going to go hunt a bit. Stay here. Do not move. Seriously. Stay." Taking one step, he turned around. "There." He then disappeared into the brush.

Aine let out a satisfied chirp while wiggling her feet."_Wow, I'm so full. Pokefood isn't bad._"

Haona gave her a dubious look. "_What, didn't they feed you at the lab or something?_"

"_Well ,yeah. Sometimes. I was mostly stuck inside that pokeball. In there, I didn't feel hungry. I did feel it after I got out though. They fed me really dry food, it wasn't very good._"

"_Ah. I guess I didn't know that. Riven keeps us outside our pokeballs most of the time. He thinks it's good if we get some exercise, that's why he keeps you outside too, Aine._"

"_Well I'm glad! I like walking and running and playing! I think fighting will be fun too,_" the torchic chirped happily.

Bib and Haona nearly choked on their puffs_. Fighting? Fun? What part of almost dying is fun?_ Both pokemon shot a questioning glare at the small orange colored chick.

"_What? You've never battled before? It's really fun! It's like a game, and when you win, you feel really great_,"Aine recalled, judging from her sparring matches with that dick mudkip and her friend Veer, the treecko. "_Also like that scyther fight a couple days ago!_"

Bib glanced at Haona, a glance that said , _Should I tell her or should you?_ Pointing her head at the joyful chick, the absol gestured Bib to continue.

Clearing his throat, Bib spoke up. "_Aine, that wasn't a regular fight like you're used to._" His face turned serious. "_That was a real life or death fight. It was us or them. That took Riven and Haona a week to recover from_."So young and naïve, they were young too but they had been through some things. Besides, she was the baby of the group—it counted. "_I know it's hard to tell the difference but since you're the newest member of the team, we need you to understand that there are things that want you dead out there. If a time comes when that happens again, don't wait. Just take them out._"

Aine's eyes were now as wide as saucers, terrified. Bib scratched his green hair, "_Listen, me and Haona, every battle we've been in has been… not friendly. We know how to kill, we've done it before. We've never had to hold back before. So ….. erm, about this battling business. How do you do it? Non-lethal I mean._"

Aine, now slightly more calm, explained, "_Well, I guess you try to hurt the other pokemon but not hard enough to seriously hurt them. Knock them out but not kill. Listen to your trainer, that way your instincts won't make you do something nasty. That's what Veer used to say._"

"_Whose Veer?_" Haona asked, wondering which of the other two starters it was.

"_Oh. He was a treecko in the lab were you guys found me. He was pretty strong. I never managed to beat him even though I had the advantage, and he was really wise too._" The torchic saddened a little. "_I still kinda miss him. He taught me a lot."_ Shaking her head, she suddenly brightened, "_You two will do fine! I'm sure of it! You already have some experience so your first trainer battle shouldn't be too difficult!_"

Haona and Bib smiled. The hyperactive and joyful little torchic's words sent relief down their shoulders. It couldn't be that bad right? That is until Aine gave Haona one final piece of advice.

"_Oh, yeah. Miss Haona? You're going to have to dull your sharp thing._"

Bib snickered slightly, which prompted Haona to kick some sand into his face. He sputtered trying to get the sand out of his mouth. The Torchic laughed softly.

"_You can call me Haona, and it's called a horn. Can I ask why?_"

"_Well, Veer said that pokemon with blades or sharp…err…horns, need to dull them so they won't hurt the other pokemon too much. They have to be extra careful because if they cut an artery then there will be serious problems for them and their trainer. Or something like that_."

"_Or something like that?_" Haona wasn't really sure if she could trust what the torchic had to say. After all, it was absurd to dull your horn just to fight in an official battle. She _liked _having it razor sharp. That was her pride as an absol. Absol's loved their horns. She wasn't going to dull it for some stupid non-lethal battle.

_Hmph, as if._

The torchic looked at her elder and lazily replied, _"What? I was eating at the time! I didn't pay attention to__all __of it." _With that, she turned to the side, adjusted herself on the ground and went to sleep.

Bib, now having recovered from his spasm, momentarily gave Haona a glare before his face relaxed and he sighed. _"Well, you're going to have to figure something out. You don't want to kill a pokemon on accident after all. Then you'd get put down,"_ Bib reasoned. _"Sucks to be you."_

The female absol released an annoyed huff. _"I can probably dull it_, _but it's annoying to do. I'd rather not_."

The psychic shrugged. "_Well it's a start._"

Suddenly, Haona shot up, fully alert. Her horn was tingling. Trouble was coming. It happened before they got attacked by the mightyena, then the scyther, and now this. Except she knew it wasn't meant for her.

Bib noticed and asked, "_T__rouble?_" Haona nodded.

She then snickered and gave a toothy grin,"_Yep. But not the lethal kind, the annoying kind. And we aren't the ones that are getting it_."

The kirlia fully understood and smirked. "_Who's the_ _poor bastard now?"_

* * *

It had been about thirty minutes since he had left his pokemon at camp. In the time spent walking through the forest's thick brush, he had not so much as seen a single furret. Plenty of linoones, but no furrets.

_This is frustrating. Damn it. The sun is going to set soon_. Furrets are not nocturnal creatures. They would not be out during the night. He had to catch one quick as they went back to their nests. Otherwise it was an empty stomach for the night and part of the next day. And walking miles on an empty stomach made people straight up _cranky_.

A bushy tail whipped past his face, snapping him out of his thoughts. Focusing his eyes on the tail he realized what it belonged to. _A furret! Mine, come here you furry little sh-_

The furret, noticing the rather large weapon in the human's arms, turned away in terror, jumping from tree to tree to get away. The chase had begun.

Riven chased the furret through thickets of tall grass, dodging and weaving through trees in an attempt to get a shot at the furry animal. However, it was fast and adept at moving through the vegetation. His only strategy was to tire it out, it would eventually. Jumping was strenuous on the body's calves and legs, which required a lot of energy_. It is only a matter of time, then you are mine._

The furret began to tire, its legs hurting from jumping so much. The human was relentless and pretty fast for something with two legs. It also wasn't tired at all. The furret then jumped to a high tree after losing the human in between two trees_. _It thought it was safe. Bad mistake. A whizzing sound was heard, almost like swooping swellow.

_Thunk._

The arrow hit home and landed right between the furret's eyes, killing it instantly. It had been a pretty far shot, it was the only one he had. He needed to stay hidden so the pokemon could think it was safe. He knew it would stop if it thought it lost him. _And it was about?...forty feet? Not bad._

Impressed with his shot, he walked over to his kill and was about to retrieve his arrow when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He saw a blonde girl with her hair tied in spiky ponytail. She was wearing…well, he didn't really know _what _she was wearing. People from the future wore strange clothing. But her face was the part that was the most noticeable. Her mouth was wide open, her jaw looked like it hit the floor, and her eyes were as wide as the moon itself. She looked horrified. The flashlight in her other hand wavered.

She had a pokeball in her right, a regular sized one, meaning that she was trying to catch it. Now it was well….kind of dead. Riven had to admit, the irony of the situation was pretty hilarious. Being a soldier for so long, his humor had grown quite dark. He felt like laughing hysterically but composed himself. Staring her down, they remained like that a couple seconds, motionless and silent. She wore that stupid face so it was pretty difficult for Riven to keep a straight face, until she suddenly screamed.

"WHAT THE FUCK? HOLY SHIT, YOU JUST KILLED THAT FURRET!"

_Quite a mouth on her, _Riven silently mused. Still staring at her, he gave her a confused look. "Yes, I did. Thank you for stating that. Is that wrong?"

"YOU JUST KILLED A POKEMON," she repeated. Was she mentally ill or something?

"And you just said that," Riven responded blankly. _Why is she screaming?_

"YOU CAN'T KILL POKEMON YOU DUMBASS!"

"Why the hell not? And can you stop screaming? Do you want the whole forest to hear you?"

"IT'S A FUCKING CRIME!"

Her screaming was getting a _tad _bit annoying. Usually loud noise in the middle of a now darkening forest was an indication that you really wanted to die. Noise attracted predators. Predators meant dead human. Dead was bad.

"That is absurd. What is the punishment? An arm or a leg?" He asked seriously. An arm was doable, a leg was pushing it.

The girl looked appalled and commenced her inane screaming once more. "AN ARM OR A LEG? IT'S JAIL YOU FUCKING SAVAGE! Oh god. You're a savage aren't you? Like those people on television."

Riven kneaded his temples, feeling a migraine build up. "No you stupid girl, I am not a savage. I am just trying to get something to eat. Trainers do that, right? They do consume things, correct? Berries can only go so far. Besides, that is my kill. Take it and you _will _regret it."

His threatening tone made the girl freeze, he was not just a savage. He was insane! Then her stomach betrayed her. It let out a very audible grumbling sound, signaling the savage boy that she was, in fact, as hungry as he was.

An indignant smirk then crept up the boy's face. Oh it pissed her off. _He's acting like he just beat me! _Furious, she took out a pokeball and yelled," BATLLE ASSHOLE!"

Riven scowled. "Are you stupid? It is almost dark, I just secured my dinner, we are both starving, and I have no pokemon with me."

The girl swallowed and contorted her face, trying to find a witty comeback but came back empty handed. She then got a devilish thought that would lead to some food. Hopefully. Raising her head and staring down at the crouched boy with a regal glare, she said, "Well I guess I'll just have to tell the authorities about this. Then they will lock you up for sure. Hmph!"

Riven stared, face blank. "Oh… I see. Are you trying to threaten me? Because if you are, you are going to be _very _disappointed."

_Shit! He caught me. Quick! Bluff!_ Flipping open her pokenav, she showed it to him. "I can call the Petalburg City rangers that a man is hunting pokemon on route 102 right now. I can even tell them how you look like, you savage."

"Your pokenav contraption has no battery does it? If you wanted to threaten me, you would have done so." A lucky guess at best. Remembering a snippet of conversation with Charles during the hospital, he recalled that pokenavs had to be recharged at pokemon centers or held out in the open so they could charge via sun. Most trainers charged them at centers and kept them in their bags most of the time and between exploring caves and thick woods, trainers often wound up having dead batteries.

As if on cue, the girl paled. He had bested her twice, she had no more cards up her sleeve. Gulping down her pride, she looked away. "Fine, you win. Can I have some of that furret too? I know it's against the law but who cares I'm hungry!"

"Could you not have just said that? Now let me retrieve my arrow and pick this up before a mightyena pack gets a whiff of fresh blood. Things can get…dangerous." Removing his arrow out of the furry pokemon's skull, he slung its body over his shoulder and motioned the blonde girl to follow him.

The girl didn't move. Looking back, he called out, "Why are you still standing there? Get a move on."

"I can't see! It's pitch black," she squeaked. "My flashlight just died."

Poor flashlight. That was weird though. He could see perfectly well. It was a bit darker than usual but it was manageable. Did her eyes work? "Do you not see anything? At all? Wave a hand in front of your face." She did. "Can you see your hand? It is pale enough to see rather clearly, even in the dark."

Repeating herself once again, she yelled, "I CAN'T SEE A FUCKING THING!"

"Shut up with the screaming. Damn. You want something to come after us? If it does, I am not going to protect you." An exasperated sigh. "Walk forward until you reach me. Stay close and hold on."

He sighed, and nearly tripped over a root.

The walk back to camp was a complete disaster. This girl tripped and jumped at every single damned noise that could be heard. Step over a twig? Yelp. Brush past some grass? Stop and yelp. It was irritating. It was making Riven's headache worse.

Her shoulder touched a tree and she screamed. His eardrum nearly ruptured. At his wits end, he stopped and bellowed at her. "Can you shut up!?" She stopped screaming and looked at the floor, only to jump again as she heard a growling sound behind her.

Instantly regretting the outburst, Riven looked around him to see red eyes flashing in the darkness. _Mightyena. Fuck._ Wasting no time, he pulled the girl's hand, "Run!" He ran through the woods, girl clambering behind, red eyes hot on his trail. _Smelled the food, most likely._ Making the best tactical decision he could, he dropped the furret behind him, which the predators began to tear into. He kept running until he saw an orange glow. Camp.

Reaching the safety of the fire, he stopped and looked back. _Good bye, sweet food._ His pokemon were all safely asleep, bellies full of food while his was tying itself in knots. Fury building up in his head, he turned to the blonde girl who cowered slightly. "There goes our meal. Back where I started. Wonderful. Thank you for depriving me of what little happiness the world can provide."

The blonde, knowing that she was the reason he lost his dinner and hers, softly replied, "Sorry." He didn't look fazed however, refusing such a pointless apology. Biting her lower lip, she made a bolder apology, "Look, I'll buy you dinner at Petalburg for two days ok?"

Now she was talking. He instantly forgot the incident and whose fault it was. No sense fretting over something that trivial. That just made you age faster. "You got yourself a deal then. You better not be trying to throw me under the tauros though. If I find out, I _will_ find you. Somehow."

"Ok, fine. You're scary, I get it." Sitting down near the fire, she rubbed her sleeves. "I'm Amy. What's your name?"

_Great. She wants to be__friends_. Listening to his better judgement, he gave her an alias that sprang up in his mind. "Gray."

She scowled. What a generic name. It was more than a little lame. It had no vibe and no life. It was a bleak name, for dull people. Knowing this guy? It kinda fit. "Gray. Okay… These are your pokemon then?" She looked over the three sleeping figures.

"Torchic, Aine. My kirlia, Mischief. And finally, my absol, White Queen." He replied, nibbling on a blade of grass. Helped fight the hunger.

"Why did you call them Mischief and White Queen? Those are really weird names for pokemon."

"Because he's a mischievous little sod," he said, pointing to the sleeping kirlia. He then shifted his gaze to the absol,"And her because she has a regal attitude that irritates me. She gets a kick out of it too."

Looking at the absol, Amy couldn't help but gawk at the absol's sleeping face. "She's beautiful…."

"I guess? I had never encountered an absol before. I only found out what she was when Professor Birch informed me of her species. I saved her and Mischief from a mightyena pack a while ago. Started following me so I made them my pokemon. They did not seem to object so I presume they were fine with it." Taking out two sitrus berries, he tossed her one.

Catching the small berry, she bit into it, savoring its taste. " A sitrus berry! These are pretty good. They have a balanced flavor. Some berries are either too spicy or too dry. Or bitter. Bleh."

"So that is what they are called. I just thought they were yellow fruit." Riven said, looking at his half eaten berry. "Charles had no information on it so I just kept calling them yellow fruit. I was not aware they had a name."

A few minutes of silence went by. Wiping some juice off her mouth, she focused her eyes on the beautiful absol on the ground. "Female absol huh? Absol are pretty rare anywhere, people don't really like them much. Whenever they show up, disaster happens. People think they're the reason for them." Taking another bite of her berry, she added, "But it's a stupid accusation. They don't cause them. They just try to warn people." She frowned a little. "They hunt them sometimes you know. That's why you don't seem them much."

Riven looked at his absol. Placing a hand on one of his blades, "If anyone tries to hunt her, I will castrate them. I mean that. She nearly died once already. If it happened again, I would be a lousy trainer, right?"

Amy smiled warmly. "How did you find an absol anyway? I thought they were native to route 120. I heard there was also some in Forina."

"I have not been to either of those. I found her and Mischief on route 101 back when he was still a ralts."

Amy arched a brow. "Route 101? Near Littleroot? What would two pokemon like that be doing there?"

Riven shrugged. "No idea. All I know is they were being attacked by mightyena."

Amy gasped, "How did you fight them off? You didn't have any pokemon!" She then saw the two blades at his hips and her mouth turned upside down into a frown. "Oh."

The trainer caught her eye and plainly said, "Yes. I killed them. I had to."

She felt apprehensive, thinking that killing pokemon was wrong, but at the same time she couldn't really object.

Riven noticed her melancholy, probably thinking about the morality of killing a pokemon. He let it go. Not his problem. "Hey. We should go to sleep. We need to be up early tomorrow if we want to catch something more solid to eat. I still want some furret before we reach the next town. Petalburg was it?"

She nodded, her solemn mood now fading. She flipped open her sleeping bag and settled in. She stayed awake a bit before she finally began to drift off to sleep. "G'night, Gray."

He stayed silent, unsure if he should respond. Instead, he only watched her sleeping bag rise and fall with her breaths. Listening to Amy and his pokemon's exhales, he closed his eyes.

* * *

Feeling the early rays of dawn on his skin, Riven opened his eyes. He stretched his limbs, feeling slightly more energized. Looking at the fire, he noticed it had gone out. It was now just a pile of smoking wood pieces and ashes. He stood up looking around the small makeshift camp. His pokemon were still asleep. They must have eaten quite a bit.

He then turned to the left and saw blonde hair sticking out of a body length bag. _I forgot she was here._ The figure inside was a girl he had encountered last night while trying to hunt a furret, which he was forced to sacrifice to save their hides. It was unfortunate and slightly annoying but at least she would get him something to eat at the next city. Still wondered what the cities looked like.

Nudging his pokemon awake, he let them stretch out, shaking off the morning slowness that accompanied deep sleep. Aine recovered the fastest, being the most hyperactive of the group. White Queen was second to wake up, still rubbing her face with her paws. Mischief was last. He was the lazy one after all. Waking him had taken almost three pushes.

Aine exclaimed, "_Ooooohh! Another trainer_!"

Hearing this, Haona's fur stood on end and she growled, distrusting of the other human. She stopped after Riven made a stopping motion with his hand.

"She is a…friend, White Queen. She means no harm. I am only going to be traveling with her until we reach Petalburg. She promised to buy us food there." Although he hesitated a bit, the offer of free food sealed the deal for Haona. She stopped growling and simply turned away with a huff.

Bib stirred, now rubbing his eyes awake. "_What did our trainer find a mate already or what? He works fast._"

Haona hit him on the head with her paw. "_No you dolt. It's just another trainer he found last night. She's going to give us free food when we get to the next human city._"

"_That's even better than a mate then_!" Bib cheered.

Riven went to go wake the girl as his pokemon were bickering about something, probably his relation with the unfamiliar girl. He nudged her awake. "Wake up. We need to get moving. The sun is up and the furret should be rising in about an hour or two." The blonde yawned and straightened. Her green eyes opened and she squinted, adjusting to the light. She picked herself up and folded the sleeping bag back into her backpack.

"Good morning, Gray."

"Likewise." He replied, before stepping back. He held out his right hand towards his pokemon. "Amy, meet Aine, White Queen, and Mischief. Aine, White Queen, Mischief, meet Amy." The female trainer waved shyly, smiling slightly. His absol stepped forward, sniffing her. She smelled friendly enough. His torchic jumped in place, ecstatically chirping. His kirlia simply bowed respectfully.

"Umm….hi. Nice to meet you." Amy said, still waving her hand gently.

"Now that proper introductions are finished. We have a furret to track," Riven announced, adjusting his bow around his body.

Looking at him in the light, Amy noticed how strange he looked. His clothing was mostly leather, which was badly damaged and colored entirely black. He was wearing shoulder pads that had a strange symbol on them and one of his eyes didn't match the other. He looked scruffy and dangerous. _Like a soldier….._

Dropping the thought, she caught up to him. They were now a little bit aways away from their resting spot. Gray crouched down and inspected the ground, noticing tiny footprints in the soil. "A furret passed through here. The tracks are fresh, it should still be around here somewhere." Apparently he was good at tracking too. Was he a survivalist? Amy knew that guys liked that existed, living in the wilds, becoming 'one' with nature. She always thought they were nuts.

Curious, she asked him a question. "Where did you learn to track? Your father?" Her parents were city dwellers, they couldn't track a stantler to save their lives. So naturally, she had zero experience when it came to the wilderness.

"No. I had to learn. Spent a lot of time in the wild." He gave her a vague answer, knowing that if he told her the truth then she would laugh and call him mad. Luckily, that satisfied the girl's curiosity, allowing the young man to focus on tracking the furret. Spotting a half eaten fern, he got an idea.

Cutting a couple of branches, then tying them together with some extra string in his pack, he placed his creation on the floor, adjacent to the half eaten fern. Taking out a sitrus berry from his bag, Riven placed the berry at the foot of his trap.

Amy looked confused. "What is that?"

"A snare. It will catch smaller ones that get too close. Makes them easy to kill. Using bait entices them to get close. Basic trap, but it works very well."

They hid in some bushes and waited about twenty minutes. Hunting took patience. Then they heard some twigs snap. The trap had triggered and a furret was now caught in it, squirming helplessly. Gray then took a small, wicked looking knife out a pocket in his pants and walked over to it.

"Sorry." He said as he silenced the furret with one quick thrust. Signaling her to get out of the bushes, Amy climbed out and met Gray as he slung the animal over his shoulder. "Gather some firewood while I skin him. Meet me back at camp." He then turned around and headed off back to camp. Gathering firewood was easy, she had done it when her parents had gone camping with her a couple times.

Returning to camp with some firewood, she saw that Gray had already skewered the furret. His hands were a bit bloody, and he was sweating from the heat. Replacing the charred logs from last night, he placed the new ones on top and ordered Aine to use ember on them. The logs caught fire and Gray made a stand out of some wood, where he placed the furret to roast.

The boy dug into his pack and took out a bag of formula. Serving his pokemon, he leaned back on a rock, waiting for the furret to be done. Remembering that her pokemon must also be hungry, Amy let hers out of their pokeballs.

"Alright guys! Come on out!"

Gray glanced at the three pokeballs in the air, which opened and shot three beams of white light onto the forest floor. The first light materialized, revealing a small sheep like pokemon with a blue face and blue feet. It had a black and yellow striped tail with a yellow orb at the end. The second light cleared to show a flying blue bird with wings that closely resembled clouds. The third and final light faded, leaving behind a green gecko pokemon with large yellow eyes. "Treecko," it said.

Flipping open Charles, he scanned over the sheep first. "Mareep, the Wool pokemon. Its wool, which grows continuously, stores electricity, rubbing together and building static charge." Turning his pokedex towards the blue bird creature, Charles stated, "Swablu, the cotton bird pokemon. Its wings are like cotton tufts. If it perches on someone's head, it looks like a cotton hat." Next was the green gecko. "Treecko, the wood gecko pokemon. It quickly scales even vertical walls. It sense humidity with its tail to predict the next day's weather."

"Mareep, Swablu, and Treecko huh. You got that Treecko at Birch's lab right? I remember seeing one there. One of the options, the other one was a blue fish with legs."

"Yeah. I picked him up about two weeks ago. My other two pokemon were sent over from my dad in Mauville City."

A high pitched 'Torrrrchic' was heard as Aine nearly tackled her treecko down. Guess she was friends with him back in the lab.

"_Veer! I thought you left!_" Aine chirped.

"_Yeah. Amy took me. We were in Oldale for a while. She had to run some errands there. Looks like she made a friend."_ Veer replied coolly, moving a twig around in his mouth. "_He looks a little dangerous_."

"_Yeah, that's my trainer! He looks a little scary but he's really awesome!_"The torchic suddenly remembered, "_OH! Say hi to Bib and Haona, they're his pokemon too_."

Veer bowed to them, respectfully acknowledging them. Proper and honorable. Aine was right, Veer was pretty good.

The mareep and swablu then came over and mingled, talking to Haona, Bib, and Aine about their trainers.

Amy and Gray smiled, watching their pokemon interact with each other. Looking back at the furret, Gray took it out of the fire and took out his knife. Cutting away strips of its meat, he placed them on Amy's plate before serving himself.

Finally getting something solid to eat, the blonde haired trainer devoured the meat. _So good, _she thought, savoring the taste of food. She never knew furret tasted this good. Her face amused Riven, who only chuckled before sinking his teeth into his own food. _I could get used to this, _Amy confessed to herself.

Now full and ready to go, Amy and Riven packed up their belongings and started on the route to Petalburg again. The route was quiet and peaceful, unusual considering the amount of beginners that trekked through there all the time. Glancing up at Riven, who was a few inches taller than her, she couldn't help but stare at his right eye. It was the color of the ocean, a deep blue. And the other was a plain brown, generic as hell.

Riven then peered down at her as she watched him. Quickly correcting herself, she stared ahead in front of her, now feeling a little more than awkward. _ I was staring, he caught me staring. Urk._

Well, she couldn't really blame herself much, it wasn't everyday that you saw a person with differently colored eyes. It was weird.

Riven furrowed his brows, observing the blonde's strange behavior. He stopped thinking she was brain dead, now only convinced she was stranger than this world. She slapped herself for no reason. That was not weird enough? Shrugging, he stopped when he noticed Amy behind him. "Come on, we need to keep going."

Catching her annoyed look, he asked ,"What?"

"You think I'm going into Petalburg looking like this and smelling worse than tauros crap? You got another thing coming." Pulling him towards a river away from the main road, she stopped. " Besides, you need a bath too. You're filthy."

Riven scowled. She did have a point. He was sweaty and dirty. It also wouldn't hurt to get out of the heat for a bit and enjoy the water. "Alright. We will bathe in the stream and then head to Petalburg."

"Sounds good to me! Now turn around. I'm going to undress," she ordered.

Respecting a woman's privacy, Riven turned around and waited for her to enter the water. Hearing a sinking sound, he asked, "Can I turn around yet?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Turning around, he saw her submerged up to her collarbone. Moving his finger to the side, he motioned for her to turn around this time. She turned away, facing the other side of the small stream now. He removed his armor and undergarments, dropping into the water. "You can turn around now."

Now facing his direction, Amy's eyes widened. _Holy shit._ The male trainer was toned but she could see the beginnings malnutrition setting in. His body was covered in scars. A horizontal scar ran across his pectorals, running perpendicular to a large irregularly shaped scar that went from his collarbone down to nearly his hip. Numerous other cuts that were smaller in size lined his body and back. It didn't look good, it gave her chills just imagining what gave him that.

Riven simply busied himself with cleaning up, getting the dirt and sweat out of his hair. He caught a glimpse of Amy's body as she turned around and stood up slightly. Chastising himself for looking, he glanced away and finished cleaning up.

Both trainers, now clean and fresh, were back on the main road. Amy tugged at Riven's leather sleeve, grabbing his attention. "What?" He questioned, unaware of her intention.

Smiling widely, she took out a pokeball from her belt and enlarged it.

"Let's have a friendly battle! You owe me that much at least."

Riven looked at his pokemon, who all nodded in confirmation.

"I will not go easy on you though."

"That's alright! I wasn't planning to go easy on you either."

He snorted, and she flung the ball in the air.


	7. The City of Flowers

"Go Swablu!"

The pokeball opened in the air and a blue bird with cloudy wings appeared, it's face fierce and determined.

Riven turned to his torchic, "Aine, you want to take this one?" The orange chick nodded its head furiously, obviously excited to battle again. The only thing Aine loved more than food was battling. She jumped in front of him, face growing equally as determined as the swablu's.

Amy looked rather confused. _He chose a torchic to battle my swablu?_ It wasn't a bad matchup per say, but it wasn't a very good one either. Torchic was a pure fire type so she would take normal damage against anything swablu did, and vice versa. _Except he forgot one thing. Swablu can fly. That means she has the speed advantage._"Swablu, gain some altitude! Get out of its ember range!"

_Smart girl_, Riven thought. She was going to use her swablu's flight capabilities to avoid Aine's embers and try and get quick hit-and-run hits on her. It was a good strategy but it had one fundamental flaw, her pokemon had to get close to hit_. I will wait until she gets close, then use ember on her wings. Moving with a burn hurts like hell, trying to fly with a burned wing should be equally as unbearable, if not worse._

"Swablu, dive and use peck!" Amy commanded. The speed of the descent would add extra power to the attack and hopefully cause lots of damage to his torchic. The strange part was that the orange chick wasn't moving. It just stood there. Waiting.

Watching the swablu dive towards his torchic, Riven simply stood there, thinking. Battle was a lot like moving troops and outmaneuvering the enemy. You had to think not one but three steps down the line. Pokemon battles were a test of tactical wit. Who had the advantage, what you could do to counter their moves, and what kind of genius reversal you could pull out of your ass to win the match. However, his torchic only knew one long ranged move, which also didn't reach very far. Which meant the only thing he could do was wait for an opening.

It sucked, but such was life.

The blue bird was now a blue and white blur as gravity accelerated its tiny body. Spreading its wings, it flew straight at Aine. "Aine, hop to the right. Dodge it!" His torchic obeyed and dodged to the side avoiding the bird's accelerated peck. Having missed, the bird flapped its wings and pulled up, flipping upside down in the air to come back for another swoop.

Ordering Aine to dodge a few more sweeps, he was trying for a rhythm. Rhythm's were important. Everything had a rhythm, even the most static and unmoving of objects. Waves and patterns existed everywhere, it was only a matter of adjusting to them. Getting used to the flow of Amy's swablu, he decided it was time to attack.

"Swablu, fly higher! This time we'll get him for sure!" Amy shouted, as her swablu steadily gained altitude. A tiny blue dot in the sky, she yelled, " FULL SPEED PECK! HIT HIM LIKE A SPEAR!" The blue dot shot straight down, wind rushing past its cotton feathers as its beak glowed white, heading straight for Aine.

Riven waited for it to straighten out, his torchic however, was hesitant about staying still. It was coming very, very _fast_. She was afraid she couldn't dodge it. Riven reassured her, "Aine, calm down. Strike when the time is right." Her trainer's words calmed her a bit and she glared at the swiftly approaching puff ball.

The swablu was dangerously close, low to the ground, advancing towards the orange fire type. _One, two, and now!_ "Aine, get on the floor and shoot ember straight up and to the left! Burn its wing!" Amy's eyes widened, realizing Gray's strategy.

_Dammit, he's trying to ground her by disabling her wings._ That won't work though. She had a trick up her sleeve. She grinned, surprising Gray, who expected to see a more shocked expression.

Aine's ember impacted with swablu's left wing causing it to wobble in pain. Its wings were red and scorched, revealing a burn. The bird was moving significantly slower, something Riven planned to take advantage of. "Use ember while she is still low. Do not let her breathe!" His torchic unleashed volleys of embers at swablu who dodged most of them. But the ones that did hit definitely caused major damage.

Amy's pokemon was visibly tired, panting heavily and barely staying afloat. Her burn had slowed her just enough for Gray's torchic to get a few good hits in. _Should be activating soon. Need to surprise him._"Swablu, fly up in the air again, we're going for another fly by!"

_Another pass? With a burned wing?_ That was going to get her pokemon knocked out, she would be an easy target for Aine. "Alright. Stay still. You know what to do." He continued his previous strategy, this time he would dodge to the left not straight down like before. Doing the same thing twice could leave a person open to random improvisations.

Amy's bird was once again in the sky, ready for another assault. Gaining enough height, it dove down again, straightening out as it neared the floor, peck ready to hit. _Patience. Patience…_ His torchic seemed to read his mind, breathing in deep, ready for the attack.

The attack was nothing like the rest though. Her swablu did something unexpected, deliberately flying _over _his torchic. Then it banked to the right, using its left wing to turn.

_What?_

It turned right back around, shooting towards Aine like a falling comet. No time to escape, Riven shouted, "Aine! Ember straight ahead , endure the hit!" _How did she recover from the burn?_

Swablu's increased velocity hit Aine with the force a small explosion despite taking a burning hot-full powered ember to the face. Aine and swablu collided with each other, flying towards a nearby tree, slamming into its trunk, leaving a small pokemon sized dent.

Amy grinned devilishly, knowing that Gray was still wondering why her pokemon was able to recover that quick. Holding a scolding finger up she waved it at him, "Tsk, Tsk. I thought you'd know better, Gray. My swablu's ability is natural cure. It normally cures status effects when switched out, but if she's left in battle, it activates after a minute or two." Looking at the two pokemon, she frowned. Neither of them were getting up. It seems his torchic got one shot, while her swablu took too much damage over the course of the battle. Well, at least they were still tied.

"It was a good battle," Gray said to his torchic as a red beam engulfed her. His face now showed an expression different from his usual blank stare. He was determined. Battling was a bit fun.

Amy grimaced, his torchic had been his weakest pokemon. His absol and kirlia looked battle tested and relatively strong compared to her mareep. Her treecko was her strongest and fastest pokemon, but he was a grass type. He didn't have any type advantages on either of them. _This is bad, _she thought_._ _None of my pokemon have any advantages over his. Neither do his but that absol can know a variety of moves. That horn looks dangerous too._ Hesitating, she pulled out another pokeball with a small lightning bolt on it and threw it in the air."Go Mareep!"

A puffy sheep pokemon materialized and stared at Gray, electricity sparking across its wool. Mareep. _It might have plenty of long ranged electric attacks but it is definitely lacking in speed. I can use that to my advantage_. Looking at Mischief he said, "Mischief, your turn."

His kirlia nodded and gracefully tip toed onto the battleground. He looked like a dancer, moving with grace and finesse. He folded his arms, perfectly calm. Amy gulped. Mischief's eyes stared into mareep's, unnerving him slightly.

_That kirlia is _way_ too calm. Something is up. I need to approach this carefully._

"THUNDER!" Amy screamed. _To hell with calm! We need to attack all out, who knows what that kirlia can do._ Lightning flashed around mareep as he built up electricity, glowing a brilliant yellow. Electricity fully charged, he released it with a fierce "Meeeeeeeep!" His thunder arced and cracked, bolting directly towards the kirlia.

It simply stood there, smirking. _Shit. I made a mistake didn't I?_

Mareep's thunder hit the spot where Mischief was standing, causing an explosion of electricity, kicking dirt, dust, and grass up into the air. The battleground was hard to make out, dust blanketed the air, reducing visibility. The dust settled, and Amy's jaw dropped.

Gray was smirking, flashing a bit of teeth. His kirlia's left palm was right at mareep's head. "Confusion."

A pink psychic blast hit mareep, throwing him outwards five feet, causing him to roll on the ground, dragging parts of the ground with him. _How did his kirlia get there so quickly?_ His kirlia and absol were _much_ stronger than her pokemon were. She stared in blank disbelief as her mareep got up, wobbling left and right. Confused. Fan-tastic.

Panicking, Amy yelled, "Use Thunder Wave!" Mareep struggled a bit before storing up some electricity and firing it at the kirlia. It hit him head on and static electricity crackled around his slender body. However, that didn't wipe the smirk off its face.

Looking at Gray, he had a smile plastered on his face, "Tsk, Tsk. I thought you knew better, Amy. Mischief's ability is synchronize, that means that your mareep just paralyzed himself." Whipping her head back to her mareep, she noticed that electricity was also crackling around him.

The next moment, the kirlia was gone. "Paralysis slows a pokemon's physical movement down, but not their brain. Mischief only needs to teleport and he can easily escape, the same cannot be said for your mareep. We are even now." He flashed a smile that was all teeth. "Finish it." The psychic pokemon appeared above her pokemon, palm directly above the sheep's skull. His hand glowed pink and a psychic force slammed mareep into the ground, lifting a small cloud of dust.

His kirlia then humiliated Amy by sitting down on her mareep. Rather immature, to be honest. Returning him to his pokeball, she snarled. Glaring at Gray's smug green haired pokemon, she brought out her final pokeball.

"HERE WE GO, YOU LITTLE SHIT. GO TREECKO!" Amy looked absolutely furious. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN,YOU BASTARD. THEN WE'LL SEE WHO TEABAGS WHO."

The treecko flipped onto the ground, sticking a twig in its mouth and holding a hand on its hip. Wasting no time, the treecko instantly got on all fours, sprinting towards the psychic type.

Gray cursed himself, getting Mischief paralyzed might have worked with a slow opponent like mareep. However, it was a double-edged sword. This treecko was fast and obviously _not_ paralyzed, which meant he could run circles around his kirlia if he wanted to. The paralysis was interfering with his pokemon's ability to turn around quickly and lift his arms. He had to teleport to get into a position to attack. _Well, sorry Michief. You tried._

Amy's treecko relentlessly chased after the psychic type, forcing him to teleport multiple times across the battle ground, evading his tail swipes. Haona noticed that he was beginning to tire mentally, having teleported himself too much. His reactions were getting slower, and the paralysis slowed his physical movements considerably. He was unable to teleport fast enough when Veer's tail slammed into his face, knocking him back a few feet.

Bib's eyes glowed blue and he lifted his arms slightly, levitating the treecko off the ground. Swiping his hand to the right, he psychically threw the gecko at a nearby tree, hoping the impact would knock it out. However, the green pokemon deftly flipped in the air, landing on the tree trunk with his feet. Richocheting off the trunk, he spun in the air and used the momentum of the spin to land a powerful tail strike against Bib's body. The kirlia was blown back onto a tree, out cold.

The match was tied again. One to one.

_Good,_ Amy grinned._ Now for that absol. She looks the strongest._

Gray's absol stalked into position, body low and hind legs extended outward, ready to fight. A bit intimidated by the absol's demanding presence, Amy ordered treecko to pull back. "Use bullet seed! Keep away from her!"

Veer opened his mouth and shot a pellet of seeds at Haona, who easily deflected them with her horn. He would need to try better than that. He bested Bib, he wouldn't best her so easily. His long ranged options were limited, so he need to get closer to her to do any real damage. _And close is where I do best_, she boasted mentally.

Seeing Veer's bullet seed do absolutely nothing to the dark type, Amy changed her strategy. "Treecko, circle around her!" The grass type began running circles around Haona. She eyed him carefully, looking for any hints of an attack. Suddenly his trainer called out to him, ordering him to use quick attack. He charged at her, leaving a trail of after images.

Expecting him to come straight on, she prepared herself but was startled when the treecko zigzagged instead, moving away from her than right back. She didn't move fast enough, taking damage as Veer slammed into her side. Recoiling in pain but not quite done, she looked at Riven, who nodded. Standing up, she prepared herself again.

He did the same thing twice. This time, she knew it was coming. Her trainer saw the treecko zigzag and shouted, " Flip backwards!" She flipped back, now above the treecko. "Mega Horn!"

Her horn extended into a large green blade, treecko's eyes widened; it wasn't expecting this. Neither was Amy. Spinning her body, she swung the large blade down, slicing into the treecko's back. The hit was super effective, instantly knocking Veer out of his quick attack and onto the dirt. He wasn't bleeding too badly, but it was enough to incapacitate.

Haona landed back on her feet gracefully, huffing in victory, a smile forming on her lips.

The blonde trainer looked slightly disappointed but quickly cheered up. Returning her treecko, she beamed, "That was a great battle! Your pokemon are pretty strong. Gray. Although, they were stronger than normal to begin with, anyway."

"True, but thank you, I guess. You nearly had me though."

"Here. It's prize money." She said, holding out some paper bills.

Gray took them, holding them out in wonder. "What is this? Paper?" This puzzled Amy.

"No, it's money, you fool. You use it to buy stuff like medicine, food, and equipment." She explained. She couldn't believe she even had to explain to him what money was. _Everyone_ knew what money was.

"Ah. I understand but why are you giving it to me?" He questioned, unable to connect the gesture with anything sensible.

"It's a rule. Whenever a trainer loses, he or she needs to give half of their money to the person who beat them. That way, you're encouraged not to lose." Amy said, matter-of-factly.

"Huh… I guess it makes sense?" This world was already weird. So this was how trainers made a living? Getting paid for violence? Sounded rather easy. Changing the subject, he proposed, "Now that the battle is done, we should get moving."

"Yeah, you're right."

* * *

The two trainers gathered their bearings and started back on the road to Petalburg city. They _completely_ ignored the fact that their skirmish destroyed a good portion of trees around the route, and left large gaping craters scattered about the main road.

Blocked by the tall trees overhead, Amy knew that Petalburg was close. She'd been through here many times, and knew that they were almost there. It had taken a few hours but it was now mid-day and she just passed a yellow flower that marked the end of the route to Petalburg.

Turning around a corner of trees, she saw the entrance to the city of flowers. Beautifully trimmed hedges marked the entrance to the city, with a grand metal sign that had flower decorations on it.

_Welcome to Petalburg. The City of Flowers._

Relieved that they didn't have to walk much further, she turned to Riven, who looked absolutely _dumbfounded_. He looked like he'd just won a lottery, his jaw probably could have fallen off from how open his mouth was. Had he not seen a city before?

Recalling his words in the forest while he was tracking the furret, she figured that he must have lived his whole life in the wild or in small towns. Naturally, a city would be overwhelming. _And this isn't even the biggest one!_ Lilycove, Slateport, and Larousse were _much_ bigger and even more impressive than little 'ol Petalburg.

Waving a pale hand in front of his face, she smiled, her bright green eyes staring at him with amused glee. Snapping out of his stupefied trance and picking up his jaw, he stammered," Uhhh…Yes…. Wow. All the metal buildings are so _huge._"

His parent's place was bigger than most of the buildings but the fact remained that there was buildings as far as the eye can see, varying in size while looking sleek and geometric at the same time. They definitely looked futuristic. The buildings in his time were made of stone, brick or wood, giving them an ugly, dirty look.

Twirling back towards the city, Amy teased, "It's called a city for a reason!" Grabbing his hand, she pulled him forward. "Come on! Let's go to the pokemon center and get our pokemon healed!"

Following the blonde girl's lead, Riven clambered along, staring at all the buildings, at all the _people_. He had never seen so much people in one place not trying to murder each other. Trainers and regular citizens walked down the streets and out of buildings, conversing and laughing with their pokemon.

It seemed almost surreal. No one was getting their throat torn out.

He came back to reality when Amy stopped in front of a building with a red roof and its trademark pokeball symbol. They walked through the sliding doors, which still amazed him; and into the surprisingly spacious interior of the pokemon center.

A pink haired woman who looked identical to the one in Oldale, smiled and asked kindly, "Oh, new trainers? Do you want me to heal your pokemon?"

Both trainers handed over their injured pokemon's pokeballs over to Nurse Joy, who placed them on a tray with spherical grooves. A click was heard each time she put one of the pokeballs in the grooves. Once she placed all of them into the grooves, she turned on a contraption that made a strange whirring noise, enveloping the pokeballs in a beautiful white light. A few minutes later, she came over to the two young trainers, handing them back their pokeballs. "Here are your pokemon. Will you be staying at Petalburg for some time?"

Riven responded, "Uh, yes. I will be staying for a few days and make some money, before moving on to Rustboro." He was told by the clerk in Oldale to seek employment in Petalburg to gather some money for supplies. Riven did not mind, after all, he did want to eat some quality food. Wild pokemon was nice but was rather tasteless. It was more out of necessity than to satisfy. Sometimes, one needed to indulge, or else how would anybody stay sane?

Nurse Joy was glad. She could rent out a spare room for both of them to sleep in. "That's great! I have a spare room for both of you. The first week is free, then it's a two hundred fee per day. Here is the key to your room. Have a wonderful time in Petalburg!" With that, she left the trainers and went back to the front desk, now attending a youngster who had just walked in.

Twisting the key in the lock, Riven opened the door to the rental room, sighing in relief as if he had just seen paradise. _Beds. Real beds! I get to sleep in a real bed!_ Launching himself onto the bed, his face sank into the pillow, which made the weariness of the walk to Petalburg slide off his shoulders like water on wax. He had slept in bedrolls and on the ground for nearly five years, he had not so much as seen a glimpse of a bed in a very _long_ time. Needless to say, he was as giddy as a ten year old getting his first pokemon.

Then his stomach rumbled. Amy stifled a laugh. She shook her head, " Come on, I said I'd buy you some food in return for that furret remember?"

_Oh, right. Forgot about that. Fortunately she remembered._

Amy led him to the dining area, where many trainers go to refill their empty stomachs. Young boys and girls were all over the pokemon dining area, exchanging battle tips and accessing the wireless internet to use the GTS global link. Riven looked astonished, as usual. She went and ordered their food, which she brought back on pink trays. Setting it down on their table, Riven's eyes widened and his mouth started to water.

He picked up a spoon and took a bite out of it. Closing his eyes, it looked like he was _really_ savoring it. _All that wild pokemon gets dull after a while I guess._ Couldn't blame him for his reaction, if she had to eat wild furret every single day, she would be like that too.

"Mmmmff…what is in this?" He asked between spoonfuls of food.

Amy giggled. "It's curry with some fried rice and potato salad."

"I have no idea what half of that is but it is certainly delicious." He confirmed, devouring his meal like a beast. He did kind of look like a savage right now. Finishing his meal, he rested his head on the seat's headrest, groaning. "That was amazing. Best food in over five years."

"It's just standard pokemon center foo-"_Five years? What the fuck? How long was he stuck in the wilderness for?_

"What have you been eating for the past five damn years, Gray?" Amy was astonished this time. Either he _was_ a survivalist freak or he had a terrible sense of direction and was otherwise incapable of finding civilization.

"Stale bread and wild pokemon. Some corphish and roasted magikarp on occasion. Lots of berries," he replied simply, eyeing a group of trainers discussing something about gym leaders. "Not the best of existences but-" He let it go, shrugging. He wanted to give her the truth, but he knew she would just ridicule him. _What sane person would believe in something so absurd? Oh, I traveled through time, killed people in a war, and now I pursue my dreams of being a pokemon trainer. I also would like to fly and travel to the sun. Nice joke._

"Oh." The blonde responded, feeling a little dejected by his simplistic response. Gray was a very no nonsense type of guy and very straight forward when it came to things on his mind. He had a no nonsense type of attitude, like the guys in the movies. He was also peculiar in the sense that he never used any contractions. Like _ever_. His speech was rigid and felt off, like trying to speak a second language. She couldn't shake the feeling that there existed much more about him that he wasn't letting on. Eh, she would only be with him for two days, so she figured that she shouldn't worry about it all that much.

Yawning, Amy informed Gray that she was sleepy, which prompted him to follow her to their rental room. Getting ready for bed, she changed into her pajamas, while he simply removed his leather clothing and laid down in his bed, nearly falling asleep instantly.

Shifting position, he turned towards Amy's bunk. She was already asleep, snoring lightly. He looked at her face. Peaceful.

Forgetting about it, he looked up at the ceiling, which had clefairies painted on it. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to sleep. He needed to go employment hunting tomorrow.

* * *

Amy awoke in the middle of the night to what sounded like whimpers. Curious as to where the sound was coming from, she looked over to her roommate, Gray. He was sweating profusely and his face was contorted rather painfully. He was having a nightmare of sorts. Staying perfectly still, she watched him squirm and breathe rapidly, until his eyes shot open.

She caught his right eye, which instead of the usual blue, was now a blackish red color.

His gaze made every single hair on the back of her neck stand up. His breath was guttural and raspy, like an animal. She was afraid, afraid of him. That glare wasn't menacing, it felt… evil. In that single instant she felt inhumane hate that didn't belong to her.

_Was this really Gray? Or something else?_

Suddenly, he turned away and ran off to the bathroom. She stayed in her bed, mortified at what she had just seen and felt. He switched on the faucet, rubbing his face with liberal amounts of ice cold water, shaking off what he had experienced in his sleep.

Still shivering, Riven looked at his reflection. He looked unruly with facial hair growing outward, no longer stubble. Taking out his knife, he shaved, looking a bit more presentable. He stood at the sink for a while. He had no idea what he had been doing moments after waking up. All he knew was that his right eye burned and Amy looked frightened. No, she was bone deep terrified. What had he done?

Heading out of the bathroom, he started putting on his clothes and weapons. He looked at Amy who was shriveled up in the corner of her bed, green eyes staring at him in terror. His heart sank. Looking away in shame, he left the room and sat on a bench in the lobby. Gripping his head with his hands, he laid down and tried to go to sleep.

_Is something wrong with me?_

* * *

The next two days were painfully awkward. Amy wouldn't look at him in the eyes and whenever he tried to speak to her she replied in very short sentences, often keeping her distance from him. She bought him food but they ate in silence. She did not bring up the subject, and would refuse to go to sleep around him. He slept in the lobby on the bench, which worried Nurse joy. He also was unable to find any form of employment around the plaza.

Bib felt his trainer's mood, attempting to comfort him, but to no avail. He was ashamed and thoroughly depressed. Aine and Haona also tried to cheer him up failed miserably as well. This was starting to piss them off. Less than a week after a meeting a girl and their trainer was already a broken mess. Err, more broken mess.

Just then, Amy and Riven walked out of the trainer resident area. The blonde girl stopped in front of the doors, staring at her feet. "Gray, I need to go now." Trying to walk out of the doors, she was stopped by him, who told her to look him in the eyes. She locked eyes with Gray, quivering in fear after looking at his right eye.

He stared into her's and said, "I am sorry. For whatever it is I did two nights ago."

She relaxed a bit, breaking free from his grasp. "You didn't do anything Gray. You just scared me a bit. That's all." She looked away, catching Haona's disapproving scowl. "I don't hate you or anything. In fact, I'm glad we met. You're a pretty cool guy. Just…learn to control that, whatever it is you have. It scares people." A pause," It's already been two days." Amy smiled sadly, "I guess this is goodbye."

Riven stared into her eyes one last time, before looking down at the floor. Nodding his head, he concluded, "I guess so."

"Good bye, Amy."

"We'll still be friends. I think."

He watched her walk out the doors, out into the plaza, and further out until all he could see was a yellow dot. Her goodbye had been bittersweet. He stopped blaming himself for what happened two nights ago but now felt a pit in his core.

He had now lost his first friend here. If that was what she was. She wasn't a soldier, and had a pretty upbeat attitude. That was the difference, he figured. People made friends here with strangers; that was odd and he found himself confused that he felt that way.

Feeling a strange emptiness in him, he headed to the Petalburg Park, where trainers were still gathering under the setting sun. Plopping down onto a bench overlooking the sunset, he regressed into deep thought, reevaluating his situation.

A voice in his head scolded him.

_Silly boy. You know you will never keep what you want the most._

He sighed deeply, taking in the foreign scenery. "My new reality…"

Kicking a pebble down the hill, he watched as it rolled down, hitting a boy on the head, who turned around, red in the face.

"WHOEVER DID THAT IS GONNA PAY! BATTLE RIGHT NOW!"He stormed, swiveling his around to find the culprit.

Standing up, Riven met the impulsive youngster. A battle might ease his mood a little. And earn him some funds for meals now that Amy wasn't paying for them all.

"Hey, kid. I did that. You want to battle? Get up here, I need to let out some frustrations."

* * *

In a worn down building, a man in an expensive business suit received a call. Opening his holo caster, another man in a hood appeared as a holographic image.

"I take it you know where it is?"

"Yes, sir. I have located its whereabouts. I have dispatched three men to go retrieve it."

"And where exactly is it?"

"In Petalburg. It's going to be the prize for the contest that is scheduled to be held there next week."

"Good. Don't fail." The hooded man's voice was commanding, stern, and ominous. "You know what happens to people who do."

The holo caster shut off, leaving the man alone in the dark run down building. Flipping a knife in his hand, the suited man flashed a twisted grin. "Oh, that won't be necessary. After all, it's all for the cause right?"


	8. Grey

Riven held up two bills up to a street light. They had a picture of a Pikachu on them. _A_ _yellow, electric rat_._ Is it some kind of logo for the company that prints the stuff? _Whatever a company was, anyway. Amy had gone on about something of the sort.

He had just won six hundred from that brat in the park. Total pushover. He was a bug type trainer that blew out enough steam to rival a Torkoal. Aine pretty much swept his entire team by herself. One ember put his Dustox down for the count, and a couple more took out his Nincada and Ninjask. The flying bug was fast but Aine managed to get a lucky ember in, taking a painful slash to the face in the process.

She was not happy about that. She was giving Riven the White Queen treatment. She even refused food. Yes, Aine refused food. Apparently miracles were a thing. Just… not for him.

Regardless, the black haired trainer and his pokemon spent an evening at the park staring at the sunset. It was pleasant but noisy. The sound from the trainers and their pokemon did not allow for quiet, peaceful meditation. Riven was still down about parting ways with Amy.

She was loud, obnoxious, flighty, and over enthusiastic about things but friendly. _And slightly attractive? Gah, I am turning into Nemos._ Riven never had much experience with women, being in the military for most of his teenage life. The ones he did know probably had bigger balls than most men. So naturally, he just treated them like he treated men. But he still missed Amy. She bought him food, that was fairly great. Buying food on your own? Not great.

Buying food for you and your pokemon? Tragic.

Adding to that, he had gone job hunting again during the night, and had nothing to show for it. _Such a big city and no job openings? Complete Tauros shit._

He entered the pokemon center, looking completely miserable. Nurse Joy watched him slouch back to the resident area. The teenager had her sympathies, having just parted ways with a friend and being unable to find a job at all. He had only four days of free rent left, after that it was pay only. Nurse Joy almost wanted to extend the time for him, but then she'd have to extend it for _everyone_.

Riven took the key out of his pocket and shoved it into the door's lock, twisting it and opening the door. What he saw next would probably haunt his dreams.

He saw an older girl and boy on _his_ bed doing rather questionable things with their lower parts. The image was burned into his skull, and he could not _unsee_ it. They were both as nude as they had come into the world and he saw _everything_.

"What. Are. You. Doing. In. My. Room?" Riven asked with eerie calm, drawing a sword and pointing it at the pair, who were now red faced and utterly terrified. The boy picked up his pants and the girl covered herself with her clothes, both looking down at the floor in shame. "I asked you a damn question. This is my room, and both of you are naked. I assume wrestling without your clothes on was not the intention, was it?"

A scream came from a trainer behind Riven, not from the sword or the deathly gaze Riven was emanating, but from seeing what was going on inside.

Moments later, Nurse Joy came running in, alarmed by the commotion.

"Gray, what's wrong why did you-" A look of horror appeared on Joy's usually kind face. "OH GOD. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET OUT! OUT! OUT!OUT! HOW DARE YOU DO THINGS LIKE THAT IN SOMEONE ELSE'S ROOM?" She dragged the two out of the room after they put clothes back on, pulling them by the ears, glancing at Gray with a look that said, _I am _so_ sorry_.

Riven slammed a hand onto his face, sliding it down slowly_._ "Nurse Joy, everything is fine," he said, twitching. "There _is_ another bed."

Looking at his old bed, he saw the green sheets stained dark with some kind of fluid. White Queen tried to lick it.

"Do not _dare_ lick that." Great. Now his bed was unusable. He had to sleep in Amy's former bunk now. As if that good bye was not a great enough kick to the mid region, he now had to sleep in her bed.

He got on the bed and faceplanted into the pillow. He smelled something nice. It smelled like flowers_. Smells good._ Then he reprimanded himself, thinking about that goodbye. He sat up slightly irritated, huffing.

"Can something go right for once?"

Tempting fate turned out to be ill-advised, as the universe eagerly gave its answer when the wall adjacent to him _exploded_. The rest of the bed and bunk was incinerated, along with part of the room. He stared at the gaping hole in the wall completely silent, then looked over to the other side. A short kid with a red hat and jacket stared back at him, expression locked into utter disbelief. "Uh….s-s-sorry?"

Riven's eyes narrowed. He glanced next to the boy and saw a Quilava next to him. It was rubbing its foot.

"Erm," the boy piped up. "Someone stepped on his foot and he reacted and he shot a fireball and-" He caught Riven's glare. The smaller trainer abruptly stopped stammering, figuring that shutting up was the best course of action to prevent getting disemboweled.

"Call Nurse Joy. Before. I. Commit. Murder." Riven warned, smiling savagely.

"Uh….yeah…I'll…. uh… be back."

Returning a few moments later, he brought Nurse Joy in, who could only gasp at the damage. "OH MY GOD! HALF THE WALL IS GONE! AND PART OF GRAY'S ROOM!" She held up a hand to her mouth. "Gray, I am so sorry. I had no idea this would happen." She caught sight of him, who looked about ready to go on a psychotic rampage.

"Nurse Joy."

"Yes?"

"Where can I find something small, cute, and generally well liked?"

She didn't like where this was going. She asked anyway. "Why?"

"Because I want to destroy it," he deadpanned. His absol shared the look, being caked in dust and blackened soot.

"I know this has been a terrible day for you and I'm sorry, I'll give you money in return for the damages and discomfort." She didn't know if that would make up for all the things that had happened to him that very same day. Joy felt more than sympathy for the boy, now bordering on pity.

Riven's face lifted slightly. "Yes. Money would do well." _Note to self, make sure who your neighbors are. And warn them if they try anything stupid, you will castrate them._

He followed Joy out of the room, shooting a piercing glare at the little boy, who backed into the corner of his room. Coming out to the lobby, he saw the two trainers who were doing _thing_s in his room and he growled at them. They edged towards the wall, maintaining a good distance away from the menacing young man.

Nurse Joy opened the register and handed Gray three thousand. He took them without a word and was about to ask a question when Joy cut him off. "I have bad news, Gray."

Riven muttered something under his breath that sounded like complete gibberish and a wave of profanity. His pokemon nodded in agreement, feeling equally as angry as him. "We have no more rooms left, and your room is… unsafe to live in right now. I can't rent you any others, they're all full."

He stared for a silent minute. Then burst out into hysterical laughter, admiring the immense amount of shit that had just happened to him. He left the pokemon center, stumbling out of the sliding doors, still laughing like a lunatic.

"This is great. Wonderful, fantastic, excellent and-" He said to his pokemon before falling on his knees, unable to breathe from laughing so hard. "-AMAZING!"

Haona, Bib, and Aine exchanged looks of concern. Trainer had definitely lost his shit. Then he suddenly stopped laughing, getting up with a look of severity on his face.

"_Fuck_," he said, placing as much emphasis into the swear as he could. "You three, come. To the park." He commanded, face totally unreadable. Stoic was an accurate term. No fury, no madness, no happiness, nothing. It was pretty scary.

Arriving at the park, he threw himself on the bench they had been sitting at when the sun was going down. Then he brought out his pokeballs and returned all of his pokemon. White Queen and Mischief would be furious but he could care less. He was one thousand percent _done_.

Everything was fucked. He thought his fortunes had changed for the better. That is until today successfully proved him wrong. He guessed something had cursed him to have terrible luck, and that's why things only got progressively worse. How things like these happened back to back was _astounding_.

Riven cursed himself to sleep, spewing enough verbal acid to scare a Seviper.

* * *

The next day, Riven woke up feeling worse than he had felt the night before. His neck and back ached because of the bench and he was hungry. He stuffed a hand into a pocket in his cuirass and took out some bills. He had four thousand, six hundred to his name. Not bad. Enough to get him two weeks worth of pokefood and meals.

He brought out his pokemon from their spherical prisons, only to be tackled by a black faced, once white furball. White Queen glared at him, obviously irritated that he had returned her to her ball. "Gah…Alright…I get it." A cough. "Tackling me was uncalled for." White Queen huffed in response, sending a little bit of icy wind towards Riven's face. He held up a scolding finger."No ice beams. You already tackled me, an ice beam is unnecessary. Remember that I feed you." Dusting himself off, he looked down at the Absol. Her face was covered in soot from last night's incendiary mishap and her pristine white fur was tainted and dirty. Something had to be done. "White Queen?"

She turned her head upwards, staring at him.

"You need a bath."

_Splash. Drip. Drip. Squelch._

Haona climbed out of the blue lake in the center of Petalburg Park. It wasn't dirty. Far from it actually. It's just that her trainer had the _nerve_ to pick her up and throw her in. The water was damned cold. She was still shivering. The water temperature hadn't risen yet since the sun rose a little while ago, so that dunk was extremely unpleasant.

"_Oh that does it, idiot human._" She charged up a bluish white ball of energy, freezing early morning dew into ice on the grass below.

Bib and Aine backed away from Riven, who had his back turned and was rummaging through his bag for pokefood. Bib mumbled to Aine, "_Oh, she's pissed. It would be healthy for us to stay out of her ice beam range for now_." The torchic agreed, still in a daze after being pulled away by the kirlia.

A blue beam shot forward, hitting Riven's backside. He jumped and gave an unmanly yelp. This alone caused his pokemon to erupt in laughter. He turned around, still holding his bottom.

_Alright, I admit. I kind of deserved that._

He did technically dump her into a presumably, cold lake very unceremoniously. He would be a bit angry as well. "Aine! Dammit….I- am I actually going to say this?" His torchic hopped over to him tilting her head in response. "Use ember on me. Low power. And make it quick. This is embarrassing." The orange chick released a small burst of weak embers, melting the ice that was frozen on his backside. Now it was wet. Which admittedly felt worse.

After feeding his pokemon, the young man looked around. Some people were jogging around the park with their pokemon, while others were just sitting on benches, appreciating the morning air. The park smelled of fresh flowers, it was nearly covered in them after all. A large wingull fountain was in the middle, spewing water up into the air. Pointless, but beautiful.

Riven was determined to find a job today. Or else he would have to sleep on that dreadful bench again. Good for sitting and admiring the setting sun. Sleeping? Not so. Walking through the center of the park, he noticed something odd.

People progressively moved away from him and his pokemon; some parents even held their children back, most trainers evaded his gaze or found somewhere else to be. He had no idea why they were doing this. He even picked up little mutterings of the words: "delinquent", "ruffian", "criminal", "savage", and "mobster". _These people think I am some sort of criminal? Idiots._

Then he had enough decency to look at himself in a mirror in one of the restrooms in the park. He was dressed in a cut and burned leather cuirass and leather chaps, with worn out gloves, and had two blades at his sides and a large bow complete with a quiver that had three _real_ functional arrows. The fact that he was also dressed entirely in black helped worsen the effect.

_Oh, right. _The answer hit him in the face like a bag of stones.

To other soldiers and people of ill repute he might not look alarming, but to _ordinary_ civilians, he looked entirely different. Back when he was in the military, they would sometimes pass through villages; every time they did, they would receive short frank replies and an aversion to look at them in the eyes. It was the same here, he simply radiated _I am here to kill you,_ with his very presence.

"I need to buy some new clothing," he reasoned.

Now back in the central plaza, he entered a 'boutique'—a fancy name for a clothing store. At least that's what Amy said they were. This one was called "Flower Boutique".

_What is it with this city and blasted flowers?_

He stepped inside, seeing an assortment of clothing on white human sized models.

A helper stood in front of the store, eyes closed, greeting him. "Oh hello. Welcome to Flower Boutique! How may I help- oh." She noticed his appearance. "Sir, how….may I …help…you?"

"Why are you talking so slow?"

"No reason and uh….sorry! Ummmm, the men's section is on the second floor," she quickly corrected herself, looking at those deadly looking blades. The man was armed to the teeth. Either he was here for a cosplay expo or he had just come out of the wilderness. She watched the man walk upstairs, then took out a radio and called security. "Reynolds, there's a questionable looking man on the second floor. Put surveillance on him in case he does anything suspicious."

Skimming through the clothing upstairs, Riven searched for something similar to his clothing. A white shirt with a grey pattern on it caught his eye. The pattern looked complex and geometric, with strange symbols around the corners. "Ah, that's a rune logo." He turned around, facing an older male helper that was dressed in the same uniform as the woman downstairs. His name tag read "L. Reynolds".

"What does it mean?" Riven asked, confused as to what the symbols meanings were.

"I don't know. They found markings like that in various places around the Hoenn region. They thought it looked cool and put it on shirts. Most trainers pick pokeball designs."

"This is fairly appealing. I like it. Nice and symmetrical." Riven explained, holding the shirt up, pointing to the center and the sleeves where the rune was located.

The older man chuckled. "Well, you're a different one I suppose. I suggest a nice vest to go with that. Like that one there." He directed his hand to a black vest with the same symbol on its sides, colored a nice grey color with a hood attached to the back. "You might want some pants too."

"I will take the vest and the shirt. Along with these pants." The black haired trainer showed him the black chinos he had slung over his shoulders. "And a belt too."

"Nice choice, the colors complement each other and it matches your style perfectly. You should go get fitted to see what's the right size for you."

Riven walked out of the fitting room, looking much more modern than before. The clothes were lighter, and more comfortable. Less protective, but definitely lighter. Not having the reinforced leather at his knees and at his elbows made him feel a bit naked, though. Hood was nice too.

"Where can I get some durable gloves?"

"Right over here, sir."

Picking out his gloves, he tried them on. A nice black with blue accents, durable and had good grip. They fit perfectly and were lighter and more comfortable than his military gloves, while being equally as functional. Satisfied with his attire, he turned to the older clerk, who was admiring the young man's new look.

"How much will it be?" Riven asked, taking out a wad of cash.

"Since the store is having an everything must go sale to get ready for the winter clothing, all of your purchases will only amount to two thousand seven hundred."

Handing over the money, he walked out of the store feeling much lighter than before. He had kept his swords, knife and bow. _No way am I discarding those_. _Too useful to let go._ The store also included a rather large bag to carry all of them in, which he slung over his back, looking like a 'guitar' player. Albeit a player with a colossal sized guitar. Completely free of charge too. Free things were alwayswelcome. Now an important decision loomed over him. He headed back to the park.

The location was silent and there wasn't a single soul around him. Holding the black military uniform, he now felt torn. It represented the military. A chapter of his life that had been eye opening and equally as horrible. It had taught him many things; how the world was, how people were, and how to survive, lessons he would keep with him forever. It was a bitter gratitude. It also carried the weight of his people, his parents, their work, their _vengeance_. Vengeance he once swore he would enact.

_Too late for that though. Time travel said to go screw yourself._

Making a tough decision, he carried the leather to the bonfire pits, ordering Aine to light a fire. The fire blazed upwards, and Riven dumped the uniform into it, watching the flames consume the leather and cloth. The youth sat down in front of the fire for what seemed like ages, staring into the flames until his former attire was now dust and ash.

_Am I still a soldier?_

No. He was just a person now, among the millions. A trainer, even. He no longer felt the constraints of responsibility for his people or his nation. They were dead and dust. Sure he missed his parents and Nemos, but they were gone. Not here anymore. Not important anymore. A sad truth.

_Just me now. Riven. All there is to it._

He pulled over his hood and walked away, leaving the weight of the past behind, writhing in the bonfire's flames. This was his new reality now, like it or not. If it was, why not make the best of it?

"Well then. If that is the case… come on world, take your best shot."

* * *

And it did all right.

Some son of a bitch managed to snatch the small bag where he kept his money, since he no longer had secret pockets in which to place it, which led to a chase around the city. Climbing up buildings and jumping from rooftops, the little pickpocket managed to lose Riven in the midst of a crowd of trainers. It was exhilarating and immensely liberating but it also meant he had lost the remaining amount of money he had and had no means of obtaining anymore. He needed to eat. So did his pokemon. New world or not, his luck was still effectively shit.

He walked to the edge of the main Petalburg plaza and sat down on a bench, unsure of what to do next. He needed a job, and _fast_. Slouching in the bench, he watched trainers come and go, seeing a plethora of skitty, poochyena, and wurmples.

Uninterested in the other trainers, Riven thought about Amy. She was his first human friend in this world. He wondered where she was now. She mentioned that she would be staying in Petalburg for a quick errand or two, then head off to Mauville City to go meet up with her parents. He secretly wished the pretty blonde would have stayed, he liked having someone to talk to. Well, he listened to her babble most of the time. But it wasn't unpleasant. Actually, anyone apart from him would do. Having his pokemon around all the time never made him feel lonely but they couldn't speak so he was unable to access the same amount of interaction he experienced with Amy.

Riven looked down as his pokemon, who wore the same bored expression. Sighing once again, he looked up at the sky. It was sunset again. The sky was a tinted orange and the clouds began to take on a reddish hue. The fluffy clouds moved slowly across the sky, a calming sight that _almost _improved his mood. Hunger ruined it again.

He sat in the same position for nearly a half hour, joined by his pokemon in cloud watching. Riven stuffed his hands in his pant pockets, trying to find some money. Nothing. _Stupid pickpocket_. Of course, he could just battle all of the trainers in the park and snatch their money but they were all just starters. They did not have much money and would not be able to meet his needs. He needed richer targets. Unfortunately, there weren't many.

Adjusting himself on the bench, he pulled his hood up and went to sleep. Another day had gone by and nothing had been accomplished.

The next three days were uneventful and fruitless. No job, no money. He had resorted to swiping food at the farmer's market to feed himself. Pokefood formula was also dangerously low. He needed to buy more, but he needed money for that too. Stealing here was illegal too. Except in his world, you lost an arm for doing it. Not that it stopped him and Nemos though. They swiped food all the time.

Munching on an apple, Riven passed by a decently sized building with a pokeball logo on it. The sign read, "Petalburg City Gym, Leader Norman" Probably one of those pokemon gyms that the trainers went raving mad over.

Walking inside, he was stopped by a man at the entrance. "Halt, trainer. Before you progress further, do you have four gym badges?"

Riven took a bite out of his apple with a loud crunch. He flipped open an empty badge case.

The man frowned and gestured him to turn back. "You can't face Norman until you have a total of four badges and more than three pokemon."

Well, he had three pokemon but no badges, so he walked out of the building. Flipping open Charles, Riven asked him a question, "Charles, who is the first Hoenn region gym leader?"

"Ah, yes sir. That would be Roxanne, the Rustboro Gym Leader. That is your destination right? Perhaps I suggest hitting two taillow with one stone and acquiring your pokenav and the first gym badge in one stroke?" Charles suggested.

"Good suggestion, Charles."

"My pleasure sir. Is that all you ask of me?"

"Yes. Although I might call on you for a bit of conversation at times. You know, like at the hospital. That would be nice."

"Lonely, sir?" Charles could detect a bit of longing in his owner's voice.

"Not really." He sighed. "Fine. Just longing for some conversation with someone that is not just myself. I enjoy my own thoughts but it does get stale quickly."

"I fully understand. Feel free to speak to me if needed. I may be in the mood."

"Thank you, Charles." Flipping him closed, Riven walked around the city a bit. Fliers were posted on the walls everywhere. Apparently there was an event going on tomorrow at the concert hall, a 'contest', whatever that was. He picked up a flier, scanning it over with faint disinterest. It sounded terribly unappealing, until he read in bold letters at the bottom of the paper,** Security Detail Needed. Running Short. Competent Trainers being hired.**

Riven's mood skyrocketed. He had found a possible income source! He looked for the address on the paper, _2754 Lily Road Way, Office of Contests and Events, North Petalburg City_. He had never been to North Petalburg, apparently it was inhabited by people who had an unhealthy obsession with the gym leader, Norman. An almost fanatical obsession to be precise. Creepy, but that was their business not his.

He hitched a ride on a bus with an open roof, climbing a street light and jumping on as it passed below. It was insane but it was rather fun. He wanted to do it again. The people sitting on the bus thought he was mad, jumping off a street light onto a moving vehicle. Releasing his pokemon from their balls again, he was glad to find them enjoying the ride. His absol stuck her head out, watching the blur of people and buildings as they moved across Petalburg. Mischief psychically played with a bald man's single hair and Aine jumped incessantly in her seat, brimming with vigor.

Riven couldn't help but admire the ease of transportation in this world. Mechanical machines called cars used fuel, which they burned to move a multitude of internal gears and levers, producing motion. A person 'drove' it with a wheel and two levers below their feet. The levers controlled the velocity of the machination and the steering wheel controlled the direction in which the rubber wheels moved. People payed for the fuel but it was well worth it, being able to move around quickly. He sat back and enjoyed the ride, feeling the wind flow through his hair.

They arrived about an hour later, stopping in front of an office building with a flowered pokeball sign on it. He walked inside, looking at the sharply dressed people inside, heading towards the registry desk. Looking at the secretary, who was typing away, he stated, "Excuse me. I am here for a job."

The woman stopped typing and looked up in slight annoyance, "Sorry, but if you want a job here you'll have to show me a high school diploma or better."

"I meant the security job for tomorrow's event."

"OH. Well, why didn't you say so?"

Riven held up an hand, curling a lip upward. _Seriously?_

"You certainly have the face for it, at least."The secretary led him to the Petalburg contest director, Malcolm Van. The man had a thin, twirly mustache and a booming voice. "Sir, he's here for the security job."

"SPLENDID! SIMPLY SPLENDID!" The man boomed, placing a hand on Riven's shoulders. The young man winced in pain, cupping his abused ears.

"I suppose you want to know all the details first?"

Riven recovered and stated, "What am I doing and how much am I getting paid?" He hardly cared what he was doing, as long as he was getting his pay.

"Ah. Straight to the point. I like that. No beating around the bush, no sir!" He responded cheerfully. He drank a glass of some brown liquid. "Since you're the first, you will have the very special honor of protecting the most honored contestant there!" He stared at the young man, whose expression didn't change at all. "You'll be protecting Norman's very own daughter, the renowned pokemon Coordinator, the Princess of Hoenn!" He stroked his mustache. "Beautiful, skilled, and wonderfully alluring to the eyes of men, you get to be her personal bodyguard." He looked at the trainer again, this time fully expecting to see the drooling expression that most men had whenever they heard of the Princess of Hoenn. Her beauty was simply staggering. However, the boy's expression didn't change in the slightest.

"Okay," he responded simply, ignoring the man's stunned gawk in response to his nonchalant attitude. _Princess… Is she royalty or something? Eh, who cares. At least they are paying me_. Which brought up a very important question. "How much?"

"OH! Since it is a special event, the security will be doubled. Your pay also got doubled as well! Your position in particular is 15000 guaranteed!" Van grinned wildly, bouncing on his tip toes.

_Fifteen. FIFTEEN. I need to get me some of that._ Mind made up, the black haired trainer confirmed, "Deal."

"Good, Good! Be here tomorrow at noon, that is when the contestants will arrive. Good luck!" He scratched his head. "Oh right! What was your name?"

"Gray."

"No last name?"

"Is it needed?"

"Not really."

"Then no."

Writing information on a document, he handed it over to Riven. "Sign here and here." Riven picked up the mechanical quill and signed a simple Gray in scarily formal writing. Van's eyes nearly shot out of his skull at how beautifully written Gray had signed his name_. An art student turned security guard? What has this world come to?_ He watched the young man and his pokemon leave the office building and shook his head. _Such a shame_.

Content with his new job, he hitched another bus ride back, the same way he had last time. The ex soldier started to like the city a little more, there were plenty of high places and vantage points. _Higher ground is always better._ It was still a few hours until sundown though, so he had time to spare. He needed to entertain himself somehow.

Spotting a building with plenty of people around the entrance, he got off the bus and headed there. It was a large edifice with screens that had different pictures on them, usually accompanied with some sort of cheesy title. _G-Men: Days of Future's Past_, _How to Train your Salamence 2: Coming soon, A Million Ways to Die in Kanto,Tyranizilla,The Amazing Ariados._ What were these?

Curious, he managed to slip by undetected into the building in the midst of a large crowd. He entered the 'cinema 5' which was showing that one G-Men thing. Apparently they were "movies", fake recordings of actors and "special" effects that combined to make a story and present it in film format. He watched the movie and understood absolutely nothing but he had to admit the fight scenes were rather impressive. It left him feeling a bit pumped.

* * *

Riven ran back the rest of the way to the park, alongside White Queen and Aine, who were happy to stretch their legs and get some exercise. The run was invigorating, reminding him of the times he would climb mountains as a scout, eager to reach the top. Looking out hundreds of feet below, he would feel amazing. He felt so alive that he thought he could just sprout wings and take off, leaving everything behind. Reaching the park, his energy had not subsided at all. He decided to practice something he had not performed in a long time.

He fell into a stance, closing his eyes. Feeling the breeze in the air, he listened to the movements and sounds of the park around him. Moving in controlled movements, he imagined a sword in both hands, slashing through the air as he moved about, raising his awareness and his strength.

Picking up the pace, he began sweeping and thrusting his arms forward, movements becoming more erratic and unpredictable. A dance of swords.

Unbeknownst to him, a small crowd of people began watching him as he moved about the center, including his own pokemon, who were entranced by the performance. Finishing the routine, he placed his palms towards the floor, then straightened and exhaled deeply.

Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see all the eyes staring back at him. He felt a little embarrassed. Then someone started clapping. "Wow! That was great! Did you see those moves?" A dark skinned boy mentioned to his friend, who was nodding in agreement. "It was slow and mystical at first, then BAM! Super martial arts master. It was totally awesome!" Riven only stared dumbfounded, the strange terms flying over his head.

A boy with glasses came up to him, "That looked like swords dance! Very cool! I remember seeing a Grovyle use those moves before! Your absol doesn't know it yet? You should teach it! How did you learn it anyway?" The kid hammered away, talking very very fast. "I've seen some trainers teach it to their pokemon like that before, but it's easier with a TM."

Riven looked confused and held his hands out, bidding the child to _slow_ down. _The army partly taught it to me, thank you for asking. _"I sort of just erm...discovered the thing? I saw pokemon do that, so I memorized it. Makes you feel stronger when you do it."

The darker skinned boy ran down next to the two. "Oh cool! Can you teach us?" He asked rather excited.

Riven shrugged. Sundown was a couple of hours away so why not? Calling White Queen over to learn as well, he told the boys and their friends to get close. The dark skinned boy took out a small portable device out of his backpack and plugged it into some black boxes with holes in them. The sound that played out of his device was amplified and was much louder. The tune was catchy and spirited, inspiring him to move.

"You better keep up."

Both boys jumped in excitement, "ALRIGHT!"

The black haired trainer and his newly found dance acolytes practiced the form for five hours, until the clock read eight pm and the sun had just set. Telling them to practice more, he headed back to his bench. He was tired. So was White Queen, who almost fell asleep standing up. She had managed to learn the dance fairly quickly, and found it enjoyable to do, despite being very tiring.

Riven enjoyed the experience too, which attracted a very large crowd of onlookers. He hoped he could do it again, it was very fun and got a lot of trainers and pokemon moving. In short, a good day. He had found a job and even had some fun. But it was time to call it a night. Returning Aine and Mischief to their balls, the young man and his Absol fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Riven woke up, feeling uncomfortable from the heat of the sun. It was eight in the morning, four hours left until noon. Pokemon fed and ready to go, the trainer headed back to the Contest Office on Lily Road Way, hitching another ride. Stepping into the building, Van shot up next to him, leading him into the building with haste.

"Oh good, you've arrived." He frowned, looking at Riven's casual looking clothes. "Oh those clothes, heavens no! You need a uniform, here." He threw him into a dressing room, filled to the brim with fancy suits with a petal logo on the collar. Taking one, he put it on, placing his clothes in a locker, as well as his weapon case. A man with a fuller figure appeared, handing him a metal baton.

"You're gonna need this in case someone tries anything funny. Just flick it outwards and beat 'em on the head with it." Taking the baton, he retracted it and placed it on his belt. Now in uniform, it was time to head to the Contest Hall.

The security team for the event rode in a black car together into central Petalburg, stopping in front of the plaza where the Contest Hall was located. Lines extended into the plaza with people waiting to buy tickets to enter the viewing stands. _This must be some really important event, _Riven thought_._ Exiting the vehicle, the security team headed inside, where last minute adjustments were being made. The contest would begin in three hours.

Riven and the rest of his fellow security simply stood at the entrances, waiting for the people to be allowed in. An announcement was made over the intercom and people flooded inside like stamping Donphan. The guards backed away, careful not to get trampled by the crazed horde. The seats in the hall filled up quickly, noise and whistles coming from every direction. They were ready to see the show.

Van appeared on stage, inciting an explosion of noise and applause from the crowd. "Thank you, Thank You!" Blocked out by the noise, he waited a moment for the noise to die down. "Welcome to Petalburg! The City of Flowers! And welcome to the 40th Annual Petalburg City Contest!" The audience roared in response. It was hurting Riven's ears. "As you all know, we will have wonderful appeals and beautiful performances. As well as appearances from legendary pokemon coordinators!"

"And boys! Yes, the Princess of Hoenn, May! Is here!" The crowd erupted, whistles and strips of paper floating down from the stands. This was her hometown, naturally the people would root for her. "Now without further ado, I present the judges: Nurse Joy from Petalburg, Alexa Laise from the Kalos Region, and David Bower, Mayor of Petalburg!" The crowd clapped loudly, only intensifying when Van called out Alexa's name. It was only the boys who clapped louder, sending some wolf-whistles her way. She giggled, reddening a bit.

"The prize will be a Petalburg City Ribbon and this special jewel, a marvel of brilliance, found deep in a cave in Mt Chimney!" He demonstrated the ribbon and a white shining jewel to the crowd, who were mesmerized by its appearance.

Riven stared at it oddly, thinking nothing of it. He had a strange feeling in his stomach. Dismissing it, he turned his attention back to the stage. Nothing looked out of place, but one could never know for sure. Scanning the crowd, he figured it was just paranoia.

Van continued, "LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!" The mustached man raised his hands, officially starting the contest.

Amidst the crowd's cheering, Riven couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness, chalking it up to unfamiliarity.


	9. Crimson Petals

The pokemon contest wasn't as boring and uninteresting as Riven thought. It was actually quite the spectacle. The contestants were called coordinators. They took the stage and made their 'appeals', combining different moves to make dazzling visuals and effects.

Some looked "cool", some were beautiful, and others were simply stunning. The girl he was supposed to be protecting afterwards, this so called 'Princess of Hoenn', made a wonderful appeal that made diamond dust come down onto the stage. He had to clap; it was impressive. This green-haired kid's was equally as impressive. His roserade created figures made of leaves that interacted with each other, before finally bursting into brilliant lights.

The battle rounds looked similar to regular pokemon battles, but instead the contestants had a point meter that went down if their pokemon were hit by stylish moves. Riven was intrigued by the flashy combinations and reversals between green hair kid and May, realizing why the crowd was so energized. He simply stared in awe and wonder, too mesmerized by the combinations to criticize or clap.

It was a fierce and spectacular battle between the two final coordinators, but May ultimately won, winning with only a few points remaining. The audience clapped and roared at her victory.

Van stepped forward, bringing May up to the very front of the stage. He smiled wide and presented the ribbon and the jewel to the coordinator, placing the necklace around her neck. Riven's eye started to sting a bit again, looking at the small white jewel. He put on some shades that came with his guard uniform, the stone's light hurt his eye and made the black jewel on his neck pulse a deep blue color.

"I am proud to announce the winner of the 40th annual Petalburg City contest, the Princess of Hoenn, May!" The crowd exploded into cheers and congratulatory screams, proud that their home contestant had taken the ribbon. There was only one oddity however.

The security team next to him was deathly silent. No claps, whistles, smiles, or any hint of joy. They kept glancing at their watches, most of them were sweating. The contest hall was air conditioned and pleasantly cool, they should not be sweating. They were acting very suspicious.

_Why do they keep looking at their watches? Are they waiting for something? Maybe it is just the attitude of a security? No. Not possible. Van said I was the first, implying that these other six had come later._

Which meant that they had seen the flier like him and signed up, but judging from their behavior, all of them signed up _at the same time_. Six men didn't just all get a job as security detail_. Ulterior motives?_

Feigning ignorance, Riven continued clapping and applauding, while keeping an eye on the men next to him. On the stage, Norman joined his daughter and waved at the crowd. They began walking off stage and out of the contest hall. Riven followed, while the other securities escorted the other contestants out. They headed outside, walking in between two sides of the crowd, which were separated by metal railings.

May and her father were shaking hands and taking photos with fans. Nothing seemed off at first.

Then the feeling he got back in the hall returned stronger than before. It made him nauseous, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up and a wave of electricity to crawl down his spine. Fully alert and vigilant, he scanned the crowd for any danger.

His paranoia spiked and became almost overwhelming. He turned in every direction, analyzing faces and looking at hands. Seeing nothing, he turned back to May, who was about to shake the hand of a man in a business suit.

A glint of silver, and Riven _moved_.

The businessman's eyes turned hollow and empty, like a madman's, as he shook May's hand. Then, he placed a vice-like grip on her right shoulder, hurting her. "Stop it. You're hurting me!" Norman was about to step in when the man in the suit pulled out something metallic, holding the knife in reverse. He was about to bring it down on her when someone gripped his arm. It was her security guard, a black haired young man with shades.

_Knife, assassin. Not today, not while this is my job_. This man wanted to assassinate the girl. There was no time for questions. He needed to put him down before the others came. This was no random occurrence, it was pre-meditated. There would be more in the crowd, assassins never came alone. Unless they were good, but he doubted this guy was sufficiently trained. _If one fails, send another to finish the job. I want to get paid._

He brought the man's arm down and twisted it, snapping the bones in his wrist. The knife dropped and Riven caught it as it fell, flipping in reverse. He held it up and stabbed the man three times in the chest, burying the knife all the way to the handle into the assassin's heart. The man stared at Riven in dying surprise and fell lifeless onto the floor.

May screamed, shocking the crowd who only stared, witnessing the death of a man. They looked at Riven in disgust and mortification.

Chaos erupted. Adults and children bolted, running for their lives. Some got on their knees, screaming in horror. People shoved and pushed through the crowd, trying to get away. The news crews stared, cameras capturing everything.

It was then that a man rose up from the crowd and flashed a small, metal weapon. It flashed and a loud bang was heard. Riven turned around, seeing Norman back away a few steps. He put a hand to his gut, seeing blood cover his palm. He sunk to the floor, wounded.

Riven turned to his Absol, "go! Mega horn!" The shooter desperately tried reloading, his first shot had missed the girl and had hit her father instead. He replaced the bullet and aimed the gun again, nearly getting the girl in his sights, until a green light appeared next to him. His eyes widened, feeling something tear into him. He looked down, noticing that the security's Absol had cut him from left shoulder to right hip. Blood sprayed out as he fell. It coated the ground and railing, as well as some of the people around him.

May had screamed so much she couldn't anymore. She was deathly afraid, her knees were weak and quivering. She watched her father struggle to breathe, having just been shot. Someone shook her. It was her guard. His face was full of dire concern. "Snap out of it. Focus May. I need you to focus."

She wavered, " I-I-I c-an't."

"Yes you can, now listen to me." He held her face with his hands. "I need you to help Norman up and take him to one of the news vans. Tell them you need to get to the hospital right away. He is bleeding badly and needs medical attention right now. My pokemon will escort you there. Now go!"

"What about you?"

"I will be fine, I will take care of anyone who tries to follow you. They are after you, May. Do not let them catch you." He motioned his absol and his kirlia to follow them. "You two, protect them. Keep them safe. If anyone tries to hurt them, take them out." His pokemon nodded and stood beside the girl and her father, leading them back to the van.

The rest of the security team broke out of the hall. They looked at the two dead assassins on the floor and cursed. Spotting Riven, they knew he had been the one who ruined their primary plan. The tallest and most foreboding of them, a bald man with tan skin, hissed. "You little shit. I knew you were going to be trouble." He looked past Riven, spotting their vehicle. They had to get through the security before they could chase after the girl. "I guess we'll just have to kill you. Then we'll kill the girl." He pointed at the black haired young man, "Kill him."

One of them rushed forward, eager to carry out the deed.

Adrenaline rushed into Riven's veins. _Life or death. Kill or be killed._ This was it. He fell into his stance, waiting for the man to come to him.

He predicted the man's right hook, dodging to the right while grabbing his arm. He turned his back towards his attacker and used his body weight to throw him over his shoulder onto the pavement. Riven lifted his leg and mercilessly crushed the man's windpipe. He left him writhing on the floor, gasping for air.

_Two more incoming_.

He exchanged blows with them both, parrying their rights and lefts expertly. They were not experienced fighters. Diving in between both of them, he rolled on the ground behind them. Delivering a low heel kick to the side of the knee of the man on the left, he heard a jarring snap. The man howled in pain and fell onto his knees, screaming in anguish. Riven recovered and narrowly dodged a baton to the head, now right next to the man. Shifting in a side stance, with his left hip facing the other man, he spun to the right, striking the man's skull with a spinning hook kick. His assailant fell on the ground, having suffered a concussion.

He had no time to breathe as two others swung at him with metal batons. He dodged baton strikes, backing up considerably, trying to evade vicious blows aimed at his head. Ducking under a horizontal attack, he gave a right elbow to the man's floating ribs, followed by a knee strike to the diaphragm, knocking his air out. Seeing the other man approaching, he elbowed the gasping man in the temple, dropping him to the ground.

Riven was unable to react fast enough to dodge the metal baton from the other attacker. It smashed across his left side, no doubt bruising if not cracking his ribs. He recoiled in pain, staggering back a few steps, grabbing onto the metal railing on the right. Predicting a vertical smash to his head, he grit his teeth together and dodged to the left, while extending his own baton. The enemy's weapon clanged against the railing, missing him.

His attacker whipped back, only to be met with a baton to the fingers. His fingers cracked, causing him to drop his weapon. The black haired man struck again, smashing the baton on his clavicle, then into his head, knocking him out.

Riven now faced the last man. The largest one of the group. The man was massive. His opponent extended his own baton.

They clashed, batons clanging against each other. However, the bigger man was at an advantage. He was stronger, beating Riven back with his brutal strikes. He swung down in a powerful overheard vertical strike, smashing against Riven's weapon, forcing it out of his hand. He kicked it away and slammed his weapon across the smaller security's mouth.

Riven fell back a few paces away, bleeding from the mouth. The strike disoriented him and left his vision blurry. He was unable to notice the larger man discard the baton for a much deadlier weapon.

The larger security guard laughed at the younger man's pitiful attempt to save the day. "You want to play the hero, huh kid? Wake up. On second thought, nevermind. You're dead anyway." He grabbed Riven's head and smashed it into the railing, causing blood to run down from his scalp down into his right eye. He stood over him and lifted him up. Then he took out a knife and plunged it repeatedly into his abdomen. Blood dripped onto the ground. The older man cackled sadistically. He enjoyed seeing the boy die.

Riven gasped, feeling the blade stab him. His vision started to blacken.

Dying. Time seemed to slow down, his consciousness fading.

He found himself in a pitch black space, with no lights anywhere to be seen. A large reddish black ball of energy appeared to him.

_Pathetic. You used to be strong. You used to be relentless. Merciless. Now you are soft. This world has changed you. And now look at you, dying like a bitch._

_You discarded your strength for freedom. Trainer? Hah! You are a soldier, loyal to the Cerul clan. Do not forget where you came from. Draw your strength from me, or I will consume you._

It chuckled, low and diabolical.

_Now… time to have some fun._

Riven stopped gasping, clutching the other man's arm with inhuman strength. He growled, like a frenzied houndoom. A deadly aura washed over the area, scaring the crowd, but especially the other security guard. He couldn't pull away.

One second he was overpowering the runt and the next, he was stronger than five men put together. _What the fuck? Freak!_ He tried to pull his hand away in a futile attempt to get away. The kid's grip was too strong. _How did he get so strong? _He looked at the young man's face, which had blood running down from his face down onto his right eye, his shades were cracked and broken. But the most terrifying part was the savage grin that the boy had on his face. His teeth were stained red, a look of vicious glee on his face.

Then he felt the boy crush his hand with a vicegrip. The bones in his hand pulverized and he was blasted backwards with a simple palm strike. The kid stood there looking down at his wounds. He gripped the knife stuck in his abdomen and pulled it out, blood shooting out. Then he stopped bleeding. Walking slowly over to him, the larger man screamed in pain and fear. "DON'T COME CLOSE YOU FUCKING FREAK! GET AWAY! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Riven stopped in front of the cowering man, stabbing him in the knee with his own knife. He was not going to escape. He smelled the man's fear and released a guttural and deranged laugh. His right eye opened up, a blood red color.

In his eyes, the other man saw madness and evil. It was like staring at your worst nightmare. The younger man looked crazed, bloodthirsty, and sinister. The security guard was about to scream.

His scream was stopped by the monsters finger. It spoke, mad and demonic. "Hero? Me? I hope that was a joke." The freak slammed a fist into his jaw. He spit out his teeth in a spray of blood. The blow felt like a car had hit him in the jaw, it was dislocated in one hit.

The demon continued hammering away with explosive punches to the man's face, leaving him a bloody mess. The man slumped onto the contest hall's doors, already unconscious. He was about to deliver the finishing blow when something inside stopped him.

_Get out._

Riven awoke in his body again, struggling against the monster in his mind. He had never experienced this before, even as a soldier. This was entirely new, and utterly terrifying. The deadly aura lifted, leaving behind only the horror and fear which were present before.

He spat out crimson fluid. Inspecting his abdomen, he found there were no stab wounds. They were completely nonexistent, healthy skin where there should be puncture wounds. He clutched his burning ribs, looking around. The crowd was silent. They were staring at the young man, who seemed completely different from a moment ago. Forgetting the psychotic behavior from a moment ago, they only saw the man that protected the people and the Princess from killers. However, they were still wary of him, backing away from him considerably, fearful of the blood.

"Is everyone alright?" They slowly nodded in confirmation. He groaned. Sirens were heard, the police were coming. The news crews could not believe what they had just captured on live tv. Reporters stood deathly still with their mouths agape. The cameramen held onto their cameras for dear life, paralyzed at the scene.

The police arrived and flooded the scene, escorting people out, gazing at all the blood. Three men were dead, with five other unconscious. One of which was brutally battered near the contest hall doors, leaving blood stains on the walls. It was an ugly sight. They had seen things like this before but the feeling of disgust never got old.

A detective examined the bodies. One of the men was slashed diagonally from left shoulder to right hip, a bloody mess. The other had a crushed windpipe. He probably died from asphyxiation. The final fatality had three stab wounds in the chest, with the murder weapon still stuck inside his body. Taking the other unconscious men custody, he looked at the sole standing figure in the middle of the mess. A black haired young man bleeding from the mouth and scalp, clutching his ribs, hands bloodied and beaten.

The detective took out handcuffs and cuffed him.

* * *

Back at the police precinct building, the detective had the young man in an interrogation room. He was still bloody and beaten. His right eye was swollen closed and blood was drying around it. He had washed his mouth of blood into a sink in the bathroom. He looked like shit.

The detective, John Williams, gripped the bridge of his nose. This was a high profile case. Attempted assassination of a celebrity in broad daylight, the murder of three suspects, and several reports of the man in the room going insane. Motives of either side, unknown.

Witnesses testified that the man in the cell protected Norman's daughter from an assassination attempt and stopped pursuers. However, the detective was highly suspicious_. _

_A security guard, stopped a whole team of men by himself?_ _Security guards are never trained for combat. At most, they sit around and let things unfold. _Looking at the footage, he saw something that deeply disturbed him.

_The young man fought professionally, and didn't hesitate to kill. He's killed before. But he's so young… and I've never seen a style like that before. Karate? And then there's that._ Williams rewinded the recording and played it over, watching the radical shift in behavior after being stabbed. _His attacks became wild and relentless, almost bloodthirsty. Witnesses reported a heavy feeling in the air of dread and evil. Could just be shock._

Williams turned to his partner. "Rose, can you bring me some files on this guy? Residency records, hospital visits, jobs, anything. Check his prints too."

"I can't." She responded, surprising him. She never said that.

"Why not?"

"Because there isn't anything to give." Rose showed him an empty computer screen. The words read : No files found.

"What? No files found? That's impossible."

"I know."

"Check again, just in case."

This man was a ghost. A nobody. A shadow. _Who the fuck is he? _He groaned, dreading what the suspect was going to say. _Guess I have no choice._

Williams stepped into the interrogation room, placing some files on the desk. The man across from him looked bored and impatient but far from nervous. He started, "Look buddy. I know you've had a rough day but I need you to tell me what happened. This is serious. Everything, since the beginning. I'll be asking you questions about anything I deem important. Is that clear?"

Nodding in response, 'Gray' started to explain ,"Fine. I walked in the office yesterday to apply for a job. I saw the posts around the city and figured, why the hell not?"

Williams interjected, "Why did you apply for that job specifically?

"I had no money and I could not find any other jobs around the city. I tried searching for a week but found nothing. This was it."

"Continue."

"So I came in around noon, got dressed and went to the event. Nothing strange happened during the actual contest. Then we went outside and you know the rest."

His explanation was incredibly vague. Williams needed more details. "What can you tell me about the other security guards there?"

"I did not associate with them. I was there to do my job, get out and get paid. However, they did change in behavior after the contest winner was announced."

"What sort of change?"

"They stopped looking at their watches and started staring at May, not in lust or admiration. It was more like 'acquired target'. I found it odd so I kept an eye on them."

"They were working with the men who tried to assassinate her?"

"I would presume so. I also found this." He showed the detective a bloody pin with an atomic insignia on it. It didn't look familiar to Williams.

Taking it, he examined the pin. He would have to cross reference it with anything in the records and see if anything came up. "You took it off one of them?"

"Yeah." His calm responses unnerved the detective_. _Calm and collected responses always set him on edge. They just weren't natural.

"Alright. Tell me why you killed those men." Williams knew that the boy didn't have to kill them. It could have been avoided. So why did he do it? Did he enjoy it? He certainly looked like a person that could go on random psychotic rampages.

"Is that a rhetorical question detective? I killed them because they were going to kill May and attempted to kill _me_. If she dies, I cannot get paid and if I die, money is pointless. So rephrase your question detective."

"You didn't have to kill them." The kid's responses were pissing him off, each successive response exponentially aggravated him. This guy just felt fifty shades of secretive and rubbed him wrong almost as bad as a serial killer did.

"Yes. I did. Lethal force must be met with lethal force. I did what I had to."

"Killing isn't something you can do so lightly. You're only a boy, you don't need to do this. They didn't have to die. We could have taken care of it. Security guards don't go out and murder people, that's not how it works."

Riven scoffed. "Morality is just a bunch of tauros shit someone on a high horse invented to think themselves better than others. Oh, no killing? How good of you. Then when someone puts a knife at your throat, you can revel in how much of a saint you are because you deny your nature and refuse to end a life. Besides, I did my job. I am expecting my pay."

"We are dealing with a near assassination and you only think about money?" Williams was stunned, unable to believe what the young man had just said to him.

"I do not care for your concerns or of anyone else's detective. I simply want my money and be on my way. If they tread on me, I will destroy them. If they do not, I will ignore them." No hesitation, no waver in his voice. Resolute and simple truth.

Williams watched him sternly, wondering where exactly this kid grew up to think so cynically."Then why did you protect her?! Why not just let her die?"

"Her _life_ was my _job_." He spread his hands, indicating that his response was final.

The detective gathered his documents and left the room, almost snarling.

Rose asked, "John. What happened?"

"That kid is a fucked up mess, that's what. He thinks killing someone is totally fine. He says he just wants to get paid. He doesn't give a rat's ass about what happened. Girl nearly dies and all he cares about is his fifteen thousand? Fuck him_._ Probably grew up in some shithole and immigrated over here. Fucking savages. Now I can understand Unova's sentiments._"_

His sergeant put a hand on his shoulder. "John, calm down. We all know how you feel about people like him. But you need to let it go. We can't hold him. There are hundreds of people that saw that video. It was self defense. He's going free but we'll keep an eye out for him. Interrogate the others when they wake up, they might provide more answers."

Williams sat down in his desk, fuming as he saw the kid walk out of the interrogation room and out of the building.

"I'm going to arrest him one day. I'll make sure of it."

Riven walked out of the precinct, still clutching his side_. Damn, I better get hazard pay out of this._

* * *

He entered the Petalburg City hospital, asking for a Norman. The nurse directed him to the fourth floor, where he was currently located.

He slowly opened the door, seeing a bed-ridden Norman with a breather mask attached to his face. May instantly sat up, realizing who just walked in. His absol and his kirlia were next to her, trying to comfort her.

Riven eyed her dully, feeling exhausted. "You all right?"

"Yeah." She noticed his sorry state. "I'm sorry. For what happened to you back there. And thank you. For protecting me. Most security guards wouldn't risk their life like that."

"Really? I just thought it was my job. Although, I did not know I would be protecting you from a bloody assassination. Van better pay at least another five thousand or we will have _words,_" he said, clenching a fist in the air. May shrunk at the gesture, remembering how he killed that man.

A few minutes of awkward silence passed by.

Riven stared at Norman, seeing his chest rise and fall."Is he fine?"

"Yeah, he's stable. The news crew drove us here as fast as possible and the doctors started surgery right away. The bullet missed his spine. I'm really glad."

"Good. How did my pokemon treat you?"

"Your pokemon were amazing. Your Absol is very kind and beautiful." He scoffed at the kind comment. "But your Kirlia is a bit mischievous. It put its face in my chest." She complained, pointing at her chest. Riven choked. "I punched him for it, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, actually. He is a bit… uh, like that. I need to do something about that." Clearing his throat, he stood up. "Well, good luck to you and I hope your father makes a speedy recovery. I have been in the hospital before. Let me tell you, not pleasant." He snapped his fingers.

"Mischief, White Queen, time to get paid." He said as his two pokemon walked towards him. He did not want to worry the girl with such things. Instead, he gave her a warning. "May, hide that jewel. Keep it safe. Do not let anyone see it. It might be more valuable than you think. Maybe." Deliberately keeping the jewel's supposed significance to himself, he left the room.

May watched him leave, he was a strange guy but there was something of an _other_ to him. It wasn't friendly or annoying, or even hostile. It was just there. There was no real feeling to it. Neutral, that's what it was. She sat back down, staring at the door.

_Gray. I'll remember that name._

It was late. Riven stood in Van's office, watching him write a check.

"Alright, Gray. I have indeed included five thousand extra as your requested hazard pay. You did stop an assassination. You're a hero!"

Riven rolled his eyes."I hate heroes. All they are good for is saying motivational speeches and dying."

"That's quite depressing. Well, uh, here you go! Exchange it at a bank and they will give it to you in cash or you can leave it in your bank account."

The black haired trainer took the check without a word and turned to the dressing room. He came back outside dressed in his casual attire, carrying a large case over his back. Heading for the door, Van spoke up, voice a bit apologetic. "Gray. I'm-" Gray cut him off.

"People have been saying sorry to me all day. Have a pleasant evening, Van." The door shut, leaving Van in silence.

Riven walked out of the building, more worn out than he had ever felt before. He made it back to the park, dropping onto the grass below. Spreading himself over the grass, he stared into the sky. It was clear, no clouds in sight.

Stars littered the sky, forming constellations and clusters. An enormous belt of stars was seen overhead. Galaxies. Collections of billions upon billions of stars, rotating around one center. He and his pokemon watched the stars, pointing out constellations he could see. The universe was vast. Bigger than anything he had ever imagined. He stuck a hand out, trying to touch the stars put it down, this time resting it on his right eye.

_What happened to me? And am I even in the same world? Assassinations in broad daylight?_

Turning on the soft grass, he saw a rose with crimson petals. Closing his hand over it, he crushed it.

"I hate roses."

* * *

Amy sat in her parents' backyard in Mauville City. It was a beautiful night outside. The streets were peaceful and the sky was clear, blankets of stars everywhere. The milky way was visible in the night sky, a bright milky ridge of stars clumped together. She stroked her Swablu, which sat on her head. Its plumage was extremely soft, feeling good against her fingers.

"So peaceful. I wonder who else is seeing the same thing?" She asked her pokemon, which only chirped in response.

Her thoughts turned to Gray, whom she abruptly left in Petalburg. It had been nearly a week since then. She hoped that he had found a job and had enough money to go to Rustboro. She remembered his dour face, his majestic absol, the smug little kirlia, and that impossibly cute torchic. But most of all, she remembered that strange blue eye, that turned blood red that night. The same blood red eye that bothered her since then. Terrifying. Amy sighed, she kind of missed his presence. Having a travel partner was nice. Yawning, she stood back up and headed inside.

Her mom was watching the Hoenn channel 7 news. She had golden hair like her, that's where she got it from. Some people said that she was the spitting image of her mother, who hadn't lost her beauty either. Amy sat down on the table, preparing to eat her dinner. She ate her spaghetti as she watched the news.

The news anchors presented a story called "Blood in the City of Petals"—a ridiculous name. That is, until they began reporting what it was about.

_A horrifying incident took place today in Petalburg City. The annual contest held there had gone off with a single flaw, until the contestant winner walked outside and was attacked by a man dressed in a business suit, holding a knife. It has been reported as an attempted assassination. The man who stopped the assassin was the head security guard, a young black haired male of pale complexion, standing roughly six feet tall. He has not been spotted since the incident and was questioned by the police at a nearby station. The security guard fought off six men, who were masquerading as security guards themselves. His pokemon escorted the contest winner, the renowned Princess of Hoenn, to a news vehicle, which drove her and her wounded father to the nearby hospital. Three of the assailants are reported dead, with one being in critical condition, having suffered severe head trauma. The entire scene was captured live by Alexa Laise from Kalos television. WARNING: the footage is disturbing and viewer discretion is advised. If young are with you, turn the television off at this moment._

Amy was silent, unable to believe what she had just heard. The television went black then showed a video of the scene. It showed the young man disarming the attacker, killing him then talking to the gym leader's daughter. She saw a white blur and a man in the stands fell, spraying blood out in front of him. Then it showed the head guard fighting off the other faux security with a variety of strikes and powerful kicks. She flinched, watching him smash the first guy's throat with his foot.

She watched in silence as the bigger security overpowered him and started stabbing him in the stomach with a knife. Then she froze. She saw the younger guard stop throwing up blood, then noticed the larger guard's face fill with terror. He had seen something horrifying. The younger guy then grabbed his arm and crushed it, using his palm to send the much larger man against the doors of the contest hall. He pulled out the knife and played with it, finally stabbing it into the man's leg. She could make out maniacal laughter amongst the screams, before the younger security started brutally smashing his face in with his hands.

He stopped suddenly, his arm shaking. He straightened up and spat blood at the man he had just beat to a pulp. He walked forward slightly, black hair blocking his face. Then the camera panned slightly, all she could see was a blood red eye looking right at her. The police arrived and the video cut off.

She choked on her food, recognizing that eye. It was the same as that night, but a deeper shade of crimson this time. The man in the video. It was him.

_Gray._

Amy put a hand over her mouth, losing her appetite. She ran to her room, trying to get over what she saw. She saw Gray kill people, she saw him get beat down and stabbed, saw him beat that man to a pulp. Was that really the guy she encountered?

_A killer?_

* * *

Steven Stone sat on his couch, face pale, the color of his skin draining from him as he saw that chilling footage.

_An assassination attempt on May? But why? Why have a team of men just to kill a coordinator? Why not use pokemon?_

Unless…it wasn't her but something she had. Something the would be killers wanted. An object that was on her person, valuable enough to warrant such lethal intentions just to acquire it. Not using pokemon also implied they wanted a low profile assassination, one nobody would notice. It seems that the head security guard shattered their plans for that, so they improvised.

Too chilled to go to sleep, he instantly called Birch.

Birch's image appeared, wiping some drool from his mouth. _Probably fell asleep doing research again_. "Birch, did you see the news?"

The professor looked puzzled, "Why did you call me so late, Steven? I was dreaming of wonderful rows of beautiful wo-"

Steven waved his hand. "You don't have to finish, I don't think I want to know and I feel like keeping my dinner in my stomach." Forgetting what Birch just mentioned, his face fell. "Birch, did you see the news?"

"No, I was asleep. Why? Something interesting happen?"

"More horrifying than interesting. Go on the Hoenn channel 7 news website. Watch the video." Steven stared at Birch's hologram as he saw the professor turn on the monitor, expression grave.

A few minutes of silence passed, Birch placed a hand over his mouth in disbelief. "Oh my god." Birch shot up from his chair, furiously punching numbers into a phone on the wall. Steven saw him speaking to someone, yelling then slumping back into his chair, face filled with relief. He turned back to his holo caster.

"I just called May's mother, she said May's unharmed but shaken. Norman is stable. Thank god." He swallowed hard. "The whole city is on edge. Something this insane hasn't happened in a long time here in Hoenn. Not since Team Aqua and Team Magma were disbanded. Who could have done this?"

"I don't know either, Birch. But it seems there are unseen forces moving about again. I suspect they went after May because of something she had. I just don't know what, or what they planned to do with it afterwards. They wanted to kill her for it." He placed a hand on his chin, thinking of the two teams. "Usually, Magma and Aqua grunts would resort to theft or intimidation, but these guys are different."

Steven continued his speculation,"Recently I've heard in Kalos that…no. Not in Hoenn. Professor Sycamore said that the stones harnessed energy from Yvetal and Xerneas themselves, but no such stones exist like that in Hoenn." Steven speculated.

"Could be, but it could very well be something else."

"Yeah."

Both men stared at the figure relentlessly beating the other man. What was going on with the world?


	10. Arachnophobia

Riven shot awake, yelping as he felt something push down into his stomach. He groaned groggily. He had slept like a damn baby. He blocked out the sun with his hand, which was shining right in his face. _Early sunrise. Need to go exchange this thing._ He glanced over to the right, identifying the culprit behind his rude awakening.

White Queen was staring back at him, pointing down at her food bowl. She was demanding to be fed. Riven frowned and sat up. She tapped her food bowl again. "Ab! Sol! SOL!"

"Ugh, fine. White Queen, you are really pushy. Stop clinking on the food bowl, let me-" She bit his finger. "ALRIGHT. I got it!" Riven turned to his pack and saw a fluffy ball of orange feathers rummaging through the bag. He sighed, pulling Aine out of the pack by her stubby legs. "Aine, did you eat my-" He saw a brown stain on her beak, and shook his head when she chirped cheerfully. "You did eat my snack." White Queen smirked while Aine wriggled out of his hold and cried happily, as he tried to get her back into his hands to wipe the chocolate off her beak.

Pulling out the bag of pokefood, he served the pompous one and the orange fluff of energy. He wondered where Mischief was. _Knowing him, probably playing pranks on an unassuming victim._ Riven stood up to go look for him while his pokemon were eating. The search was short-lived when he saw Mischief sitting on some stone steps a few feet around the corner. The Kirlia seemed to be meditating. Or so it seemed.

Riven grinned devilishly and got an idea. He crept up behind the focused psychic and pushed him gently. His pokemon stumbled forward, losing his balance and falling flat on his face. The psychic type stood up, fuming. He saw his trainer's sly smirk and huffed in defiance. His eyes glowed blue and with a cry, a soda can was lifted off the ground and sent into Riven's face. The trainer fell back, still laughing through it.

"Worth it!" He chuckled, rolling on the grass.

Riven watched his Kirlia walk back to go eat and noted that something was off. He could see from his right eye and his ribs were perfectly fine. _The hell? I should be in pain. I felt my ribs crack when that bastard hit me with that metal baton._ Cracked ribs usually went hand in hand with long periods of inactivity because of the fact moving around with injured ribs was extremely painful and slowed soldiers down considerably. They definitely should _not_ be fine. Besides, he had never healed that quick before. He knew what broken ribs were like. The constant movement prevented them from healing too much, which resulted in pain, pain, and more pain. And in the middle of _summer, _it was absolutely agonizing.

That they were fine was certainly odd but there was no real use in complaining about it.

After his pokemon were fed and no longer grouchy, mostly White Queen , Riven walked with them to the Petalburg City Bank. All he could hear on the way there were people gossiping about yesterday's incident, one Riven would have liked to forget completely. Taking a life was not easy. He had killed three men yesterday, but they were all murderous pieces of Tauros dung so really it wasn't that much of an issue. People were just different compared to back then, perhaps. Adjusting a black cloth around his right eye, the trainer ignored the incessant chatter.

Riven made sure to keep his right eye covered with a cloth, he knew it might draw suspicions toward him. Being recognized could complicate things, especially with the police involved. Having different colored eyes was noticeable as shit too.

As the group walked towards the bank, he saw the nasty stares some of the people were giving White Queen. He knew why. She was an Absol, and judging by the fact that an assassination almost happened yesterday, they thought she was the cause of it. Superstitions. He stopped in front of two people who were sitting at an outside diner, giving White Queen dirty looks. "Can you stop staring at her? She does not like that. And I would not get on her bad side, she has a _habit_ of hurting people." He walked away right after saying that, leaving them to their own devices as White Queen gave them a glare.

Ignoring the multitude of stares, he entered the bank. Riven waited in line for a few minutes while his pokemon waited outside for him. He got to the booth and a lady asked him, "Hello sir. I mean trainer! I can see the pokeballs on your belt. Have you come to open a bank account?"

Spot on. "Yes, I would like to open an account. How do I do that?"

"Since you're a trainer, all I need is your trainer's license! No other registration required!" He gave her the small card.

"Riven. No last name?" She looked confused. "I can't give you an account with just a first name."

"Oh, last name? Uh… Riven. Riven Cerul." He used his full real name, figuring that his account would be seen only by him. Besides, it was his own so he should not have to use an alias.

"Ok. Riven Cerul huh. Strange name." She typed furiously on the computer, then turned back to him. "All done! Is that all for today?"

"No. I also want to place this amount of money in my account and withdraw four thousand from it." He waved Van's check in the air, it had a flower logo on it and was ornately decorated.

"A check from the Office of Contests and Events? Boy, that terrible incident yesterday must have been scary." She replied sympathetically. "Were you there when it happened?"

"Yes. It was…jarring." He passed the check through the slit in the booth. She took it and began furiously typing away again. She had no idea he was the one at the center of it all. Those shades really did help. _I might have to buy a pair. Besides, they have good protection against the sun and no one can see my eye._ His attention focused on the banker again.

"Alright, you now have sixteen thousand in your account and I will go fetch your remaining four thousand. Don't go anywhere!"

Riven waited a few minutes, looking around the interior of the bank. People stood lined up, waiting their turns to the booth. The floor was nice and tiled, having just been cleaned. The air was cool, probably from the 'air conditioning' that most buildings seemed to have built in. The desks were made of polished wood and bankers sat in front of the desks, talking to clients about financial advice. Deposits and checks were being exchanged everywhere, easily and efficiently. Since everything was done via computer, people did not necessarily need to go anywhere to receive their money. Futuristic monetary exchange was amazing.

The lady came back holding four bills with Corphishes on them. Riven still found that really pointless, but it made him snicker anyway. He took the bills, putting them in a pocket in his pants. That was another thing that was really convenient. Pockets in his pants were useful, he could place money and small objects in there without worrying about losing them. out of the bank, his pokemon followed him.

"Now for pokefood because I apparently feed gluttons. And some shades."

* * *

The pokemart was nothing like Oldale's. This one was enormous. At least to him. It was called a Mall, where they sold all things pokemon and human as well. There were food courts, clothing stores, and markets in which you could buy an assortment of pokemon related goods. Riven entered a section of the mall called, The Dunsparce Market. He picked up another bag of pokefood formula in there when another store caught his attention.

Its name was the Battle Emporium, and trainers flooded the place. It was a 'fast food' store combined with a store that sold TMs. "Technical machines" was still fairly advanced vocabulary for his poor brain, but he knew that they taught moves to pokemon. Charles had told him about them back in the hospital as well. Interested, he entered the store. Trainers were discussing battle moves and techniques while looking at various TMs on the shelves. Riven headed to the offensive TM category.

He picked up a red disk drive that had the label, _TM # 35: Flamethrower_. Figuring that Aine could use a powerful fire attack, he looked at the price tag. His eyes almost flew out of his skull.

_FORTY? WHAT? How about no._

Setting the TM back in its place, he browsed some of the other TMs in the store. Hail, Toxic, Sunny Day, Shock Wave, Rain Dance, Protect, the list went on and on. However, all of them were above his four thousand, most even more expensive than what he had in his account. Flamethrower alone was a solid forty thousand. How could one stupid little disk cost so much?

Riven asked some trainers around him, who looked a little intimidated by his presence. "Excuse me. Do you know why the Technical Machines require an arm and a leg to buy?" The other trainers shrugged or looked equally as puzzled as him. A smaller one with spectacles weaved through the clump of trainers and adjusted them on his nose.

"I know the answer why." Light flashed across his glasses. "You see, a couple years back, TMs were single-use and easily producible, which meant that they had to be bought again and again to use on different pokemon. But now, you only need one disk drive and you can use it on all the pokemon you want. That's why they cost tons now. Efficient!" He had his arms on his hips, obviously very knowledgeable about the subject.

"Alright, thank you." Riven walked away abruptly. _To hell with that._ He thought. Then he turned in a half circle, asking the kid how the TMs worked. The boy was eager to flaunt his expertise and began a thorough explanation on technical machine functionality and usage.

"Alright. Listen up. Technical machines are amazing in the fact that when the disks are placed on a pokemon's head, the drive emits signals that reach the pokemon's brain. These signals carry information that is relayed directly to the pokemon's synapses, instantly forming memories in a pokemon's mind about how to perform a certain move. It's akin to repeating a move over and over again, without going through the tedious process of repetition. It's instant and quick!" The boy explained, marveled at the power of technology.

Riven was impressed. Actually more than impressed, he was amazed. Instantly perfecting a move that could require months if not weeks of training? Useful hardly began to describe it._ Future technology just keeps on surprising me. _

He wondered about something. Could pokemon learn a TM move just like a human learn could learn a skill with training and repetition? Like learning flamethrower like he had learned climbing and combat? Curious, he asked the boy. "Can a pokemon learn a TM move without using the actual TM? In a sense, you can teach it to them with training?"

The boy put a hand on his chin, thinking about it. He spoke up, voice a bit uncertain. "I'm guessing so. If a TM places knowledge in there instantly, I guess a human can do that too. But at a much slower pace of course. In theory, that is. Most trainer's don't bother with that though. I don't know how you'd teach a pokemon how to do ice beam as a trainer, if you know what I mean."

Riven recalled once seeing the pokemon instructors back in Altea. They would spend hours teaching combat bred pokemon techniques, running various drills and exercises. It would take days or weeks before the creatures were able to fully master the techniques, so they often trained schools of them at a time. It was like combat training, but for pokemon. He figured he could do the same, teaching Aine how to control her fire and make it stronger.

The problem was that he never really had experience with fire pokemon before, so he was a tad bit clueless. That was the Rose clan's specialty. Deciding that he would undergo a fierce training session with his pokemon after he left Rustboro, he left for the food court.

_What to eat? What to…..hmmmmm….that place looks promising_. It was called Blaze Burgers. He had never tasted a burger before. Riven made up his mind and headed over to the counter. A man in his thirties welcomed him, asking the trainer what he was going to order. Riven looked around the menu before deciding on the first combination on the menu. "That one. Number one, it says."

"A number one? Ok, that will be $100." Riven handed him a bill. "Your meal will be ready in a moment." The trainer held a piece of paper that had the number 497 on it. It was his meal order. He sat down in one of the chairs in the food court.

Moments later, he heard his number being called and went over to receive his food. It was a piece of meat in between two bread slices with lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes in the middle. The meal also came with thinly cut potatos called 'fries' and a cup of Poke Cola. He stared at his food like it was some kind of alien creature, before biting into the 'burger'.

His eyes widened, the flavor exploded in his mouth. _This is amazing! Wow. Even their food is wonderful. It is perfectly seasoned, and the vegetables compliment the food perfectly._ He dipped some of the fries in ketchup, a condiment that was made from tomatoes. _Even this is good._ Riven tried the drink next. _ Sweet… I like this. I believe burgers are my new favorite food. How did we not have this before?_

Content with his meal, he stood up and walked out of the mall. _Damn that was good_. Regardless, he was done with Petalburg. His bag was restocked with pokemon food, his account had some money in it, and his stomach was full. It was time to move on.

Riven and his pokemon said a final farewell to the City of Flowers as they rode in a bus to the western side of the city. They got off near the gate, which displayed a sign that said: _**This way to Route 104**__._

Passing through the gate, he smelled something familiar. It was salty and _wet_. "Are we near the ocean?" Sniffing the air once more, the trainer's guess was confirmed. There was water near here.

* * *

Route 104 proved to be extensively annoying. Hordes of young Poochyena harassed them, trying to get at the pokefood in his bag. After the fifteenth pup tried chomping on his bag, he felt a strange urge to turn them into past. At the same time, he didn't feel like skewering them all and risk drawing attention from any rangers, being so close to Petalburg and all. Another trip to the precinct building for something that was illegal was something to be avoided at all costs. That detective was an angry shit and Riven was offput by thinking of spending anymore time in that room with him. He finally reached the water, quite thankful for not having to walk through any more tall grass and hungry puppies.

The body of water a bit further into the route was connected to the ocean as far as Riven could tell. Some rocks were jutting out of the water, blocking any sort of passage to the ocean. It looked convenient and stopped unfortunate swimmers from being carried off by the waves. Some people were resting on the sandy shore. Where other people saw trainers, Riven saw money bags that produced money when you beat them with a stick. Said stick being his pokemon.

He challenged everyone on the route, all of which were fairly easy to beat. Aine had no problems dealing with the bug type trainers on the grassy part of the route and Riven let Mischief and White Queen handle some of the water type fishermen near the shore.

Unfortunately, most of the trainers were not wealthy, at times giving him just two hundred or less. The richest target proved to be a blonde young woman with a green hat, who handed over about one thousand. She gave him strange looks and even gave the clueless trainer a collection of numbers.

_What the hell was that? What is this? _He curiously examined the slip of paper which had ten digits on it. He had no clue what in this forsaken world he would use it for. Figuring it was useless, he shredded it to pieces. Strange woman. She also got a little too close for comfort, which was very awkward. Usually, trainers that got beat either congratulated him for a job well done, or stared daggers into him for winning. Needless to say, he bolted for the woods.

The woods were dark. Most of the trees grew in close proximity to one another, blocking out any light from the sun. The place looked like it was stuck in permanent night. It was perfect for bug pokemon, who disliked the light and hid in obscure corners. Especially spiders. Arceus, Riven avoided the thought of any spiders. Ariados did terrible things to people if given the chance.

Darkness was good though. Riven felt comfortable in it. He could see perfectly and his senses were keener during the night or in the dark. White Queen moved equally as well, which was strange since she was the lightest thing_ in_ the forest. Aine was safely tucked in his weapons case, her head poking outward, on overwatch behind him.

Riven had assembled his team in a formation in case anything happened. After that particularly _nasty_ Scyther attack, he found that this formation worked rather splendidly. Aine would be in his case, looking out for any threats that would creep up behind him, White Queen walked ahead to spot any incoming targets, and Mischief would be by his side to stop any surprise close encounters. His blades and bow were on his person again, he would need them if any _things _came after him.

He spent most of the day wandering the woods, finding fallen items on the ground, probably left behind by careless trainers. White Queen eyed him suspiciously. "What? Another man's trash is another man's treasure. I am also poor. Feeding you is expensive." _Once you go poor, you can become wealthy again, but you never lose the attitude._ He picked up a fallen pokeball when a net came down on him.

Riven glanced up and saw a strange kid perched in a tree holding the net. "AHA! I caught you! Now let's battle!" The older trainer took out one of his blades and quickly slashed the net to pieces, looking a little bit more than annoyed.

"Really? Did you have to throw a net on me? Was it really necessary?"

"It was too! Everyone runs away from me!" The kid reasoned, more than a little frightened by the older boy's sharp things.

"Perhaps because you are perched up in a tree with a net and have hair so messy it can scare the pants off a grown adult?" Riven mentioned, pointing out the kid's less than civilized appearance.

"YEAH? Well, you look like a damn psycho!" The wild haired boy screeched in response.

"I am aware. Yet here you are challenging me."

"That's because I'm not afraid of anyone. Even your scary ass! I'll be the greatest trainer ever and leave you in my dust of glory!"

Haona ice beamed his entire team in under three minutes. She volunteered for the fight, letting Aine rest after beating up other trainers in the area. That brat's attitude was so over the top and annoying. She felt like teaching him a lesson. So, she went in there and made his pokemon into nice little blocks of ice. The Absol enjoyed seeing his face fall at being swept so easily.

"Awwwww. No fair! You're pokemon are too strong! Go pick on trainers your own size!" He complained to Riven, whose face was completely expressionless.

"You challenged me, kid."

"Oh right. But still! What are you doing here!"

"Passing through." Her trainer said as he looked at his fingernails, bored out of his mind.

"Are you seriously that bored?!"

"Pretty much."

"Argh! One day I'll get strong enough to beat you! Just wait and see! My name is Elu and I'm going to kick you and your stupid Absol's ass and become champion!" He stormed off, carrying his net over his shoulder.

"Okay." Riven waved goodbye. "Good riddance. Are all pokemon trainers this cocky?" He turned to his Absol. "I can see why you wanted to fight his team. You cannot afford to let someone have a bigger attitude than you, right?" Ego jabbing was entertaining after all.

Ego jabbing also hurt. She tackled him in the mid section.

"Why would you do that?!"

* * *

_Why, indeed._

The woods were shaped like a damned maze. They had spent nearly a week in the woods, trying to find the exit. They tried asking for directions, but most of the trainers in the woods couldn't navigate their way out of a paper bag either. Some of them were as lost as Riven was. The more experienced ones gave him some advice and warned him not to go to the western side of the forests. They failed to say why so Riven thought that the way out was over there, considering they had given him directions _after_ Aine embered their bugs to hell and _after_ he had taken half of their money. They could have been spiting him after all.

Deciding to head over to that side of the forest, he saw a sign that said: _**PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. DANGEROUS POKEMON AHEAD.**_

_Hah. Dangerous pokemon? You mean more Wurmples, Metapods, and Silcoons? Please._

That was all there was in the woods. Every single tree there was had a wurmple crawling down its trunk, or a Silcoon resting in between its branches. He just ignored them, since they wouldn't prove to be of much use anyway, as pokemon or as cannon fodder for Aine.

Riven figured the deeper part of the woods would not be all that different. Although… the entrance to the place was a bit deterring. It was even darker than the woods themselves, meaning that the trees were even more packed together than normal. He stepped inside and instantly felt watched, by hundreds of eyes. It was creepy but he could see well regardless, which meant he was not totally screwed.

Aine trilled warily. "Aine, calm down." His group walked further into the woods when he caught a glimpse of something small, round and bright green.

"What is that?" He squinted, trying to make out what it was. He looked at it for a few seconds, before realization sunk in. "That… is a Spinarak." Normally not something to fret over. However, in a thick and _dark_ forest, a Spinarak meant one deadly thing was also in the area. Fucking Ariados.

White Queen's horn tingled, causing her to shoot straight up, sensing danger. Riven noticed her shift in behavior and cursed. It was happening again right?

"Ah, shit."

_Should have listened to the sign_.

Ariados crept out of the trees, resting their yellow legs on huge webs. _How did I not see those webs before?_ Riven gulped, seeing noxious purple liquid drip from their fangs. _They look ravenous_. _This is far from good. Bug pokemon have type advantages over White Queen and Mischief. If any of their bites connect, it might be bad. Bug moves combined with that poison can kill them, and there are no pokemon centers in the middle of the bloody woods._

Haona and Bib huddled close to their trainer, knowing full well how deadly Ariados could be be. There was a reason sane pokemon went _around_ their forests. Aine looked determined to protect everyone, her fire typing gave her a great advantage over the bugs and could burn away their webs. Problem was she was a tiny Torchic.

They stood close to each other, not moving a muscle. The Ariados climbed around the trees, blocking the exit with webs before stopping right on them. The spiders obviously wanted to eat, letting their prey escape into the lighter side of the forest would be idiotic.

One of the Ariados hissed lowly, _"Food. Finally something to eat. Psychic and dark. Tasty…"_

Haona growled back, _"come any closer and you're dead!"_

Several other spiders started laughing, in the same hissing voice_. "Prey speaks! It thinks it will survive. Enough games, die."_

The spiders simultaneously used string shot, trapping Riven and his pokemon in place. The webs were incredibly strong and sticky, making any sort of physical movement useless. However, that meant they were highly flammable. "Aine! Use ember on the webs, burn them away!" The chick blasted forth embers from her beak, setting the webs on fire around them. Now free to move, Riven started to strategize.

_I can use Aine's ember on the webs in the trees, causing a distraction, but first I need to get rid of any Ariados from the exit. Also, I do not want to set the whole forest on fire, as much as I would like to. So, I will use White Queen's ice beam to freeze the webs near the exit, I can cut through the ice with my blades easily. Mischief is useless here, actually. Aine could provide cover for us momentarily while we bolt for the exit._

Having no time to think of anything better, Riven sprang the plan into motion. "White Queen, use an ice beam on the webs near the entrance, freeze them solid! Mischief, teleport into the bag. Aine, use ember on the webs near us on my signal, got it?"

White Queen shot an ice beam at the webs, causing the Ariados to shriek out of the way. The beam hit the webs, freezing them solid.

Riven snapped his fingers, giving Aine permission to use ember on the webs covering the trees. The webs caught fire and illuminated the section of the forest in an orange glow as the fire spread throught the network of silk. The Ariados hissed, seeing their webs exploding into flames. Some of them headed deeper into the forest, while others dropped onto the grass, eyes murderous. They crawled over to Riven's position, baring fangs and dripping poison.

_Shit, need to move._ White Queen used another ice beam, this time behind him. The beam hit the floor, creating a partially raised wall of sparkling blue ice to bar the spiders passage. The Ariados went around and scuttled even faster towards the trainer and his pokemon, but were driven back by a wave of embers from Aine. Embers seared legs and arms, earning pained shrieks from the spiders. Some started spitting venom at the boy, knowing that if any of it landed on his skin, it would burn equally as bad as fire.

Luckily, Riven and his team managed to evade the poison, now nearing the exit. He was about to leave through the trees that marked the entrance when a web caught his foot and dragged him back. White Queen was left near the entrance, watching as a spider pulled him back in. He took out his blades, uselessly slashing at the bugs who were trying to come close. There were too many bugs. Why did spiders have to swarm? Bullshit.

_Two bug swarms overcome me just weeks from one another? You would think this world is safer!_

He saw an Ariados bare its fangs right above his leg, ready to bite down. He closed his eyes, ready for the immense pain that would follow. It never came.

Aine saw her trainer about to become bug food and her inner fire flared in fury. _No one hurts my trainer. No one hurts my friends_. She spoke this time, high pitched voice full of a certain resolve and strength, _"AND IT DEFINITELY WON'T BE A SPIDER!"_

A powerful blast of flames released from her mouth, igniting five Ariados and scaring the rest away. The five ariados were still burning, writhing on the floor in pain, hissing and cursing her for setting them on fire. Riven ran towards the exit and cut through the ice, scooping up Mischief while White Queen followed him through.

Riven then slashed through two thinner trees nearest to the entrance, ordering Mischief to telekinetically fell them. Finally, Haona shot an ice beam at the floor and at the trees, creating a wall of ice to block any of the Ariados from coming through.

Riven and his pokemon sat on the floor, panting and gasping. They nearly died. Again. "Next time... read the signs."

His pokemon agreed.

They walked back to the main area of the woods, where most of the rookie bug catchers congregated at. One of them noticed webbing on his foot and his extremely dirty clothes, along with his disheveled hair and his sullen face. "You went to the western side didn't you?"

Riven pointed a finger at him. "Shut up."

The little boy, whom had warned him earlier, simply laughed. "Told ya. Those Ariados have killed lots of stupid people _just like you_. OH I'M A BIG BAD TRAINER! Then they die." He continued searching for a Wurmple, "Oh, and you're still an idiot."

The older boy scowled and sucked his teeth, knowing he royally screwed up_._ He hated doing this but he hesitantly swallowed his pride and asked the little boy for directions on how to get out. Before, he had refused help from the boy because the bug trainer was being a little asshole and demanded money.

Naturally, Riven refused, thinking he could figure it out himself.

The little boy broke into a wide grin. "OH HO HO. Now you want my help. This time, it will be one thousand. Serves your stupid ass right."

Riven wanted to beat this kid on the head with a stick. Swallowing what remained of his dignity, he handed over a bill with a Corphish on it, grumbling to himself while doing it. He cursed him under his breath. "Stupid little extortionist…"

"What was that, stupid?" The kid asked, deciding whether he should screw the idiot over. But he did have weapons and strong pokemon, so he didn't feel like dying yet.

"Nothing." _Brat._

"That's right. Well, to get out of here you need to walk north, take a right at some withering trees, then walk north again until you come to the Silcoon nests. When you're there, take a left and walk directly north. The exit should be there. I can't believe you couldn't find it. You're such a dumbass." The kid snorted. "OH, A WURMPLE!" He threw a pokeball at the unsuspecting bug.

Just as it left his hands, Riven spitefully sliced it in half and smirked like a bastard as the metal ball fell to the floor in two pieces. The kid's jaw hit the floor.

"And you are an asshole. Thank you for the advice, you little conniving son of a bitch. Go buy yourself some more pokeballs. Aine, ember."

Aine then threw fire at the bug.

"HEY, THAT WAS MY WURMPLE!"

* * *

Sunlight met Riven as he walked out of the woods, glad to finally be out of that bug infested forest. He never understood what it was with people and an overwhelming fear of spiders, but now he wholly understood. Plain and simple, spiders were assholes. They just… scuttled. Very unnerving. Granted, it probably also had to do with the fact that Ariados had fangs that could rip through a damn leg _and_ inject poison.

The sign near the exit read: _**Congratulations! You made it out of the woods. You probably weren't stupid and headed into the western side right? Otherwise you wouldn't be alive to read this sign! So cheer up and continue your adventure!**_

Great. Even the signs were being assholes too. Riven glanced around the area, there were some trainers about and a peculiar shop a couple hundred feet away. There was even a small lake there. He could bathe and wash his clothes there too. But a proper bath or shower would be better. Pressurized water was _wonderful_. Another feature that made the future all that much better.

Stepping into the shop, he saw rows of plants, some large and multicolored, others plain and green. Was this a shop that sold flowers? For gardening? He looked around, seeing all plants and no people. That is until a lady with brown hair in a bun asked him what he was doing.

Riven straightened out, surprised by the woman's sudden appearance. "Erm, I was going to ask if you had a shower I can use. Just got out of the woods. Been about a week, I think. I can pay if necessary."

"Oh, that's not needed. A week? Wow. You must have no sense of direction." That drew a frown from Riven. "Besides, I can smell you from over here. Go wash up, you can clean your clothes in the lake next door. Bathroom is in the back to the right. You're the fourth today!"

After showering and extensive scrubbing, Riven felt refreshed. His clothes were a different matter entirely. He thanked the woman for her hospitality and went off to the lake to wash his clothes. The water was a clear and inviting blue, with several water pokemon swimming freely in the deeper parts of the lake. Mainly Magikarp.

He noticed other trainers doing something similar with their clothes on the other side of the stream. It was a trio of three older girls, wearing very revealing undergarments while they scrubbed their clothes. Considering the circumstances and how atrocious he smelled after leaving the forest, doing this was commonplace, correct? Riven stripped down into his underwear as well . He started to scrub his clothes and when they were scrubbed enough, he took them out of the water and extended them out on the grass.

The girls noticed him on the other side of the river and covered up in embarrassment. There were some indignant and nasty stares, but Riven ignored them and went about his business. There was a stream, might as well use it. It's not like he knew they were there, nor did he care.

Aine dried his clothes with a low powered ember, using more heat than fire. Once his clothes were sufficiently dried, he headed back to the main route.

After battling quite a few trainers and earning more money, Riven neared a wooden bridge that spanned the length of the entire lake. He crossed it, enjoying the walk along the water. Traversing the rest of route 104 with several battles spread out in between left him and his pokemon physically and mentally drained. He could not wait to get to Rustboro and slump into a nice bed in the pokemon center.

Of course, he hoped his room wouldn't explode like it did last time. If it did, he would punt a Marill. And possibly murder a baby Wurmple.

His thoughts turned to his last trainer battle, it was special. Double battle. He used two pokemon at once, instead of a single one, differing from the battles he had previously, which was nice. It was a good experience, he learned to work with two pokemon at the same time, which opened up possibilities for combinations and complex maneuvers. Riven was so intrigued in the tactical openings that double battles provided that he began to think about what types would complement each other well, but was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he failed to notice that he had arrived at the Rustboro Gate.

Mischief flicked a rock at his head to get his attention. Riven gave him a pointed look. The Kirlia raised his arm, pointing at the city ahead.

Riven glanced up, gawking at the sheer size of the city. It was twice as big as Petalburg, and the buildings were much more massive and much more impressive. He gaped like an idiot.

"I believe I need to sit down."

He practically fell down, trying to figure out how he would find _anything_ in this damn place.


	11. Rough Terrain

Rustboro was huge. No, that was an understatement. The city was _massive._ It also was smaller than some of the other cities in the region, according to Amy. Buildings of similar design stood proudly side by side, gigantic glass and steel giants rising hundreds of feet into the sky. Riven wandered into the city looking around at all the signs and all the buildings. Hundreds of people walked the streets, all heading in different directions and destinations. Riven was caught in the crowd of people, unsure of where to go or what to do.

Lost and clueless, he and his pokemon stood on a street corner, seeing streets in every direction. He had no idea where the pokemon center was, or where Devon was. He figured the best course of action was to ask for directions. There was a café open near the street corner where he stood. There were some people inside. _They might have some information for me._

"Hello. Do you know where the pokemon center is?" Riven asked a couple sitting near the entrance.

The couple was enjoying some kind of brown liquid with a strange odor. The woman was young and had brown hair, with blue eyes. The man across from her had short black hair that was combed backwards, he looked bothered by Riven's presence. The trainer ignored his condescending look and just waited for a response.

"Oh. You're a trainer right?" The woman asked with a slight smile. The young man had three pokeballs on his belt. Must be.

"Yes," Riven confirmed.

"Well, which center are you looking for?"

"You mean there are more than one?" Riven was confused. _More than one pokemon center? That means possibly two weeks of free rent. Might be useful._ He just needed to know where the nearest one was. "Do you know where the nearest one is and how to get there?"

This time the man spoke. "Kids these days… The nearest one is in Rustboro Square. To get there you cross the street to the north-" He stopped. "Do you have money on you?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Cross the street to the north, turn right on Sharp Street and wait for the 102 bus. One of the stops is right in front of the square. It will announce it over the intercom so you can't miss it. Now can you go?" The girl across from him shot him a _look_.

"Thank you. Sorry for disturbing-" He pointed a finger, "-whatever this is." Riven turned and left, not bothered in the slightest by the man's snippy attitude. He was used to bigger assholes than him. Higher ranked personnel in the military were colossal assholes, they loved to push people around without actually doing any of the dirty work. He and Nemos would constantly get stuck with guard patrol for it. Afternoon shift too. Needless to say, the heat was unbearable at times.

Heeding the snippy's advice, Riven did as he was instructed, stopping at a bus stop that had a sign with blue 102 numbers on it. He casually leaned on the metal sign, waiting for the bus to come. He had money with him so he could just pay the fare instead of being cheap and climbing on.

His pokemon waited beside him. Bib was holding his head, deep in concentration. It was strange for Bib _not_ to be doing something mischievous or unruly, Haona was beginning to wonder what he was up to. She waved a paw in his face, trying to see how deep he was. Judging by the non-reaction, he was dug in pretty good. Aine shifted her head to the side, looking lopsided.

"_Hey, Bib. What're you doing?_" No response.

_"Bib."_ Nothing.

"_BIB."_ Again, nothing.

Tired of speaking to him, she smacked him with her paw. He snapped out of it, holding the right side of his green hair. _"WHAT?"_

"_What are you doing?"_

Bib sighed, looking defeated. "_Truth is, I've been trying to tap into our trainer's mind_."

Haona and Aine were surprised, mostly by the fact that Bib wasn't up to anything perverse. You would think he'd be using his psychic abilities to see under a girl's skirt, or at least undo her top, then blame their trainer. Aine pried first. "_Why would you want to do... Oh, I get it. You want something from him, huh._"

Bib frowned. For a naïve little pokemon, Aine the Torchic was pretty insightful. She seemed to feign ignorance at times, secretly analyzing situations. It seemed that Riven was rubbing off on her. Actually, he was rubbing off on everyone. They were all nearly as paranoid as him, and thought twice before doing anything. Mostly. Haona was still a bit impulsive though.

"_I guess you could say that."_

"_What do you want from him?_" Aine asked, curious little black eyes staring up at him. Gah, she was adorable. Like a little sister. Bib's thoughts turned to his sister. His mood plummeted. She was the reason why he was trying so desperately to connect with Riven's mind. He needed to tell him something, the guy was clueless to nearly everything and gawked at every new car or piece of technology he saw. And with being unable to speak to him telepathically, he'd never guess.

The Kirlia gave a weak smile."_Something small and green, it's very special. I need it for something."_ He was talking about the dawn stone. He wanted to evolve, and not into a Gardevoir, looking like a female and having man parts was embarrassing. But first he would need a dawn stone. The best means of attaining one would be through his trainer.

Haona solved the puzzle and cut through his vague descriptions with a simple statement. "_You want a dawn stone._"

"_Yeah,_" Bib replied, staring at his elbows. He imagined green extending blades protruding from them. He wanted to be a Gallade so much it hurt.

_"If that's the case, then why haven't you been able to establish a tele whatever-it-is with dummy over there?"_ Haona wondered, slightly perplexed at Bib's inability to establish a psychic link. Unless Bib was just garbage at it.

_"I don't know and it's frustrating me."_ White hands opened and closed. _"It's like my psychic bounces off of him. He's not consciously rejecting me. Neither is his subconscious. His body rejects me, every single part of him rejects me."_

"_How is this telepathy thing supposed to work?"_

"_Argh. My mother said it was like finding a specific type of…you know what? Let me put it simpler. It's like you're standing in a field full of falling strings. All of them are colored differently and it's up to you to find a single string of a specific color in the midst of them._"

"_Sounds pretty hard_."

"_It's not when you have a bond with someone. It guides you to the string, like an attraction. Usually Kirlias only need a couple days to establish a telepathic link. Gardevoirs and Gallades can do it instantly. Let's not even get started with Alakazams. Those guys are nuts._"

"_Ok, so what does Riven feel like?"_

_"He's invisible to me. Clouded, obscured, shaded, you name it. I know we touched on this before Haona but he feels a lot like you. I can't talk to you telepathically either for the same reason. Your strings just aren't there."_

"_But you know that's impossible. Humans don't have types."_

_"No. Any of the ones we've seen or heard about don't. But what if some _did_?_" Bib was looking at the floor, deep in thought.

_"That would be dangerous."_ Haona realized that, imagining humans spitting fire and fazing through walls like a ghost. Aine just looked confused, and choose to preen herself instead.

Bib was about to respond when Riven told them to shut up and get in the bus. The blue bus arrived and the trainer and his pokemon climbed aboard. Bib gave a sidelong glance to Haona and mouthed: _We'll talk about this later._ The Absol gave a tight nod and was sucked back into her pokeball.

A red beam hit the Kirlia on the forehead, pulling him back into his pokeball. He managed one last glance at his trainer. _Just what are you?_

Riven held his right eye, staring out of the bus window. The vehicle was mostly empty and the sun was setting, creating a perfect atmosphere for self reflection. He thought about what happened to him that day at the contest hall. The power and the overwhelming sense of bloodlust. The rapid healing. _That voice_. It was the same as the dream he kept having. The same dream where Riven saw his parents and Nemos turn into ash.

He could feel it at times, gnawing at him, pushing dark thoughts into his mind. The terrifying part about the voice was that he knew what it was. It was his own hate, the same hate he kept inside for all those years in the military. He thought it'd go away now that all of it was in the past, but it just kept coming back, like a weed.

_Draw your power from me, or I shall consume you._ Those were its words. Words that still haunted his mind. _What power would I draw from it? I might be going insane?_

Maybe his parents knew about it, but they were dead, they couldn't help him if they wanted to. Not only that but he was in a completely different time period. _How far in the future am I? Years? Decades? Centuries? Milleniums even…_

Riven rubbed his eyes, eyelids heavy with fatigue. He was so tired. He just wanted to go sleep. His pokemon had fought hard against those Ariados too. They needed energy and rest as much as he did. Mind heavy with thoughts and troubling notions, he rested his head against the window, his body rocking with the motion of the bus.

The pokemon center was similar to the others. Trainers everywhere and another Nurse Joy with a warm smile. Riven rented a room after Nurse Joy took care of his pokemon, at which point he was nodding off while standing up. A gentle breath could knock him over. Stumbling onto the bed after heading into his room, the exhausted trainer was out like a light.

* * *

Rays of light filtered in from outside Riven's window. They woke him and he stretched on his bed, yawning loudly. He felt much better than yesterday. One thing was bothering him though. He was on his side and felt a prickly feeling on his chin. He rubbed his face with his hand and noticed that facial hair was growing again. It was annoying and constantly got in the way. He liked sleeping face down in beds, something he couldn't do comfortably if any sort of facial hair was growing out. Heading for the bathroom to go slice it off, the young man let all his pokemon out.

He made sure to put food in their bowls first before doing that though. White Queen was cranky when she did not receive her food. Aine was…..well, Aine. Mischief could feed himself for the most part. What was the use of serving him if he used psychic to make the food come to him? Riven closed the door behind him. His eyes still had a sleepy feel to them, and when he rubbed them again, he got a good look at his reflection.

Apart from the facial hair, one thing _really_ stood out. He now had a tuft of hair a pure white color over his right eye. It was fairly small but alarming nonetheless. Entire strands of hair in that region were now pale white, like an old man's. "…Huh?" He put some fingers in between his hair, looking at his scalp. The strands of hair were white all the way to the root. _Sudden discoloring of hair? What kind of….?_

_Oh._

"Must have something to do with this... whatever this is." Ever since all that business from a week ago, his body started to feel different. He grimaced while looking at the spot of hair. Hopefully, it would stay that small.

Exiting the bathroom some time later, his pokemon were waiting in the room. Absol was on the bed, talking to Aine and Mischief about something. It looked serious, Mischief was actually straight faced. That was rare. Riven thought the Kirlia was incapable of having anything _other_ than a smirk on its face.

Clearing his throat, the trainer called out to them. "Listen up." His pokemon stopped their discussion and turned to look at him. "Today is the day you prove your skills against a strong and worthy opponent. Or so I have heard." All three pokemon shot up. "Today, we are going to challenge the Rustboro Gym and you will beat the gym leader into the ground like men. I hope," Riven said cynically. His pokemon were undeterred, however. Aine chirped in excitement, White Queen grinned, and Mischief folded his hands with a smirk on his lips. "But first I need to eat something. All of you already ate." _There is also the fact that I have no clue where this gym is. _They all groaned in collective disappointment.

The dining area of the Rustboro gym was bigger than the one in Petalburg. It had more seats and tables to sit at. It was in a bigger city, so it only made sense to accommodate for a larger volume of trainers. Riven received a meal from the counter and sat down at one of the empty tables by the window. He had some fish and rice to eat. He presumed the fish was Magikarp, since that was the most commonly eaten fish in his time. There was a lot around so it was safe to assume…

He was about to take a bite out of it when someone slammed a hand on the table, startling him. _The hell is this? _The annoyed trainer glanced upwards. "Hello…?"

_Female. Angry. Brown hair. Late teens. _Examination conclusion: Irritating and Idealistic._ Wonderful!_

He stared at her with one brown eye. "What do you want?"

"Do you know what you're eating?

"Fish and rice."

"Yeah, fish."

"Uh, okay?"

"You know what fish is made of?"

"I would never guess, but meat?"

"Yeah, it's meat. And you know where meat comes from?"

"The sky?" Riven answered sarcastically.

"NO, NOT THE SKY. FROM POKEMON! HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF A POKEMON TRAINER AND STILL EAT POKEMON?"

The black haired trainer snorted loudly. _Oh, this is rich._ He stabbed the fish fillet with his fork, causing the girl to hold her breath. "Look."

She did.

He stuck the fillet in his mouth and starting chewing slowly and deliberately, giving her the most indifferent stare he could manage. Every passing second he could see the rage build within.

The girl started throwing a hissy fit, screaming and cursing him for doing it. The male trainer simply tuned her out and continued his meal. Soon the entire dining area was focused on his table. Riven finished his meal, ignoring the stares, snickers, and yelling. _She must not leave the city very often._ You could theoretically survive on berries and plants but filling they were not. Meat was important and tasted good, what was the problem?

Fed up with her tirade, he stood up suddenly. She went quiet. He got close to her, putting his mouth next to her ear. The whole area went silent, staring at him. Riven smiled. "Have a nice day." The trainer broke away and placed his tray on the counter. "By the way, the Magikarp tastes wonderful."

He walked out of the dining area.

The trainer began chuckling to himself. He thought of borrowing a bit of White Queen's attitude for that. The result? Totally worth it. The girl looked like someone had slapped her with a wooden plank. It was gratifying, putting someone in their place like that. No wonder it was White Queen's favorite thing to do. Still feeling smug, he went over to Nurse Joy, feeling a bit more confident about facing Roxanne.

"Nurse Joy, do you know where the gym is?"

"Did you really miss it?" She giggled.

"Huh?"

"It's in the square. Right across from the pokemon center!"

_Wait. That building looks nothing like a gym_. It appeared to be a building with a door encased by boulders and rock. His jaw dropped. One of these days it would fall off completely.

"Talk to Roxanne. She's in the Rustboro Trainer's school next to it. Classes end at three so you can either visit the school or wait until class ends and try and catch up with her. Good luck with your match!" Nurse Joy smiled, partly friendly and partly amused. The young man looked so surprised that it made Joy laugh. She hadn't seen something that funny in weeks.

"School?" It looked like an old building that could house questionable individuals inside. It looked very old and was made of brick. It seemed out of place. Then again, he was the one who ended up somewhere he definitely should not be.

_Well, might as well catch her while she is still teaching. Besides, I want to see how the school looks like._ His schooling had been how to fight. Some people said that the royals of the Cerul family learned how to hold a sword before they learned how to walk. Riven believed that, after what he had been through. His combat training started at four. It continued after he joined the military and now…..well now he was a pokemon trainer. _Training never stops. _

He stood at the gates of the school and was questioned by a short woman with graying hair. She basically asked him what he wanted. Riven told her he wanted to speak to Roxanne and perhaps learn a bit more about the school. She mouthed a simple "Oh" and let him in, telling him to go get a visitor's pass from the main office.

_Seriously, they really should think twice about letting a random person through with such a vague explanation. I could have been a deranged psychopath and still be let inside. A healthy dose of paranoia never hurt anyone._

The curious trainer walked through the halls, peering into rooms full of kids. They saw his face and turned, eyes fixated on his Absol. He turned right back around and bolted before they swarmed the poor thing. _I forgot about children. Why do they swarm too?!_ And they also cried, recalling an unfortunate bus ride he had taken in Petalburg while he was penniless. The kid just refused to shut his mouth. How could people think they were cute? He would rather hug an Ariados.

Actually no, not really.

There were some stairs leading upwards. Most of the rooms on the second floor looked similar to the ones on the ground level but there were different subjects being taught in each one. Riven was puzzled by some of the subjects, which made no sense to him.

He spent one hour in a biology class in the pokemon doctor's class for intermediates. Whatever that was. Some students noticed him standing at the back of the class but then quickly went back to their studies. The instructor was talking about how organisms were composed of billions of small 'cells' and inside of them where centers with 'genetic' information that defined how we looked and even how tall we would be. Truthfully, most of the information went way over his head. It was intriguing, but you can only enjoy something so far if you have no idea what it is they are talking about. He had spent an entire hour in there and left just as clueless as he had entered.

A bell rang overhead and a flurry of teenagers and small children flooded the hallways, nearly trampling the poor trainer and his pokemon. He pushed up against a locker, mortified. White Queen must have felt the same way because she hid behind him. Being majestic and beautiful certainly was detrimental to her health in this situation. Death by cheek pinching? Not a good way to go for a proud creature such as herself.

Six minutes later, the hallways emptied and kids were back in class, replaced by entirely new ones. Same instructors though, which struck Riven as odd. In his time, the instructors switched. Not the kids.

_Eh, it is the future. People are strange,_ he thought as he shrugged his shoulders. Walking in to a class named Battle Basics 1-A, he saw a young woman with brown hair in two buns and…pigtails? Now that he looked at her hair, the trainer noticed that most of the people from the future had insanely strange hair. What was the deal with that? Even May's hair looked like an upside down V. What was wrong with normal hair that went straight down or was just spiky? His hair was perfectly fine, it was medium length that came down, no strange quirks to it. Nice and simple. He turned his gaze towards the right of the woman with bun tails.

There was also a man projected on the screen. He looked like Birch, with the white coat, but was much older. He had grey hair and noticeable wrinkles. It seemed the professor was being the instructor this time. But how was he there?

When the kids caught sight of his absol, they all went "ooooooooooooooo" in perfect unison. _Freaky. No. No. NO. I am out._ Riven nearly dashed out of the room. But before he could do that the woman with bun tails called out to him, asking him to wait. _Damn._ Not wanting to be rude, he slowly turned back to the classroom. White Queen looked visibly horrified. He needed to find the gym leader.

"Is that an Absol?"

_Shit. White Queen is on her own this time._ "Uh… yes." He shifted nervously, looking at all the childrens' beady little eyes. Arceus, they were scary. Curiosity prevailed as they swarmed around White Queen, touching her fur and stroking her horn. She froze in place, looking at him with eyes that screamed: _help me_. He backed away from the tiny mob, going around and over to the front of the classroom.

Bun tails saw the aAbsol's shocked expression and asked, "Why so stiff?" Trained pokemon loved being touched, guess she was an exception.

It took Riven a few moments to answer, as he was currently being death glared by his pokemon. Oh, he was getting tackled soon. "Uh…ummm…kids…scary? Agh?"

Bun tails started laughing, putting a hand up, covering her mouth. Her laughter drew the kids' attention, who momentarily stopped assaulting the poor Absol. "Kids, sit down in your seats. The trainer's absol is overwhelmed. She doesn't like it. Remember, not all pokemon enjoy being touched. They're just like people. Some of us prefer contact, while others like their own space."

"Yes, that's true! And it's very important when it comes to wild pokemon!" The professor on the wall talked. IT TALKED. Riven jumped back, surprised that the image knew what was going on. Like it was _alive_.

"It talks!" He stammered, looking bewildered. He thoroughly believed it was black magic at this point. The future was downright _bizarre_.

The woman with the strange hair _stared_ at him.

"What?"

"You've never seen a live call over the web?"

"No."

"Have you lived under a Geodude your whole life?" She teased while giggling a bit. How could a young teenager not know about the internet? That was all they were obsessed with these days.

"WHY DOES EVERYONE SAY THAT?" The kids let out a collective laugh at Riven's reply. Creepy.

"Well, Professor Oak over there is standing in front of a monitor and projecting his image over the web so we can see and hear him. At this moment he is currently doing what you see on the board." She explained, holding one finger in the air.

"Oh. So like a TV but in real time?"

"Yes. Exactly like that."

The trainer nodded his head slowly. Roxanne examined the young man. He was in his late teens, had black medium length hair with a spot of white that nearly covered his eyes, and was apparently a major technophobe. He wore general trainer attire with some runic markings and he carried a large case over his shoulder. His right eye was also strangely covered up by a black cloth. He looked like a reasonably strong trainer by the looks of it. Strong for the area at least. Absols were somewhat a rarity at this point in the gym circuit.

Although it _was_ possible that he could be a Coordinator, judging by his Absol's magnificent appearance. Her fur was pure white, groomed to perfection. She also had a beautifully curved horn, and soft female features. Her fur bang on the left side of her head was fairly long, curly, and nearly covered her left eye. She was beautiful! The dark types were hardly seen, and Roxanne hadn't had the pleasure of seeing many of them this close.

One of the little boys in the classroom blurted out, "He's so cool! And his pokemon is soooo pretty!" They were talking about the black haired trainer, who looked very calm at the current moment, having recovered from his surprised outburst. He did look cool leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. But the kids said that about every other trainer too. They couldn't help it, that was their dream after all. Seeing the older trainers gave them some sort of inspiration to keep on going. Looking back at the older boy, she noticed he was eyeing the children _very_ carefully. She figured the guy was probably here for a gym battle. That's what most of the visitors to the school were here for at least.

"I'm Roxanne. So, what are you here for Mr…?"

"Gray. I am here for a gym battle. But it can wait until you finish the class. I do not wish to bother you and your…students." He politely excused himself, moving to the back of the class with a stricken White Queen.

_Polite young man. If only trainers were more like him. _Most of them stormed into her class, demanding a battle. It was frustrating enough being interrupted, it was even more frustrating telling them to leave.

Riven waited for the class to end, listening to the woman explain type coverage to the children while this Professor Oak chimed in from time to time. He paid attention too, having nothing else to do. This would have been very useful, had he not spent an entire ten days in Oldale talking to Charles.

The lesson ended and the final bell rang, signaling the children to go home. They rushed out in a hurried frenzy. Riven carefully avoided their stampede and moved out of the way. Roxanne smiled. So did Oak. Then he inquired about his absol.

"That is a beautiful Absol you have there, Gray. Do you groom her by any chance?"

"As if. She is too stubborn for that. She grooms herself furiously every day. That is pretty much all she does when she is not battling." Riven remarked, earning a paw smack from White Queen.

"Ah, stubborn and strong-willed! Like my wife, heheheh!" Oak joked, his wife just as strong willed as the absol. She had been gone for a long time now though. She died just after Gary turned ten, it was heartbreaking for his grandson, but he never showed it.

"Professor!" Roxanne exclaimed. His joke might possibly offend the trainer. Or his pokemon. Which didn't look pleased in the slightest. In fact, she looked about ready to run for her life.

"Sorry, sorry," Oak apologized, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand.

Riven nodded his head, smirking slightly. "I think that would be accurate. She acts like a human female so much it scares me." A sharp claw pressed into the side of his shin. "See?"

Both Roxanne and Oak laughed, seeing the friendly interaction between pokemon and trainer. Oak then simmered down and asked another question, mostly out of curiosity. "Is she young? She seems to be a little on the small side for her species."

"I guess so. I have only had her and the rest of my pokemon for about three or four weeks. She might be young still. She has grown a bit but not much."

"Ah, that would explain her size." Oak pursed his lips. "Well, I must go attend to some pokemon myself, they wouldn't be pleased if they weren't fed correctly. See you again tomorrow, Roxanne! Tell the children to study up their typings!" The projector image went black. Roxanne turned it off and then turned back to Riven.

"Anyway! You are here to challenge?"

"That is correct."

"Alright! Let's head on over to the gym but before that, one last thing. Do you mind if we record our match? I like to show the students how battles look like and how creative trainers can get." Roxanne thought about her students frequently, she wanted to see them grow up to be very strong trainers and take on the pokemon league some day.

Riven smiled slightly, "Not at all. Go right ahead."

"Splendid!" She smiled. "You're lucky. You're the first challenger I have this week! I only face trainers once a week due to my schedule." Teaching eight hours every day for five days was exhausting. If she had to fight challengers every single day too, she'd lose her mind.

"I guess I was fortunate. Most of the time, luck is not on my side. I was expecting a freak accident to happen and accidentally crush the gym or find you unavailable for some inexplicable reason." Riven joked, acknowledging his absolutely horrid misfortune streak. He silently tallied up his misfortunes with his fingers. _Near death by Arcanine, launched into the future, near death by Scyther, getting robbed, getting caught in an assassination attempt, and finally an Ariados attack._ He scoffed. _And all under one month too. Living it up._

"You have a morbid sense of humor , Mr. Gray." Roxanne said, one brow raised in concern.

"Heh. So I have been told."

The interior of the gym was…..rocky. Well, that was to be expected. Roxanne _was_ a rock type gym leader. The field was just full of rocks with a rock floor and everything was rock. Even the walls of the gym were colored like rocks. Students were lined up on the higher stands, looking down into the arena. No one sat on the ones near the field. _With good reason_. Flying debris could cause serious wounds, and pokemon battles had a tendency to cause destruction. Riven remembered a stray hyper beam blasting a tree to pieces, sending a sharp piece of bark through a soldier's neck. He died within the hour. Tragic stuff.

Some of the older students were holding cameras, filming the leader and her challenger. Both battlers positioned themselves at opposite ends of the field. A student referee stood in the middle of the ring, holding a yellow and green flag. "This will be a three on three battle between Roxanne, the Rustboro City Rock Gym Leader, and her Challenger Gray. The rules are as follows. The winner of the match will be decided by knockout. Whoever's pokemon are all knocked out first is the challenger is allowed as many substitutions as possible, the gym leader must battle with his or her chosen pokemon until fainted or rendered unable to battle."

He raised both flags. "Are both trainers ready?"

Roxanne had her arms crossed, inwardly nervous. Her challenger had an absol. It could know _anything_. His other two pokemon worried her as well. She had no idea what they were. He might very well come out with a mudkip or a grass type, which could cause serious complications for her rock types. She tightened her nerves and answered firmly, "Yes."

Her challenger, Gray, looked completely calm. Then again, it was hard to tell what he was feeling. He wore such a serious and blank expression most of the time. What she didn't know was that his mind was full of thoughts.

He stood in a neutral stance, thinking of possibilities and strategies he could use with his pokemon. Strengths, weaknesses, mobility, typing, coverage, and even physical strength. The key was to be calm and composed, a nervous man made mistakes he would never make normally. Being nervous sabotaged the mind and interrupted clear thought. He needed to remain calm.

Removing the cloth from his face, it fell away, revealing his right eye. His field of view was a little skewed with it on.

"Ready."

The referee brought both flags down.

"Trainers are ready! Begin!"

Both battlers smirked and pokeballs flew high into the air.

* * *

A man in Slateport was sitting in a lab, humming to a tune on Goldenrod 7.5 FM.

This was his final job of the day, he had only one more blood test tube to analyze. Giddy that he would be able to watch the game later in the afternoon, he danced around the lab a bit.

He figured the last one could wait. Dancing around for fifteen minutes, someone knocked on the door. _Crap._

A muffled voice came in from the other side. "You done in there, Izak?"

He stopped dancing. "Yeah! Just need one more test!"

"Ok. I'm going to go now so lock up, alright?"

"Yeah, sure! Have a nice night!" The blood analyst replied.

He returned to his station, resuming his work._ Better finish with this one or I'm gonna be late._

He picked up the test tube, which had no name on it. _Weird._ He searched for the origin of the blood tube. Not listed_._ _Damn, did those careless filers not write anything down? For fuck sake_….. _Whatever, I'll let the registry guys trace this back. Probably some poor fat bastard with a heart condition. __That's all there ever is anyway._

He put the tube under the analyzer and peered into a microscope. He gasped and nearly fell of his chair. The things he saw were unnatural and fascinating.

"Impossible!"

He took the sample and closed it with clammy hands. The man locked the lab and drove off to his home, descending into his lab in the basement , the game could go to hell at this point.

This…..this was something much more important.

He held up the tube.

"What a beauty."

* * *

**A/N**

**About grammatical mistakes. I try to revise as best I can but some will inevitably get past me. If you see any, I am sorry. This stuff happens, I'll correct it later.**

**Also, to all those who think I'm straining myself to put up more chapters, I'm not. I have massive amounts of free time and nothing to do, so I do this to pass the time(no xbox live and broken skyrim disc tends to do that). At any rate, I watch the world cup to take a nice break from this. Those games are fun to watch.**

**On a different note, this took me two tries to write. I had a blackout which wiped some progress out the first time. The second was due to my cat crashing into the power cable of the computer and shutting it off mid session. **


	12. Fire and Brimstone

Roxanne stood on the left side of the field , deciding which pokemon to choose. _I don't know if his Absol is the strongest. It could be the strongest or the weakest. If I send out Geodude, he might use his Absol and sweep him easily. If I use my Nosepass, he can just bring out his strongest and match him. This is going to be tough._ Making her decision, she gripped a pokeball and enlarged it.

Riven was on the opposite side, also thinking_. What kind of rock pokemon does she have? I know they hit hard and prefer physical attacks. White Queen and Mischief are practically glass, and Aine is still a chick and a fire type. She might not bring out her strongest, in case I use White Queen first. Therefore, I should choose Mischief. Aine would be useless against rock types anyways._

It made him wonder just how bad fire starters had it if the first gym was a rock type gym. Pretty rough, from the looks of things.

Roxanne lifted a brow. _So he's not using his Absol?_

"Both battlers are ready! Begin!" The referee announced, starting the match.

Roxanne and Riven threw their pokeballs up in the air, releasing their pokemon.

A four armed ball of rock with a face emerged from the sphere, it looked sturdy. Rock types had high physical defense more often than not, so it was good that Mischief had none of those. Small plus.

"GRAV!" It cried, possibly a battle cry of sorts.

Riven's pokeball opened and out of it emerged a Kirlia. Roxanne's brows furrowed_. A Kirlia this early? Psychic type? Hmmm. Neutral typings... But psychic types have poor physical defense. I can use that to my advantage._

The Kirlia folded its hands, red eyes focused and ready.

Roxanne was the first to attack, she had to put pressure on the psychic type, or it would just hit her Graveler from afar. "Graveler, use tackle!"

The rock type jumped in the air, crashing onto the rock floor as the Kirlia easily dodged the move. He tried over and over, trying to land a solid hit, but was unable to keep up with such telegraphed attacks

Riven examined the Graveler_. Too slow to keep up… No way he can hit a faster opponent with such close range attacks, and Mischief can easily sidestep out of the way of his slams_. He looked back at Roxanne, who was biting her lip slightly. _She is most likely going to switch to a faster attack that has more range. If Mischief tires out, that might decide the round. Best go on offense if the Graveler is slower than him._

"Confusion as he passes by!" Riven ordered. "Keep him off you!"

The Graveler missed once again and his Kirlia's eyes glowed blue, releasing a pink blast of psychic energy at the rock pokemon. It hit the pokemon head on, causing it to stagger backwards. It recovered quickly however, resuming its relentless tackling. Mischief hit him with confusion twice more, before Roxanne ordered it to back off.

She saw that her pokemon was far too slow. It was time to switch things up. "Graveler, use rock throw!"

While he expected something of the sort, it still kind of made him panic. It would be far harder for his pokemon to dodge flying rocks than it would a Graveler trying to body slam from overhead. The rock type shoved its hands into the ground and started lobbing rocks at Mischief. The Kirlia dodged left and right on thin legs, picking up speed while narrowly avoiding large clumps of earth.

The Graveler was throwing rock after rock after rock. It was getting harder for Mischief to dodge with his body, and he felt himself starting to tire.

Roxanne's Graveler pierced the ground once again, cracking and splintering the floor as it picked up a large piece of earth and crushed it into a rough, circular shape. The boulder flew from its hands and into the air, sailing in the air at the psychic.

Panicking, Mischief's body glowed pink before disappearing just before the boulder made contact with his face. The ball of rock flew harmlessly into the side of the wall, rocking the gym slightly as it dented a hole in the stands.

Roxanne smiled, expecting to see a fainted Kirlia. But she didn't. There was nothing but dust and rock where it was standing. _Where did it go?_ She gasped as it reappeared above her Graveler, placing a glowing palm above her Graveler's face. "Dodge, it's going to-" But it was too late. Confusion hit the Graveler directly, launching him off his feet and into an adjacent wall.

Her pokemon remained motionless before Roxanne snapped her fingers. Upon hearing the snap, it embedded itself into the floor, rumbling the ground beneath. The rock floor opened up beneath the Kirlia and trapped its legs in it.

Riven cursed silently. Bloody rock tomb.

"Good! Now throw a boulder! Finish that Kirlia!"

When it went and plucked another boulder out of the floor, Riven was running out of options fairly quickly, only pretending to act composed while secretly wishing he had chosen the water starter. He had to do _something_. But what? His Kirlia was unable to teleport with the entire ground holding him down.

_Shit. Shit. Shit._ _Wait._

A memory flashed through his mind. It was during a briefing on the tactics of psychics in enemy clan encampments. His commanding officer had told everyone to watch out for any large boulders or rocks because of a psychic's ability to compress them and turn them into deadly projectiles , making them harder to dodge and easier to kill with. Although psychics and the psychic clan were hardly seen outside their city… it did help to know that.

Riven knew what to do. "Stay there!" His Kirlia glanced at him in desperation, as if asking whether his trainer was serious.

Bib panicked inside. _Is he fucking insane? That thing is going to crush me! _He tried charging up to teleport but couldn't. The floor was attached to him. Unless he wanted to move the entire floor, he wasn't going anywhere. Then his trainer said something equally as insane.

"Use your psychic! Catch that rock!"

_Really?! That's your plan?_ Bib shook his head. _Humans_ _are crazy_… _Hell with it, here goes_. He lifted both hands with as much concentration as he could muster, barely able to suspend the boulder in place. _Heavy_… _Now what do I do with it?_ He looked back at his crazy trainer, asking the question with his eyes.

Riven held out a hand, then clenched it tightly.

Bib stared before the realization dawned on him. His trainer might be crazy but he definitely wasn't stupid.

Using both hands to direct the flow of psychic energy, he crushed the boulder inward, contorting it into a small tennis ball sized rock. Roxanne looked stunned. The students in the stands gasped, some even muttering faint wows.

The Graveler wasn't expecting that either. Roxanne took a quick glance at Gray, who looked completely confident. He smirked, flashing a sharp canine despite having just pulled that out of his ass.

_Totally meant to do that. _

He held extended his right arm forward, yelling, "FIRE!"

Bib grinned at the Graveler. _"You can have this back."_ His eyes pulsed blue and the small rock flew like a bullet into the rock type, carrying it off its feet and into the poor walls of the gym. Dust from the pulverized wall covered the stage, prompting some coughing fits. Roxanne looked dumbfounded.

The dust cloud cleared, revealing a Graveler pretty much fused with a crater and completely unconscious. The referee held up a green flag, indicating a knockout. "Graveler is unable to battle! Kirlia wins!"

The students in the stands were amazed at the incredible reversal the challenger's pokemon pulled off. Quite a unique method of winning. Roxanne shook her head and chuckled. "That was amazing, Gray. That's never happened before. Excellent use of mass and compression, I'll have to look out for that the next time I battle a psychic."

"Thank you," he grinned proudly. If a little smug.

This time, however, she smiled. "But your Kirlia's still stuck!" She threw another pokeball into the air before Riven could recompose himself.

It opened and out came a large _thing_, with what seemed like a huge nose. Atrocious looking thing, really. The nose was red and it looked like a walking face with legs. It had a deep voice and grumbled as it breathed.

"Nosepass, charge up!" Yellow sparks of electrical energy crackled around its nose, causing it to glow yellow. Roxanne was aiming for a one hit knockout.

Riven's mouth fell open.

_A rock type using electricity? WHAT?_ _Can psychic deflect electricity_? It was possible, but only very advanced psychics could pull it off successfully.

His Kirlia could barely hold that boulder. Well, he was fucked.

The Nosepass was now entirely covered in electricity, sparking yellow. It leaned forward and the electricity coalesced into its nose. "DISCHARGE NOW!" The rock type grumbled loudly, discharging a massive blast of electricity. The attack bolted outward, striking Mischief before Riven managed to return him. The psychic twitched and yelled, being shocked continuously.

The electricity subsided, and the Kirlia's small body crackled with tiny sparks of electricity. The power of the attack dislodged the pokemon from the floor after blowing the rocks off his feet, but at the cost of frying him too.

The referee held up the yellow flag this time, announcing the victory. "Kirlia is unable to battle! Nosepass wins!"

Roxanne's students whispered to each other, anxious to see what both battlers would do next. The battle had been awesome so far. Both trainers were now left with only two pokemon. Roxanne's strongest was on the field and the challenger's Absol was still on the sidelines. The girls were slightly admiring this Gray. He was pretty good. Judging by his battling, he was really smart too. But he wasn't better than Roxanne of course. She was going to smash him for sure.

Riven cursed under his breath. Aine would last a total of two seconds against this thing. How were beginner trainers supposed to battle this gym if they'd chosen Torchic? Pinching the bridge of his nose, begrudgingly had to use White Queen. She was much faster and knew ice beam, which could keep it slowed and could give her a chance to maneuver around for a direct hit. Not that ice moves could do much to rock types anyway, but it was a start. Turning to the Absol, he said, "White Queen, your turn."

She eagerly jumped onto the stage. She had been anxiously waiting her turn, pacing around the sidelines, getting ready. Bringing down the strongest thing on her team would feel amazing. She also wanted to get some revenge for Bib. He had gotten himself stuck again, just like with Amy. Bad luck. At any rate, her ice beam would do well as it was her only known ranged move._ Even though rock is really good against ice, type matchups don't decide the match._

She growled, trying to intimidate the nosepass.

Roxanne was nervous. This Absol would either be a pushover or it could potentially destroy her Nosepass. Absols had very flexible movesets and many trainers used them for type coverage and powerful physical attacks. They didn't learn many super-effective moves that could affect rock types, but their attacks were fairly powerful when combined with their speed.

Snapping out of her thoughts she called out to her nosepass. "Use rock tomb, trap her like the Kirlia!"

Haona smirked. _Too slow. I'm much faster than Bib!_ She dodged and weaved around the rising rock pillars, steadily approaching the Nosepass as it futilely tried to trap her. Roxanne told it to use discharge again. The bolt of electricity hit her, but it was very weak with no charge time behind it. Haona shrugged it off and jumped high into the air. Spinning downwards, she used her momentum to create wind, gathering it into a revolving current around her horn. She twirled forwards once more, sweeping her head downwards, bringing down a furious razor wind. The attack hit the Nosepass directly on the nose, chipping part of the rock type's body and caused it to step back, nearly falling over from the hit.

Rock rumbled and Riven gestured for White Queen to get back.

"Back off. No need to get cocky or you might end up stuck too. Watch for surprise rock tombs." She listened, jumping back towards her side of the ring as rocks did indeed rise again. The Nosepass was fairly intelligent, using rock tomb to get its attacker away to charge up another discharge.

_No you don't._

Haona knew she couldn't stop the attack or deflect it, but she could influence its direction. She enlarged the whirlwinds around her as she drew more wind in. The air currents' increased size and rotations caused dust and dirt to collect inside until the entire gym become foggy with dust particles. Roxanne and Riven covered their eyes with their arms, trying to keep dust out.

The rock pokemon was now glowing yellow once again, ready to discharge. Just as Roxanne yelled out the command to fire, Haona flipped in the air and slashed downwards with her horn. A larger and more powerful razor wind blew towards the Nosepass, howling like a tornado. It arced awkwardly and hit it in the foot, causing it to veer to one side as it released the wave of electricity from its nose.

_Got you._

The bolt of lightning flew into the ceiling, destroying part of the roof.

Haona broke into a dance, confusing Roxanne for a moment. Then she realized what she was doing as a familiar form made itself apparent. Sword's dance. She turned back towards her Nosepass and saw that it was still recovering energy from that huge attack and couldn't dodge it regardless. She hoped that his rock body could absorb most of the damage, but she doubted that her pokemon could withstand more attacks from the state he was in.

The Absol rocketed forward, using the dust from the explosion to mask her movements. Feeling more strength in her legs, she jumped high into the air, using gravity to add onto her speed and power. She was now directly over the Nosepass, knowing it couldn't dodge. Black energy swirled and coated her horn as she straightened out, releasing a potent slash of darkness with a powerful slash of her horn. Haona's dark type resonated with the move, empowering it. The slash cut into rock from nose to leg, causing Roxanne's Nosepass to tumble over and groan in pain . The slash also sliced through the air, blowing away the dust cloud.

Riven smiled as the dust cleared. White Queen was directly on top of the Nosepass, pinned by her. She opened her mouth and a blue ball of light formed in front of her. She was charging up a point-blank ice beam. It wouldn't do much, but he assumed she was doing it for dramatic effect. Really, that cheeky little queen.

Roxanne bit her lip. Nosepass was going to faint. No doubt about that. The STAB'ed sword's dance boosted night slash had hit him hard, despite his high physical defense. Time for some final measures.

"Explosion."

Riven's face lost color for a moment.

Haona released a bright icy beam onto Nosepass, freezing it in place as ice spread and bloomed along its body and along the floor. It was nearly covered in ice before she vaguely heard Roxanne say something. The Nosepass, however, heard it and bellowed loudly as a white light began to emanate from its body, shining through the ice.

She heard Riven yell, "Get out of there!"

Too late.

The ice and floor exploded in a spray of icicles and debris, launching Haona upwards as dust blanketed the gym once more. Roxanne was nearly blown back by the blast, only managing to stay afoot by holding onto a rock. Haona landed on the rock floor with a crunch before rolling all the way back to her side of the field.

She tried to get on her feet and failed. She fainted, white fur stained black and red from the effects of the explosion and the icicles piercing her skin.

The dust cleared once again and Roxanne's Nosepass was on the floor, bruised and beaten, having used all of his remaining energy to knock out Riven's Absol in a move of desperation. Roxanne returned it and smiled weakly. "I know you hate it when you use that move but at least you took her down with you."

The referee held both flags up, "Both pokemon are unable to battle. Both trainers will now send out their remaining pokemon."

The Rock gym leader took out another pokeball, her last.

Riven returned White Queen to her pokeball as well. "Good job. You handled yourself well. Now for… ugh." He brought out his last pokeball dismally. Aine had a weakness to rock and her moveset consisted of nothing but normal physical moves and one weak fire attack. He held back the urge to slam his palm against his forehead with how badly the matchup was going to be.

Both trainers released their final pokemon.

Roxanne's rock type was a small floating rock with two arms. "Geodude!" It exclaimed.

_Oh. So that is what a Geodude is. Why does everyone keep saying I lived under one of those? Under something that small? Ridiculous._

Gray's final pokemon sent relief down Roxanne's shoulders. She knew why he was hesitant to bring it out. It was a Torchic. A fire type with most likely no strong fire attacks. It wouldn't be able to make a dent in Geodude. She almost felt like laughing, but she was a professional and a gym leader. No making fun of trainers.

Both pokemon eyed each other before her Geodude used a focus punch to try and get close to his Torchic. The little chick scurried away, avoiding punches as it ran around the arena. _It's fast. I'll give it that._ "Geodude, keep using focus punch! Tire it out!"

Riven had no bright or clever ideas. Aine's peck would no more make a dent than he could fly. Her ember would probably just annoy it. Sighing, he told her to use ember in a futile attempt to do something. She blasted embers at its face but it simply shrugged them off and continued throwing punches at her.

Riven felt like raking his face with his hands.

Roxanne's Geodude chased Aine until she was cornered. The rock then hammered her with two strong focus punches. Still, she managed to get on her feet and scurry away again.

Aine was panting hard at this point. Her attacks weren't doing a damn thing. She was getting frustrated. She didn't want to disappoint her trainer. But what could she do? The chick thought about her fight against the Ariados, the way her inner fire flared and relaxed with her breathing. She closed her eyes, trying to feel her fire. It was faint and small. She focused, making it move with every breath that filled her lungs.

She imagined it growing into a large powerful fire, consuming entire forests. It flared and she opened her eyes, facing the Geodude, who was closing in with a white fist. She opened her beak and a blazing hot jet of flame released from inside her lungs. The flames stopped the rock type in its tracks as fire assaulted its eyes. It put up its hands to shield itself from the flames.

Aine kept blasting it with fire, screaming with spirit. Riven wondered how long she could keep it up, needless to say, he was a bit shocked to see her enthusiasm. The Geodude's hands were glowing red hot, the fire was heating up its body. It waved its hands to try and swipe at Aine, but the flames kept it blind.

Aine then stopped. Her body began to glow a dazzling white, drawing awes and ooo's from the stands. Roxanne's jaw dropped.

The light subsided and an orange pokemon stood in Aine's place, taller and stronger than the tiny Torchic it'd been previously.

It gave a loud battlecry, "COMBUSKEN!" It shot fire up into the air and danced around, demonstrating the power of its new legs. It seems Aine paid attention to that dance routine a week ago.

Riven grinned as his pokedex showed the entry of Combusken, catching Roxanne's look. "Aine, let him have it."

She nodded in understanding and kicked off the ground, using her strong legs to propel herself forward. Aine landed a powerful kick to the Geodude's face, sending it rolling a few feet back. The Geodude tried to lift itself off the ground but Aine jumped up, grounding it with a blast of fire before it came down. She smashed a foot into the rock type—the force of the impact crushing it against the floor. Roxanne's Geodude desperately tried to fight back, but Aine's power dominated it, keeping it pinned.

She picked up the geodude and launched it upward with her right foot. Then spun around and landed a spinning momentum packed kick to the Geodude's face. The rock pokemon sailed to the other end of the gym, smashing into the wall like a soccer ball. It remained plastered there, unconscious in total defeat.

Roxanne only gaped, speechless. The gym was dead silent. Even Riven was astounded. One moment the Torchic was getting trampled, and the next, she was playing around with Geodude like a bad joke.

The referee recovered from his shock and lifted a green flag. "G-g-g-geodude is unable to battle! Combusken is the winner! Roxanne's pokemon are all knocked out, the winner of this gym battle is Challenger Gray!"

Aine yelled in victory, breathing fire into the air. The students and Roxanne applauded the young trainer and his pokemon. The gym leader walked over to him, holding out a small metal object. "That was an amazing battle, Gray. I haven't had a battle like that in a long time. That was a wonderful usage of wit and power by all three of your pokemon. I hope I can use this video to teach my students that type advantage and power aren't the only things that can decide matches, but a trainer and their pokemon's wit and ability. Congratulations. You have earned the Stone Badge and this TM." She handed him the badge and a box with the label, _TM 39: Rock Tomb_.

He took both of them and shook her hand. "Thank you, Roxanne. I appreciate your praise. I honestly thought I was going to lose, fire being disadvantaged against rock. It was a good battle on both sides. If this is what the first gym is like, whoa. Harsh on the fire starters there. How difficult is the eighth?"

Roxanne laughed, "Much harder, I assure you. Juan is as relentless as he is graceful. Wallace could tell you that also. Anyway, where are you headed now?"

Riven held his chin, unsure. "I guess I am going back to the pokemon center to give my pokemon some rest. Then tomorrow I will head to Devon. By the way, do you know where Devon is?"

"Sure. It's in downtown Rustboro. It's a huge building with orange sides, you can't miss it. It has a beautiful garden in the middle."

"Ah. Thanks. And good battle." He nodded, turning back towards the exit. He waved a hand behind him, saying good bye.

Roxanne and her students waved back, watching him walk away. The gym leader called out to him. "Gray! Come back and rematch me sometime!"

He yelled back. "Will do! I promise!"

His image disappeared as the gym doors closed shut. Roxanne stood in the middle of the gym with hands on her hips. "Wow." She looked at the wreckage from the battle and sighed. "Alright kids! Time to clean up!"

Everyone groaned.

* * *

Riven stepped out of the gym into Rustboro square. Light from the sunset covered the square. The beige tiles that made up the floor were now colored a sunset orange. He walked back to the pokemon center, staring at the badge in his hand_. I feel…proud. It feels good._ He never received any sort of recognition when in the army because frankly, they didn't have anything to give. It was a battle of survival, not honor. It still felt oddly satisfying to be holding the badge, despite everything.

Placing the badge into his badge case, the trainer walked through the center's doors. Nurse Joy spotted him and brightened. "Hello, Gray. How was your match?"

"Hello, Nurse Joy. The match went well, my Torchic became a Combusken and won the match. Her fighting type really turned the tide of the battle. I need them healed though, can you do that for me?" He handed her three pokeballs.

"Of course! They should be tired, after fighting Roxanne. She's really tough for trainers who choose fire starters. And there are lots of them, trust me. Most of the pokemon in the area aren't suited to battle rock types very well." Nurse joy stated, placing Riven's pokemon in the tray. She flipped a switch on and a light covered the pokeballs. The trainer sat down on a bench, waiting for his pokemon to be done healing.

A smaller trainer came up to him, noticing his shiny new badge. "Wow. That's a stone badge."

"Yes," Riven confirmed.

"Did you just beat Roxanne?" He asked curiously.

"Yes. Just now. It was an incredible battle."

"Man, she beat me two weeks in a row already. I don't know how to beat her. My friend says to go all out offensive but that never works." He took off his hat, scratching his head. "Any tips? My starter is a Torkoal…"

Riven's left lip rose upward, a slight smile. He pointed to the kid's bicep muscle. "Sometimes, brawn is good." Then he took off his hat and poked him gently in the forehead. "But sometimes, you need to use your head. You would be surprised at what you can achieve when you use it." He put the hat back on the boy's head, giving it a tight tug. "Keep trying." The boy's widened and he grinned from ear to ear. He ran outside, eager to face her again.

Riven snickered. Nurse Joy looked confused. "What's so funny?"

"I forgot to tell him the gym is closed." He started laughing, unable to hold back. It felt good to laugh.

Joy rolled her eyes, laughing slightly_. Boys. They never change._

Riven was back in his room, staring at the ceiling. He took out his pokeballs and released White Queen and Mischief. They stared back at him, heads low to the ground in what appeared to be shame.

"No, no. None of that. You both were fantastic in battle. Besides." He pulled out his badge case and flipped it open, displaying the stone badge. Both his pokemon's jaws dropped.

"Kirl?"

"Sol?"

Riven chuckled, "Wondering how I won? Here, let me show you how." He took out another pokeball and rolled it on the ground behind them. Aine came out, surprising them both.

Bib's eyes widened. _"You evolved!"_

_"Yup! I can jump even higher now! And I can kick things!"_

Haona and Bib felt happy for her, but at the same time realized that if she hadn't evolved in the nick of time, they probably would have lost the match.

Riven noticed his pokemons' moods fall. He tapped them on the back of the head, grabbing their attention. "Listen. Stop blaming yourselves. If both of you had not knocked out her Graveler and Nosepass, Aine would not have been able to secure the win. This victory belongs to you as much as it does to her. This is a team. Now cheer up. Morale! Got it?" Bib felt his positive emotions and his pride, lifting his mood significantly. His words also cheered up Haona, even though she couldn't quite feel emotions like Bib. The Kirlia snorted, "_Hey Haona, he sounds like you right now."_

She couldn't agree more, she _was_ awesome. _"I'll let it slide this time."_

Aine hugged them both, celebrating over a victory well fought.

* * *

The next morning was pleasant. He woke up next to his Absol, who was curled up on the bed next to him, with Mischief sound asleep in between her fur. Aine was sprawled on the other bed, snoring with a faintly. Gently lifting himself away from the bed, he went into the bathroom and cleaned up.

Feeling refreshed, he quietly served them food and headed off to go get something to eat. His breakfast was pancakes and eggs. They were served with delicious pecha berry jam and slices of beef. Finishing his breakfast, Riven fetched his pokemon and headed out. Today, he wanted to go visit Devon and pick up his pokeNav and his holo caster. They were apparently very useful, and integral to a trainer's journey.

After asking Nurse Joy for directions, he found himself riding a green 256 bus to downtown Rustboro. The buildings there were the tallest in the city, comprising most of the business buildings in the city. Riven stared in awe at their massive size as the sun illuminated the towering structures and their sleek, glassy designs.

Walking for nearly thirty minutes after he got off the bus, he finally stood in front of a large building with characteristic orange sides. It had large orange letters at the top that said: _**Devon Corporation**_. Riven entered the garden, nearing the entrance to the enormous building. A sign next to the door read : _**Devon Corporation. For all of your living needs, we make it all.**_

Entering the building, a receptionist asked him what he was here for.

"Pokenav and holo caster."

"Who sent you?"

"Professor Birch."

"Ah! Go right in."

The trainer walked inside the lobby, seeing men in suits come and go. He even saw pokemon trainers walking in and out of the rooms, probably picking up their own Navs and accessories. _Guess everyone comes here to pick up their pokenavs or get repairs._ The building had a wonderful interior as well—very modern, much future.

The receptionist phoned the stand-in CEO, Steven Stone, son of Mr. Stone, the CEO who was on business in the Sinnoh region. "Steven," she sang. "Someone's here for you."

"Barbara. I told you if it isn't important to send them to Minal. He deals with the pokenavs.

"Really? Because he says Birch sent him. And he looks like a lost Skitty in a forest."

Steven dropped what he was doing. "What does he look like?" _Could be the guy Birch was talking about._

"Ummm….normal?"

"Is he wearing anything strange looking?"

"Nope. Except for a black cloth around his right eye. Must have it injured or something. He's wearing casual clothes. Carrying a large case."

"Oh. Not my guy then."

"And he has an Absol and a Kirlia."

Steven was about to hang up when he thought twice. _Birch said that he had an Absol and a Ralts. Kirlia is the evolved form of Ralts. So that means…it might be him._ "I'll go get him."

"Huh, that's rare. You never come down from there. Is he special? Ohhh, he is?"

"This one is of certain…..importance," he ground out uneasily, cringing at how wrong that sounded.

"Boyfriend? He is certainly not bad looking but I didn't think you were into men, Steve. I'll have to spread the rumors with the juicy gossip. How scandalous, the women will freak!0"

Steven choked, gripping the phone harder. "HEAVENS NO, BARBARA. I'm coming down. I do not like men, and don't spread any rumors while I'm gone."

"Mhmmm. Go get him, Pyroar." Barbara hung up, laughing to herself.

Steven huffed. That woman would never let this go. Walking inside the elevator, he pushed the L button and headed down to the lobby. The former champion wondered how this 'Riven' was like. Birch described him as overly paranoid and odd, even a bit quirky. One thing was certain, he was an odd ball through and through. Black cloth around his eye… heterochromic…

The doors of the elevator opened and Steven stepped out into the lobby, drawing stares from many trainers. They stopped in their tracks, in awe at the sight of the former champion. _This is exactly why I don't step out._ He ignored the stares and looked among the crowd for a trainer with the appropriate pokemon. He was about to step away when a black haired young man with a white spot of hair and a large case walked past him, examining everything with vested interest. An Absol and a Kirlia accompanied him. Steven grabbed his arm.

The young man_ looked_ at Steven. "Can I help you?"

"Birch sent you right? For your equipment?"

"Uh, yes. How did you know that?"

"Receptionist. Come with me. I have your equipment."

Riven eyed the blue haired man with a suspicious eye. Had Birch been in contact with him?

Steven dragged him towards the elevator before any fans could swarm the champion for autographs. He sighed. The trainer was silent. He didn't look any different from other pokemon trainers and certainly didn't have any damaged clothing on him. Steven also didn't see any blades or black stone. That large case probably had something to do with it.

The elevator doors opened to a grand collection of differently colored stones displayed in cases around Steven's office. Water, Fire, Thunder, Leaf, Dusk, Sun, Moon, and Dawn as well as various other specimens were present. He glanced at the trainer. No change in expression. _It was a good attempt_. Just then, the trainer's Kirlia ran up to the case with a dawn stone in it and shouted loudly, tapping on the glass.

The black haired boy walked over to the case and stared at the stone. "What is it?" The psychic tapped the glass further, with increased emphasis. "Yes, I can see that it is a stone. Stop tapping on the glass."

"KIRL! KIRLIA!" It pointed at the shiny green gem a third time. His trainer still looked confused.

"It wants the dawn stone," Steven stated. "Must be a male Kirlia then."

"Why?"

_Birch did say he was clueless._ "He wants to evolve." Steven said, nonchalantly.

"Oh. That stone is needed for him to do that?"

"Yes. It's male right?"

The trainer nodded.

"I guessed as much."

"I did not know some pokemon needed stones to evolve. I just thought they evolved on their own."

"Well, very few pokemon do need stones to evolve. Kirlias can evolve into two things. A Gardevoir and a Gallade. Gardevoirs are the natural evolution of both male and female Kirlias. Gallades only evolve from males when exposed to a dawn stone. I guess he wants to be a Gallade. Rather badly too."

The Kirlia nodded furiously.

"And what if I cannot afford one of those. It looks pretty, so it must be expensive." Riven was eyeing the stone with deep scrutiny and was tempted to check his funds again.

"No, they aren't, unfortunately. However, I heard that they are abundant in the Forinan caves near Mt Chimney. If you want to look for dawn stones, there would be your best bet. But make sure you get something that can fly, those caves might be a bit hard to get to by hand. Unless you enjoy rock climbing."

Rock climbing did not deter Riven. He had climbed near vertical slopes as a scout before."Hmm… next stop then. After Mauville. Then this gem will be mine. For _free_."

"That's a good goal, Gallade are very strong pokemon. Please, sit."

Steven motioned for the trainer to sit down on one of the couches. The young man returned his pokemon to their pokeballs and sat down.

"Wait here. I'll bring your things." Steven said as he went into the other room.

Riven looked around the office. It was spacious and looked expensive. _The rocks in the cases must be worth a hefty sum._ _So he wants to evolve…_

Riven wondered what a Gallade looked like. He wasn't going to ask Charles, he'd rather it be a pleasant surprise. Steven returned, holding a pokeNav and a flatter blue device, the holo caster.

"This here is your pokeNav and your holo caster. Usually trainers start out with them but Birch didn't have any spares in the lab warehouse. Sorry you had to travel here."

"It was no trouble. I had to come here to battle Roxanne anyway."

"Did you beat her?" Steven wondered if the boy had any decent battling skills. He definitely had the skilled trainer look to him.

He showed him the badge.

"Nice." _So_ _he does have some innate skill. Looks promising._

Riven took the holo caster and pokeNav and put them in his bag. Not the big one either. The smaller, more….trainer sized one. The bigger one looked odd. _Now isn't the time, it would make him suspicious._

"Do you know how to use them?" Steven asked. Birch did mention the kid was a technophobe. What would be the point of handing him perfectly functional equipment if he couldn't operate it to save his life?

"The pokeNav just a little. The holo caster is entirely new."

Understandable. The holo caster had only recently come to Hoenn. Even some of the older trainers had a hard time adjusting.

"Ah, well. You just type in eight digits you wish to call and it should connect you with another person's holo caster with the same number. Everyone has a specific number. If someone calls you, you push the talk button to pick up or the end button to end a call or reject a call. It projects the user's image so it beats the videophones in the pokemon centers."

"I see. So that is what those eight numbers were for…."

"Which eight numbers?"

"A girl gave them to me. I had no idea what they were used for so I ripped the paper to shreds. Then I ran for the woods. She was getting a bit too close for comfort."

Steven laughed. "You can use it to contact others in case you need it. Some people exchange numbers for different reasons. Some business, some friendly, others personal… it really depends. Anyway, I wanted to ask you some questions. Birch told me about you."

_Great, leave it to that clumsy man to tell his friends about me. _Riven's suspicion increased, and he began to tense. "What kind of questions?"

"Just basic information."

"Basic?"

"Yeah. Where were you born, your name, favorite color, favorite hometown. Etc."

At this point, Riven felt like he was getting examined and assessed, and not in a good way. He bristled, but let Steven continue. "Alright, ask." If push came to shove, he'd slash his throat open and bolt.

Steven asked the most basic of questions. "What's your name?"

"Did Birch not tell you that already? I assume you know it. So, tell me yours."

Birch was definitely right. This kid was paranoid. Solidly paranoid, and probably thought the world was out to get him. What kind of messed up hole did he crawl out of? "Steven Stone."

"Hello, Steven."

_He doesn't trust me_, Steven observed. He knew Birch had informed of him of his name, yet still called him out on it. He also asked him for his own. The trainer wanted to know who he was dealing with in case things went south. Did he think he was some sort of spy?

_Try again_."Ok…Next question. Where were you born?" Steven hoped to get an origin from this guy. That way he could pinpoint an approximate area and determine why there weren't any reported birthplaces.

The boy gave him a glare."The wilderness."

"I don't believe that. You speak too rigidly to be born in the wild."

"Oh, right. I fell from the sky in a basket carried by Pidgey."

Steven frowned.

"If you weren't born in the wild then where were you born? Fortree, Slateport, Lavaridge, Fallarbor, Pacifidlog?" Steven was just spitting out towns and cities at this point, hoping to get one right.

"None of those."

If not in Hoenn, then some other region perhaps. "Sinnoh, Kalos, Johto, Unova, or Kanto?" One of those had to ring a bell.

"None."

The man was perplexed. This guy couldn't possibly be from anywhere else. Unless there was a far off region nobody knew about. "Then where are you from?"

Riven scoffed, "You would call me insane if I told you."

"No, I wouldn't." Steven was certain that whatever he was going to say was completely reasonable. The kid didn't look crazy. At first glance anyway.

"I came from the past. I was born in a place called Altea, there were clans of people that were basically governments, everything was shit, there was a war, everyone I knew died in a fire in one night because the fire clan was composed of complete cunts, and then I fought them for ten years in a hopelessly outnumbered army in a hopeless struggle in a hopelessly shit world until suddenly I jumped through time, ended up here, and now I am on a journey to be a pokemon master."

He adjusted himself on the couch, a little glad to have let that out, yet feeling troubled nonetheless. "Apparently."

"Apparently?"

"Yeah. I have no idea what I am doing."

Steven didn't quite know what to make of that, furrowing his brows in confusion. "Okay… sure."

"Told you would doubt me."

"So you don't want to admit where you were born. Okay then, don't answer that. Riven, what's in that case?"

He suddenly grew very defensive. "Are you sure you are not a detective? You sound like one. And I am not particularly fond of them."

"Why? Are you a criminal?" Steven was getting a little worried at this point. Paranoid, insane, armed and dangerous? Criminal was starting to sound awfully accurate.

"No. Although, if you put me on trial…"

Steven cut right to the chase, ignoring that remark."What is in the case?"

"None of your business," the black haired boy hissed, now fully alert.

"Birch told me to watch you, so technically, you are my business." Steven matched him, looking at his arms for any hints or sudden movements.

"Know what? I really do not care about being _your business_. I already got my things, now I will gladly leave." He gathered his things and left for the door. "I have somewhere to be right now, thanks."

_Now or never. _Steven launched himself, tackling Riven down to the floor with a thud. He was fortunate that the trainer returned his pokemon to their balls before their little 'talk'. His case was thrown to the side, landing with a loud thud as Steven tried to reach his Cradily's pokeball. The former champion thought that a teenager would be fairly defenseless without his pokemon and thus, could easily use his Cradily to subdue him.

He was wrong.

The trainer recovered quickly, breaking Steven's hold easily and throwing him off. A quick chop to the throat and a table counter to the face later, the rock collector was on his ass, gasping for breath and holding an aching head. He might've been an ex champion and an excellent pokemon trainer, but a very good fighter he wasn't. In fact, the whole ordeal had happened so quickly that he hadn't the time to fully realize what had just occurred until after his face got shoved into a table.

The older man stood up slowly, holding a hand up, wheezing. "Gah….wait. I'm …not…your…enemy…"

Riven rolled his eyes. He took out a blade from the case and unsheathed it, placing the edge near Steven's neck. "You wanted to see what was in the case? Here you go." _Any more attacks and I will slash your throat open._ "Not a criminal, but attacking me was fairly stupid. Do you _want_ to die?"

The blade was exactly as Birch described it. His breathing slowed and he gently pushed the blade away, careful not to make any sudden moves. The movement knicked his fingers, drawing blood. The professor was right, the young man did have real, authentic swords. Very usable ones at that and different in shape from the katanas and wakizashis found in Kanto, resembling longswords in appearance rather than sabers.

Steven held up both his hands in surrender.

"I believe you now… Just, I think we got off on the wrong foot, Riven. I'm sorry for tackling you, I didn't know what else to do. Peace?" He held out a hand slowly, hoping the trainer would accept the handshake. Riven seemed to think about it, leaving Steven there for a few moments to draw his breath again. He sighed in relief as the blade came down and a firm grip shook his hand. A sole brown eye remained skeptical, and Riven's expression matched it.

"Likewise. Sorry about the head, might take a few days for that to reduce in size." He said, pointing at the red mark on Steven's forehead.

"Seems so."_Interesting young man. _They both sat down again, now on arguably "friendlier" terms. "If you don't mind... Let's start again. I'm Steven Stone."

"And my name is Riven Cerul," the trainer replied flatly. "I was born in a magical fucking tree in Littleroot."


	13. Searching for Answers

Riven was still watching Steven. They weren't killing each other but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on the man. After all, he had only just met him. He wanted to gather more information though, Steven looked knowledgeable in various fields, perhaps he could shed some light on his situation. He was only pretending at friendliness for more information, otherwise, he would have left the man on the floor gasping for air or choking on his own blood.

Steven sat on a couch opposite of Riven. He was examining a sword thoroughly, an amazed look on his face. The engraved markings on the blade's flat surface belonged to no known language he'd ever seen. They glowed a faint blue and ran along the length of the blade. The sword had a small handleguard and a black metal hilt. Practical and very sharp. Good quality too.

_Where did he get this?_

He sheathed the blade again and set it down on the table. Riven took it and handed him the other blade. It was identical, with the same markings on it.

"Riven, these are amazing. I've never seen such quality blades. Those weapon collectors in Kanto would dump their fortunes just to own one of these. I've been to auctions for these types of things. The weapons displayed there were beautiful but they don't hold a Chandelure to these." Steven remarked, still holding up the blade.

"Steal it and I will kill you." Riven warned, thinking Steven could just take the blade and go sell it off to those bastards. "Not joking."

"Why are you so paranoid?"

"Because the world is full of uncertainties, and not all of them want to be your friend. Contrary to what most idiot trainers believe." If only he knew what Riven had been through these past few weeks, then maybe he would consider that the world was out to get him too.

_This kid has issues._ Steven remarked in his head, startled at the boy's grim response. "Relax. I won't steal them. As you can see, I don't really need anymore money."

"Right…So...what is so special about blades? I assumed everyone has some sort of bladed weapon around." Riven replied. How could people cut things without sharp metal? They had to have something longer than knives.

"We only have knives and machetes around mostly. No one knows how to make a proper blade anymore, at least in Hoenn. There are still forgers in Kanto but they rely on old methods passed down for generations to produce them. The blades go for thousands."

"Oh."

"At any rate, what are these markings?" Steven pointed to the strange scripture engraved in the blades.

"Will you believe me if I told you now?" Riven said, left brow raised. He was still a bit wary of Steven. However, since Steven was a friend of Birch, he figured he was relatively harmless. He already knew his real name, which is more than what most people knew anyway. Even Amy called him Gray.

"Possibly."

Riven eyed him, taking the blade into his hands. "The markings say, _Never Fading."_

"What's that mean?"

Riven shrugged. "Could mean a lot of things. The smith liked being very abstract. Infuriating, actually."

"You said something about an Altea?" It could very well be a figment of the kid's imagination. Some people with serious mental disorders could think of fantastic dream worlds in their heads that made perfect sense to others.

"Yes. It was my city. I grew up there for seven years. Then… well."

"Can you point it out on the map?" Steven asked, trying for an area in which he could start an excavation for ancient artifacts. Of course, assuming what Riven said wasn't just his own delusions.

Riven shook his head. He looked confused. "No... The map looks different. Much different."

Steven's eyes narrowed. _If what this guy says is true, then he must have come from a time when the continent looked different. Vastly different. I still can't believe his story though. It doesn't make sense. Time travel is impossible. Physics deems it impossible, at least through human means. He could just be a liar._"Riven, you said you came from the past?"

"Yes." He confirmed.

"Then how were you able to do it? We can't even do it and we already mastered dark matter in pokeballs. It's a goal of physicists everywhere, how could it be possible someone from the past was able to do it?"

"First, I have no clue what a physicist is, or whether technology had anything to do with anything. I heard a roar and suddenly I lost consciousness. Next thing I know-" He gestured to the floor with his hands. "-Here."

"So it wasn't technology from your erm…people?"

"No. I suspect it was the work of a legendary." Things tended to get _strange_ when legendaries were involved. If it wasn't, he'd eat his swords."Had to be."

"A legendary that could control time?"

"Maybe. If one exists. Or it could just be an unexplainable occurrence." Riven pondered, unable to come to another solution. It was either legendary work or something…else. What it was, he had no idea. He was a simple soldier turned trainer, not a damn magician.

"Hmmm. Could be. I suggest you look for any information about legendaries. Folk tales are exaggerations but more often than not, they reveal some truth to the legendaries that are in them. Try the Rustboro library." Steven suggested. Steven still thought the kid was a little off, mainly due to how jumpy he was. "Huh. Well, do you mind accompanying me to the basement? That's where most of the heavy tech is. I need to look at this metal _far_ more closely." The blade looked authentic, but some of the best fakes did also.

"I would like to see this technology. The future has already fascinated me so far. Cars and elevators are wonderful contraptions." Riven recalled all of the amazing things the future had so far. He was eager to see more. He just hoped his mind would not burst.

It did not.

Most of the tech he had been dealing with up to this point had been easy to understand. The stuff down here was just downright strange. The basement was packed with busy sounds of machinery and people. 'Scientists' with white lab coats walked around, testing machines and performing experiments. Some of the machines either failed to function properly or were being built, purely experimentally.

He spent nearly the entire day inside of that basement, listening to chatter and complex 'scientific' speech. He understood dick. Riven just went around and played with the machines, pushing random buttons and pulling levers. Like a small child. Steven and the rest of the white coats were fawning over the small gem he gave them, paying him no mind. He wanted to find out more about the mysterious object his mother gave him as well, so he thought that Steven could give him more answers.

After about ten in the night, Steven told him to go get some rest. Riven gladly agreed. He let Steven keep the gem for more analysis but not his blades, he needed those in case anymore Scyther got any clever ideas. He also told the stone collector to call him on this holo caster thing if he found anything interesting. He didn't fully trust Steven, but what choice did he really have? The guy really liked rocks.

The city at night was far more interesting, though. There were lights everywhere, and even more people than in the day. The streets were crawling with people and pokemon. Diners were packed with people dressed in fancy clothes and suits. Even the alleys were full of people, but more of the questionable…..variety. He let his pokemon out of their pokeballs to stretch their legs and take in the scenery. White Queen emerged looking rather energetic. She was a dark type, so she felt more energy during the night. Aine was energetic as ever, crying loudly. Mischief came out and tugged on Riven's pants.

He looked down into his red eyes. "Mischief, I know. We will visit this 'Forina' and get you that stone. I promise." Evolved pokemon were good. And from the picture of Gallade in the pokedex, it was a strong kind of good.

Mischief beamed and returned to the other two.

Haona was the first to speak. _"So, did you finally get the message across to him?"_

Bib grinned. _"Yep. Well, it wasn't me exactly. It was that Steven guy. He told him what the dawn stone did."_

"_And?"_

_"We're going to Forina to go look for some after he gets his third badge in Mauville."_ Bib said, twirling happily. He was finally going to evolve!

Haona froze in place. _F-f-forina? But that was… mom and dad's homeland. I'm going to see their homeland! Maybe I'll meet others!_ She brightened and tackled her trainer.

"Oi! What was that for?" Riven complained as White Queen licked his face. "You are never this affectionate, why are you so friendly today? Who are you and what did you do to the cruel, pushy Absol?"

She shoved her head into his stomach again.

Aine smiled. _She must be looking forward to going to Forina apparently_. The combusken didn't have any business there but was more than happy to come along with her trainer to get a dawn stone for Bib. She wondered what Haona was so happy about though. _"Haona, what are you so happy about?"_

_"Oh, nothing."_ She replied, standing next to their human, who was wiping saliva off his face with his hands.

Riven finished wiping his face and pointed at the bus stop. "Alright. We should head back to the pokemon center. We need to go to Rustboro library tomorrow."

There were some people already waiting at the stop for the bus. The air was chilly and the sky was overcast. Clouds covered the night sky, blocking out the stars. The smell of moisture clung to the air, it was probably going to rain soon.

Night was good too. No blazing hot sun and no blinding light. Sometimes, the sunlight reflected off the mirrors in front of shops or on cars and blinded him. That was unpleasant. It was nothing compared to snow though.

Speaking of which, what season was it? From the rainy weather, he assumed it as spring or fall. Which meant it was going to get very hot or very cold in a few months. Taking out his pokeNav, he turned it on and displayed his location. He tinkered with it for a while until he finally found the calendar. They had strange names for the names of the month but that was unimportant. _The screen read : September 20th._The ninth month of the year. Winter would come soon.

The black haired trainer put the device bag into his bag as the bus neared the stop. His right eye started to sting as he saw red hair in the distance. Rubbing it with a knuckle, he boarded the bus and sat down, chalking it up to exhaustion.

_Red hair… why did it feel so familiar?_

* * *

Birch was about to go to bed when his holo caster rang. He picked it up and saw the call was from Steven. Answering the call, he was glad to see Steven again. Hopefully no bad news again.

The hologram projected outward and the former Hoenn League champion was shown. He was holding an ice pack on his head. "Whoa, Steven. Did someone beat you up?"

The younger man scoffed. "You can say that." He laughed. "It was your …starter."

"Ah! You met Riven then? Was he like I described?"

Steven nodded, pressing the ice pack back against his forehead."Yeah, he came for his equipment today. He was like how you described, but two times worse. You mentioned he was paranoid, you didn't mention he was maniac paranoid. He thinks the world is out to get him."

"Is that why he beat you up?"

Steven waved his free hand. "No, that was my fault. I tackled him to the ground after he refused to answer my questions."

Birch raised a brow, Steven didn't attack people often. Much less dangerous individuals. Steven caught his skeptical look and quickly explained.

"I thought he was going to kill someone so I figured I could stop him." He shook his head. "He fought me off and smashed my head against my coffee table." He pointed to his forehead, "As you can see, it's still healing."

"And he didn't…I don't know…kill you?"

"He was about to. Until I surrendered. He put his blade down and shook my hand. I thought it was odd that my surrender strategy worked though. We 'made' up and he strangely allowed me to ask him questions."

Birch scratched his beard. "Sounds to me like he was deciding whether you were trustworthy or not."

That sounded about right. "Yeah, I figured. Although, I don't think he trusts anyone. Not with how jumpy he is." The handshake after the scuffle felt less _lets-be-friends_ and more _temporary-alliance-then-I'll-decide-whether-to-get-rid-of-you_. It was a mutual exchange for information, really.

"Did you see the gem then?" Birch asked, curious to hear about anything Steven found out about it.

"Yes. He let me keep it for research purposes, on the condition that I inform him of any discoveries."

"And he just gave it to you like that?"

"He threatened to kill me if I didn't return it."

"That's more like it. Did he tell you about his back story?"

Steven let out a scornful hmph."I still can't believe it. Too many flaws. He seems a little off in the head. Everything could just be his imagination."

Birch thought the same thing when he heard it the first time. "At this point it might, but later on? Who knows."

"Time travel. It's impossible. He himself said that no technology in his 'time' could do that. So how did he do it?"

"Legendary pokemon?"

"That's exactly what he said."

"Well, you've traveled quite a bit, Steven. Ever heard of anything that could control time?"

"Vague rumors pointing to something in Sinnoh, yes. Although, they're probably completely falsified or so exaggerated that they can't be believed. No one's really seen those legendaries to know the extent of their powers, and if they could be capable of something like that."

Birch shrugged. "Well, if you find anything interesting about the stone, tell me as well. I'm going to bed. You should too. You can analyze that thing tomorrow."

"Alright Birch. I'll keep you updated. Have a good night."

"Oh I will. I'm going to dream about beautiful nake-"

"Please, Birch. _No_."

Birch chuckled and ended the call. _Works every time._

* * *

Riven's face was buried in a book the following day. He had spent the entire fucking day reading through books about legendary pokemon. None of them told the same story. Most of them were just speculations and reported sightings of them. Footprints, roars, weird lightning showers and weather. None of the books he had read helped in the slightest. Chucking a book against his stack of read books, he groaned in frustration.

His brain felt fried. His eyes hurt from squinting so much, his head pounded whenever he looked at anything remotely bright and he was hungry as hell. Rustboro library had been a dead end. No clues at all. He was also unable to locate how far into the future he was as well. The only seemingly interesting books he had read was a book written by a Professor Kudzu on pokemon and another by a fiction writer. It was called _A Beginner's Guide to Pokemon_. The content was informative and frankly, quite hilarious. The other had been a book about Eevee, a pokemon that could evolve into all different types of pokemon. It was sad but a great read. It nearly brought a tear to his eye. It was called _Eon Fable._ Amazing stuff, truly. He thought he would try his luck once more tomorrow, and maybe by some miracle, find anything informative about any mythical time being. Perhaps even a name.

He went to the library every day, trying to find out anything insightful about his predicament. His mountain of read books was climbing higher and higher each day. It was all for naught because he had gone _nowhere_. Nothing new. The librarians were starting to worry for him. Some of them told him to stop reading so much and go outside. He looked pale and needed some sun.

After seven straight days, he was fed up with the place and refused to go there again. He walked into the pokemon center, asked for directions to the next gym, and the next day he was off to Dewford town.

"Stupid. Library. Useless…crap…Tauros…" he mumbled, looking at the waves of the ocean as a ship sailed him to the next town. He was so depressed he failed to gape in awe at the ship's construction. He brushed it off as another future thing and just paid the fare and got on. It was bound for Dewford Town, carrying tourists, muscle heads, and Knuckle Badge hopefuls. The voyage would take about three days. It was called the SS Dewford,a medium sized vessel that traveled faster than the ships in his time.

Also impressive when not depressed.

He spent most of his time on the railing, looking at the ocean. Occasional Tentacruel floated on the surface, with a few water jets rising into the air from exhaling Wailmer. He had read about them in a book about water pokemon native to Hoenn during the library spree. His pokemon were right next to him, one of them was anyway. His Kirlia was as depressed as he was, due to his hypersensitivity to emotions. White Queen was off playing with an inflatable ball and Aine was sparring a Machoke.

The trainer sighed, letting go of the rail to sit down on a chair on the deck. He watched other trainers and people around him. Some of them were smiling, others were leaning on the rail, looking at the sparkling waves. The salty breeze hit his nose, causing him to sneeze. He opened his eyes, seeing a rather irritated looking Mischief in front of him. His white hands were wiping spit off his face.

"Heh…Mischief I did not mean to-"

His pokemon sent a chair flying at him. It hit him and he toppled over, much to everyone's amusement. Picking himself up and using the chair to sit on, he slumped back into place. A man was also slumped in a chair to the right, wearing the same coat of depression and misery. Riven called to him. "You too huh?"

The sullen looking man nodded slowly. "Yeah man." In fact, he looked worse than Riven did.

"That bad?"

The man sniffled a bit. "My girl left me for another man." He buried his head in his hands. It was unnerving, seeing such a muscular man cry. Woman were evil creatures.

Like White Queen.

Riven turned away, looking back towards the deck. "That is rough…" The man started sobbing and wailing in sadness. Riven stood up and _slowly_ walked away. _Not staying around for that. I am depressed enough as it is. No need to add onto it. And that looks ridiculous._ Mischief followed him to the railing again. If he saw another book, he was going to cut it in half. Then burn it.

The trainer remained on the railing until the afternoon, eyes blank. His Kirlia was sitting down beside the railing. A depressive aura hovered around them. Other people noticed and moved away from them.

Two girls where sitting down on some chairs near the nose of the ship. They looked at the depressive twosome and whispered to each other.

"Why do they look so depressed?"

"I don't know."

"Did his girlfriend dump him?"

"How should I know?"

"Maybe one of his parents died."

"That's mean."

"Hey, I'm just curious."

Riven and Mischief heard everything, despite being quite a bit away from them. They turned and looked at the two who instantly pretended to talk about something they saw the other day. Both pokemon and trainer headed back to their cabins.

Once inside, Riven and Bib saw White Queen and Aine. The yellow and orange chicken was spread out over the bed and the Absol was asleep at the foot of the bed. Their activities earlier in the day had tired them out. Bib gave up and flopped in between White Queen's fur. Riven ruffled his hair and passed by a mirror, frowning.

_Great. It got bigger._

The white patch of hair was now bigger, more hairs stark white. He had to admit though, it did look cool, as the people here said. Too mentally exhausted to think more of it, he slumped into a comfy chair in the room and fell asleep.

Two days passed by and he arrived in Dewford. It was a small island with a series of small caves along the outside. One of which was called Granite Cave, a popular cave for rock collectors. That is what the travel guide on the ship said anyway. Riven's mood picked up after some meditation and _lengthy_ naps. The port was housing several other ships that went back to Route 104 and Slateport City. He might take one back to the port city after he beat the gym. That was usually the next stop, according to some of the trainers he talked to—going by the traditional gym circuit anyway.

The town was not big at all. It had a center and a gym, with a few more buildings around it. The town was near to the beach, only a little bit away from the white sandy shore. People were riding waves on what looked like wooden planks. It looked ridiculous but entertaining at the same time. It seemed like a quiet little town with few inhabitants. Remote, gentle, and isolated.

_Calm here, h_e thought, listening to the gentle _woosh_ of the waves. The water was crystal clear and glistened in the light of the sun, a dazzling blue color.

The trainer checked into a room in the pokemon center, along with many others. The pokemon center got most of its business from trainers who came from route 104 or Slateport to battle Brawly, the gym leader. The rooms were full at this point, so Riven made sure he got the one near _the end_ of the pokemon center. Repeats of Petalburg and exploding walls were very much not welcomed.

Placing his belongings in the rental room, he laid down on his bed, arms over his head and stared at the ceiling. No fatigue or drowsiness present within him, he was unable to go to sleep, so he just stayed there listening to the sounds of the ocean outside. It was a calm and pleasant experience. Remaining there for several hours, he decided to head down to the beach.

The sun was nearing sunset and began to disappear over the ocean. Looking outwards to where it was setting, it seemed like the ocean could lead directly to the sun. The sight was breathtaking, and it was as if he was staring at the edge of the world.

The ocean breeze was cool and people still rode the waves on surfboards, falling in and getting back up again. Dewford was a nice change of pace. It was serene and relaxing. It was as if it could magically wash his troubles away. He realized why many fighters came here to train, it was an ideal location for such activities, away from the noise of the city.

He walked along the beach, coming up to an old man sitting on a chair with a large straw hat. He was fishing. The sight made Riven smile. He would never be able to do that back in his time. Let alone grow old. War tended to shorten lives significantly.

The old man looked at peace, simply casting a line and waiting, feeling the cool ocean breeze pass along the shore. Something tugged at the line and he quickly pulled it out, reeling in a fresh Magikarp. There were a pile of dead logs next to him, ready to light a fire."Ho ho! A big one! Oh. I forgot my lighter." He struggled to get up, slowly beginning to pick up his things. Riven let out Aine, walking next to the old man.

"No need. My Combusken can light it for you." Riven assured, urging the old man to sit down again.

"Oh, thank you trainer. It would have been a long walk back home if you hadn't come along." The old man smiled, thankful for the trainer's kindness. Most of them wouldn't even give him the time of day, being far too concerned with training and gym battles.

"No bother." Riven sat down opposite the pile of logs from him. He looked out towards the waves.

"Most young trainers don't pay attention to me. Who cares about an old man when you have gym battles to get done with. You're a different one! Haha!" The fisherman laughed heartily, watching the young man look out towards the waves.

"Gym battles are nice but sometimes, relaxation is the best part. I want to live and see the world, the gym and the pokemon league are second to that. I guess I just became a trainer to find my place, here—in this world. I have been looking for answers, but they have decided to make themselves very hard to find," Riven admitted, feeling surprisingly trustful of the old man. "Looking for them stressed me out for a bit, so this is nice."

"Ah, I see. Still, if only more people were like you. The experience of being a trainer is not the battles or the league. They are but memories. The most important part of being a pokemon trainer is the bonds you establish with others, the experiences you have lived through, the good and bad, as well as the fulfilling experience of seeing the vast world. To head out and open new doors, see things you've never seen before and cherish them forever." The old man explained.

Riven's brows shot up. "You were a trainer before?"

"Yes. A long time ago. Pokeballs were expensive. Not nearly as cheap as they are today." He smiled, remembering his first day when he was ten. Naïve and young, ready to see the world. "Your first pokemon were your only pokemon. Most trainers never caught more than six, since they had no way of storing them, unlike today. My first was a Houndour. He was only a puppy when I got him, I was eight at the time."

Riven let out all of his pokemon, Aine lit a fire. The logs began to burn and his pokemon sat next to him near the fire.

The old man saw the boy's pokemon; an Absol, a Kirlia, and a Combusken. "Ah, a beautiful Absol. I can see she's a female, she has soft features and her bang is longer than most. And your Kirlia, he will become a strong Gallade, I trust?"

Riven nodded. "That is what he wants. Stronger is welcome."

"Good. And your Combusken will become a fierce and equally beautiful Blaziken. I can see it already. Strong team, most trainers would be jealous of such a strong line up this early in the gym circuit. Well done!"

Riven blinked. _This man knows pokemon. He even guessed Mischief was male. And that White Queen was a female just by looks alone. Impressive._ "Thank you, I guess."

"No need, I have no doubt in my mind that they will." The old man caught another Magikarp and skewered both fish, sticking the ends of the sticks in the ground, setting the fish to cook. "They look attached to you, very loyal. How long have you had them?"

"A little over a month."

"Such little time. You must have done something that impressed them. Especially your Absol. If she was wild… most dark types are distrustful of humans, to have one so attached to you in so little time is astounding."

"I saved them from Mightyena."

"Ah, I see why. She was a pup correct?"

"I assume so. Apparently she is a little on the small side so yes. I also saved him too." He pointed at the kirlia. "I found them together, the Mightyena pack was about to kill them. I stepped in and saved them. They stuck with me since then, and became my pokemon when I registered for the league."

The old man felt a warm feeling in his chest. "They must really look up to you. Don't disappoint them, young man."

"I will try my best." The young man said, then shifted awkwardly. "So, you mentioned you were a pokemon trainer?"

"Ah, yes." The old man gave him an affirmative closing of the eyes. "I started in Kanto. As I said before, my first pokemon was a Houndour. My father gave him to me after he nursed the poor thing back to health. He was a pokemon veterinarian and took care of injured wild pokemon. When I started my journey, me and my Houndour were already friends for two years. I received a Squirtle as a starter. Energetic little thing. I was ecstatic, I felt nothing could stop me. I later caught a Pidgey sometime later. They were my only three pokemon."

The old man looked up into the night sky and smiled. "Oh, the adventures we had. From Pewter to Viridian, to the magnificent Mt Moon, and even Rota. We traveled everywhere. Ten years on the road, meeting new faces and making friends and even rivals along the way. I earned five badges before I decided to just travel. I had seen many things, things I still remember clear as day even now. Wonderful."

The old man then frowned, eyes now sullen and sad. "But as all things come to an end. I had to face one of the hardest decisions of my life." Riven and his pokemon listened carefully, intrigued by the man's story. "My Pidgeot was growing restless. I knew what she wanted. She wanted to have Pidgeys of her own. I couldn't bring myself to catch another. I took her to a place where the Pidgey flocks gathered. I let her out of her ball, tears in my eyes." His eyes began to water. "I told her that she should start a family, that the time we spent together would never be forgotten. I told her I would remember her forever." He rubbed his eyes. "Then I let her go. It nearly broke me in two. She looked back at me as she flew away. She was crying too. I cried on my knees in that meadow for hours." A tear rolled down his cheek. "That was a long time ago. She probably has flocks of them by now. Possibly even grandchildren if it counts for pokemon. That was sixty years ago. I can still remember the sky when I would soar on her back, touching the clouds, flying amongst the birds."

He adjusted the Magikarp. Riven and his pokemon looked at the floor, staring at their feet.

The old man continued. "I continued after that. For eight more years. My pokemon were strong, a Houndoom and Blastoise now. No longer babies. I decided to head back to Pewter, my hometown." He paused for a while. "I headed through Mt Moon, near a beautiful lake. It was calm like the waters here. Then I heard a roar. It was a Tyranitar. It was angry and rampaging. It caught sight of me, and went after me in a fit of rage. I ran but it used earthquake and caused me to fall. My Houndoom was powerless against it. So my Blastoise fought it to save both of us. However, it was too strong for him. He used hydro pump and blasted a hole through the Tyranitar. It knew it was dead."

The old fisherman's eyes started to water again, his voice growing shaky. "My Blastoise screamed at us. Run, I could only assume. But I didn't want to leave. My Houndoom pulled my pants, dragging me while I screamed for him not to stay. But it was too late. The Tyranitar pinned him on his belly, and stood over him. It opened its mouth, and all I could see was yellow."

Riven's heart seemed to skip a beat_. Hyper Beam_.

"I closed my eyes, and heard an explosion. I stayed motionless there until the dust cleared. All that was left of him was a shell." The old man began to sob. "He was gone. Another gone. Lost. I raised him from the moment I received him, all those years ago. I watched him grow stronger. I watched him evolve. The pride I felt whenever he won and the amazement each time he evolved." Tears came down his wrinkled cheeks, splashing onto his white beard. "Then just like that, he was gone."

The old man wiped his tears away with a sleeve.

"I went back to Pewter. I was diagnosed with clinical depression. It took two years to finally get me out of my slump. I was miserable. I left for Fuschia city on business." A weak smile. "There I met my wife. She was from Hoenn before she moved to Kanto. Beautiful woman. We married a year later and she moved in with me in Pewter City. She had a Mightyena. It fell in love with my Houndoom and they had puppies. I gave them to my children as starters." He readjusted the Magikarp, tending the fire. "They all became trainers too, you see."

Riven was silent, not sure what to say. What could he say?

"We were happily married for twenty years. Then she went on a cruise near Cinnabar and a freakish storm caused the ship to be lost at sea. The search and rescue crews never found her. Her Mightyena, Mia, went down with her. I was devastated, as was my Houndoom. That was a funeral that was unbearable for me. I stayed at her tombstone for days on end sometimes." He shook his head. "After her death, I moved to Hoenn. Dewford was her birthplace. So I moved here, as you see. Me and my Houndoom were old. We no longer had the energy we once did, we couldn't battle anymore. His flames weren't strong like they were. Our legs couldn't carry us to far off places like they used to. Age had caught up."

The light of the fire illuminated his face, highlighting the worn face of a man who'd lived a troubled life. Riven felt sympathy for the old man. He knew what it was like,to lose someone. The pain was like a blade, stabbing you in the heart and cleaving your soul in two.

"For ten years we stayed here. It was a quiet existence. I missed my wife and I still called my children, who are now dedicated and strong trainers in their own right. We sat on the porch and looked out at the waves every day. Time passed by, slowly but surely." His eyes grew more watery than they had before. His lips started to tremble. "Then one day, he didn't wake up. I poked him and shook him. Wake up! Wake up, I yelled. But he didn't move." The old man became a sobbing mess. Bib was overcome with emotion, tears leaking out of his eyes too. Haona and Aine had no words. Riven was silent as well.

"He left me too…I was…alone again." He breathed deeply, trying to compose himself. "I still have his bowl at home. I refill it with food every day. I look to the side of the bed and he isn't there. I wish he was." He began crying again, sniffling and sobbing loudly. His tears came down his face, a river of drops. "Fishing was his favorite thing to do. We would sit out on the beach and fish in the afternoons. He would light fires and we would eat Magikarp, watching the sunset and the waves." He held his face with his calloused hands. "That's why I still do it, as a tribute to him." His eyes were swollen and red. "Now I eat the Magikarp alone, I miss him so much…" The old fisherman took off his hat, tears falling and absorbing into the straw. "I buried him on the cliff, overlooking the water. That way he can see me every day, if he wants to."

He stayed there for a bit. Crying silently. Haona and Aine were crying too. Seeing the old man tell his story was heartbreaking. He recovered some time later, after tears had dried. "Anyway, the fish are done." He took them out of the fire and handed one to Riven. The young man took it and cut some fillets for his pokemon. He knew no words could ease this man's pain, not after what he had just heard. He tried his best.

"Sorry. Truly." The man had lived with tragedy. Worsened with time. Now he was alone. His friends and family were gone, Riven understood. He didn't have anyone either. Not anymore.

The old man sighed, voice still shaky. "It's fine. I'm just glad that today, I have someone to share the fish with. Thank you trainer, for listening to an old man grieve."

Riven bit into his Magikarp. He wrote down his holo caster number on a slip of paper. He gave it to the old man. "If you ever need to talk, I will listen. You have suffered enough, that does not mean you have to live the rest of your life alone. I know how life is too. People left me as well."

The old man held the paper and broke down again. "Thank you, trainer. For hearing me out. No one has ever done that before. In years. Your Absol… she reminds me so much of him."

Riven nodded, looking down at his feet, holding back tears. "My name is Riven Cerul. Call me anytime you feel lonely."

"I'm Samuel. Samuel Bloom." Both men bit into their Magikarp. "But enough with my sob story, eh? I want to show you something that only happens in this part of the island. Snuff out the flames please."

Riven did. At first, they were left in total darkness. But after a few seconds, the water began to glow. The waves shone a fluorescent cyan, dimming and blooming again as the water reached the shore and pulled back again.

"How?" Riven stuttered. "That is… amazing."

The old man smiled. "Bacteria in the waves produce a protein that makes them glow. Colonies of them grow near the shore, making the waves glow at night. I discovered it with my Houndoom a couple years back." He paused. "When I look at it, I imagine this is what the ocean must look like on the other side. I just hope I can go there soon. To reunite with my friends and family, and be with my pokemon again."

"I hope you will, once your time in this world is done." Riven replied, wishing the man the best.

"Well, we should head back now. I need to sleep and you need to get some rest to battle Brawly tomorrow I assume. He's a very pleasant young man." The fisherman pointed out.

Riven agreed and helped the old man carry his fishing materials back to town. The old man led him to a small cottage near the edge of town. He went inside and placed his rod and bait on the man's wooden table. The young man noticed a bowl near the door, full of food. The bowl had an engraved name on it: _Ajax_. He looked away, facing Samuel.

"Thank you, Riven…I want you to have something." He walked over to a closet and pulled out a rod and line. "I want you to have this old rod. In case you ever want to do some fishing. That's all I can give you for listening to my sad story. Remember your pokemon, they'll be with you forever."

Riven took the rod, graciously bowing his head slightly in respect. "Thank you, Samuel. Take care of yourself. I will come visit you some time. I promise." He left the cottage, leaving the old man in his home.

Back inside the pokemon center, he fell onto his bed. He looked up at the moon, it was full and white, without a single cloud in the sky to disturb it. He undid the cloth around his eye.

A single tear fell as he closed his eyes.

_Samuel. I hope you find what you are looking for._

He fell asleep, feeling strangely at peace. His pokemon followed suit, still heartfelt from the fisherman's story.

* * *

**A/N**

**I had pre-written this chapter already along with the previous one, so most of it was done by the time i submitted Fire and Brimstone.**

**Also, i thought the way the player character received the fishing rods in the games were kind of lame. I always pictured the men fishing near the shore in Dewford to be old men, retiring from the world. It doesn't make sense that they just go OH HERE YOU GO SON HAVE A FISHING ROD HUR DUR.**

**Eon Fable and A Beginner's Guide to pokemon are actually real fanfiction works on this site. Check those out if you haven't already.**


	14. Cave Crawling

A gentle whisper of waves came in from the windows of the pokemon center. The sun was rising and casting its brilliant light upon the gentle waters near Dewford. The town itself was still asleep, too early for humans and pokemon to be up. The air was quiet and the breeze was cool and mild, white clouds visible in the sky, moving slowly along with the wind.

Riven and his pokemon were awake, filling their stomachs with food. Today they were going to challenge Brawly, the Dewford Town gym leader. Still far too early for the gym to open, the trainer and his pokemon sat on the beach once more, directly in front of the pokemon center. The waves were calm, just as they were last night. The horizon was a wondrous sight, sending calming signals to him and his pokemon.

Riven sat there and stared out at the rising sun. _No nightmares tonight_. He had slept perfectly fine, something he had not been able to do in a long time. No cold sweat or shivers, no hair standing up on the back of his neck. Nothing. It felt strange….not dreaming. He was perfectly fine with not having nightmares, they certainly weren't the best thing in the world. Far from it, actually. He stood up, stretching his body. He had time to himself and there was hardly anyone else on the beach.

_Might as well. I need to have a clear mind today, _Riven thought as he practiced sword's dance in the sand with his pokemon. Considering that Brawly's gym was a fighting type gym, his companions would need to know how to counter and dodge moves at close range.

White Queen was a dark type, and as such, she would be the most susceptible to their fighting type moves. She was at a disadvantage and had no super effective moves against the fighters. He did have Mischief though. _He can cause the most damage, being a psychic type. Fighting moves will do minimal damage to him and he can teleport across the stage while blasting them with psychic. Relying on him alone would be a mistake, though. _

Always have a secondary strategy in case the primary one fails. Things almost never went how someone wanted them. He learned that from the numerous amount of times plans went bad and landed him and the rest of his fellow unfortunate bastards in nasty situations.

Practicing for three hours, he went back to the center and bathed. Exiting the center while shaking his wet hair, he looked across to the gym. There was a damn line of trainers that extended out into the beach, waiting to get a shot at Brawly. He had seen nearly all of them on the ship and instantly gave up on the thought of challenging the Knuckle Badge leader. There was no way in hell that he would be able to fight him today. Brawly took on three challenges daily. There was about fifty people lined up to fight him. That meant that it would be about three weeks before he could even have a chance.

Disappointed, he plopped down on a chair in the pokemon center. Nurse Joy looked at him oddly. "Hey, why so down today?"

Riven peered up at her.

"Brawly fights three people a day. There is fifty or more people lined up in front of the gym, and here I am." _Fuck_.

Nurse Joy made a face and tried to reassure him. "Well, you can train a little more then. It doesn't hurt to be more prepared!" She cheerfully smiled and went back to her work. "Dewford is great for training and improving your focus! There's also plenty to do around here if you feel adventurous."

_She does have a point. The travel guide said that there was a cave around here where stone collectors find evolution stones. Perhaps I can find a dawn stone in there?_ The young man stood up, mind made up. He turned to his pokemon, who were currently in the process of grooming themselves. "We are going to Granite Cave. I want to see if I will be able to secure myself a dawn stone for this one here." The Kirlia's eyes went wide and he twirled a bit, clearly excited. Aine stopped washing fire over her feathers and White Queen stopped licking her paws.

"Onward!" He proclaimed, and marched out of the center with pokemon in tow.

The cave was on the edge of the island, more or less on the rocky side of the place, surrounded by rock and hard ground instead of sandy shore. Riven was surprised to find a small forest around the cave, carefully obscuring the cave from view. It had taken him quite a bit of time to find, before he caught a glimpse of a dark opening and headed in its direction. There were no signs next the entrance or anything. No shoe prints or dirt trails. Completely deserted. That was…odd. The entrance was tiny. Tiny enough to hardly call it a proper cave mouth.

The inside was pitch black and wet, the sound of dripping water reaching his ears. Riven just hoped he would not fall through time again and end up somewhere even more confusing. On the flip side, it would suck if he went _back_.

Aine shot forth a burst of fire to light a makeshift torch that he had made in preparation for this expedition. The orange glow of the torch revealed the immediate surroundings. Rock everywhere. Well, it was a cave. What the hell was he expecting? A valley of flowers and clouds?

The group walked further in, a little claustrophobic feeling welling up inside all of them. The walls were getting progressively narrower. Continuing further, they felt a slight breeze to the right and squeezed through an extremely tight opening in the walls. All four of them gaped at the sight of what they just discovered. This was not Granite Cave. This was a completely unexplored cave.

Maybe.

Crystals glowed from the inside, a pale blue color emanating from them. Spears of blue hung from the ceiling, looking dangerously ready to fall and impale someone foolish enough to step under them. Even the floor was lined with the shiny mineral, producing a glass like crunch whenever it was stepped on. All four of them were entranced by the magnificence of the cave. They walked along the edges, seeing more tunnels leading further in. The strange part was that these tunnels looked nothing like natural tunnels or even tunnels made by pokemon.

_What the hell is this place?_ Riven questioned, looking at more crystal filled rooms. After an hour of heading further into the cave, Riven and his pokemon exited a single tunnel and slipped, falling downward.

"Oh, fuck!"

Riven rolled down the slope, feeling sharp crystals cutting his exposed skin, leaving cuts and scrapes along his arms and face. He finally stopped and saw White Queen and Aine skid down on their feet. They were fine. Mischief was right next to him, having teleported as soon as he slipped.

The trainer picked himself up with a groan, looking like a complete mess. His black pants were stained, his vest was dirty, his hair disheveled, and his arms cut up and bleeding. Ignoring the several cuts on his arms, he looked up. He had fallen in quite a large distance down. The spot where he slipped was hardly visible. At least the crystals provided light. He could see fine in the dark but the light made it easier regardless.

"Now where are we?" His pokemon all shook their heads, seemingly as lost as he was. There was one huge tunnel, with blue light coming from the end. "Should we?" Riven asked, his paranoia was screaming at him to just pick up his shit and go. Right. As if he could magically appear all the way up there again. It was go forward and find an exit or die, or try to climb back up and _still _die. The first seemed a bit more appealing.

He approached the light filled entrance and slowly reached out, trying to see if anything would attack him when he got closer. His pokemon were right behind him, tiptoeing cautiously.

Riven had a sinking feeling the rest of them were using him as a shield in case things got nasty. It was difficult to think that they'd leave him to the elements and dip, but he was pretty sure they weren't above it. Riven was always preaching survival over honor anyway, it was time to see if he would take his own advice.

All four of them stepped through the light, appearing inside the biggest crystal room in the cave thus far. It was pretty large, twice the size of a pokemon center itself. The most astounding part however, was a small pool with a single spear-like pole coming out of it. On the tip of the spear sat a perfectly spherical blue orb. It had markings and lines running along it, glowing white in contrast to the enrapturing sheen of azure. He wanted to touch it.

But decided against it. It was placed much too perfectly. Whoever made that, it was obviously man made, nature did not conveniently place a pole in the middle of a room holding a seemingly important object. Trap. Trap. Trap. It was until he sat in front of it for a good ten minutes that he figured to hell with it.

_Probably dead anyway, might as well._ He picked up the sphere, removing it from its place with a clink. The sphere glowed brightly and Riven was out cold.

Haona saw him drop and nudged him with her head. Bib put his head near his trainer's heart, listening for a beat. He heard a steady pumping and gave Haona and Aine a relieved nod. _"He's fine. Just unconscious. Must be that orb he picked up."_ The three pokemon stared at the blue and white orb, which was still glowing rather brightly. Bib prodded it with a finger, surprised to see it fail to react to him.

_"You think it's showing him something?"_ The Combusken speculated, seeing her trainer's left eye move from right to left under his eyelid.

Haona continued staring down at the human, still a bit worried. _"Whatever it is, someone put it here. But who? Seriously, there's no pokemon or people down here. It's possible we're the first ones to come in here in a long time."_ The cave felt different from the moment they set foot inside. It felt…..ancient and untouched. The sphere in the middle felt even more so.

All three pokemon stared at the orb in Riven's hand.

Images flashed through Riven's mind as he lay unconscious. A man and a woman could be seen walking into the cave, speaking in an unintelligible language. They walked through the cave, before coming to the large room he was currently in. They spoke to each other, faces filled with determination. They were armed and had long flowing robes with similar markings to those on the sphere. Setting the jewel in its place, the pair walked in front of it, speaking to it in a strange tongue. The orb glowed white and locked itself in place.

Both held each other in an embrace for a brief moment, and it looked like the woman was crying.

The two headed past the pole and exited through a crystal staircase behind a large crystal formation. Stepping outside, they left through a carved door, depicting strange pictures of something that looked like men fighting each other. He saw an image of them placing another one of the orbs in the spherical groove outside the door, locking it in place. They turned back and the image faded.

Riven awoke to two pairs of red eyes and one orange. Aine lifted him up. Dusting himself off, he muttered to himself. "That was weird. You would think that these things would show you some pretty amazing things. But no." It only showed him how to get out. And some strange people. They could be _anyone_. He had never seen or heard of them back in his time, he assumed they came after his …time. It sucked, not knowing whether these things were older or younger than you.

_Compared to everything else, I am a walking artifact._ He thought to himself, amused by the irony of the situation. In fact, it would kind of sting if he was technically older than most of this crap. Pocketing the small blue orb, he searched around for an exit. He went around the room, climbing onto crystals and falling, repeatedly.

Haona, Bib, and Aine just stared. They snickered every time he fell. Bib and Haona were making bets as to how many times he would fall. Aine just ignored them and continued snickering at her trainer's failures. The human fell again.

_"How many times do you think he's going to fall on his ass?"_ Haona asked Bib, who had a hand over his mouth, having just witnessed their trainer fall four feet straight down onto his bottom.

_"I don't know but I hope it goes on for some time!"_ The mischievous little psychic giggled.

Riven turned around, sick of hearing the snickers of his pokemon. "QUIET, YOU EVIL CREATURES. STOP LAUGHING AT MY MISFORTUNES! I AM YOUR TRAINER." The trainer yelled, frustrated with his futile attempts at finding an exit. He had forgotten where the exit was, he was too distracted with what the people in the vision were wearing. Glowing clothes were pretty cool, honestly.

His pokemon heard his outburst and finally hollered in laughter. Annoyed, Riven climbed onto the tallest crystal and looked over to the other side. There was an exit! Jumping down from the crystal he frowned and waited a moment for his pokemon to calm down. Once their childish laughter subsided, he finally announced, " I found an exit. Right behind there." He pointed one finger at the large crystal formation, a triumphant look on his face.

Walking up to the formation, he tried pulling away a bit of rock from the cave wall, the space was much too tight to squeeze through at the moment. Although it was a bit useless, considering it was solid damn rock. "Dammit. I do not want to ruin my blades by trying to slash through this thing." He got an idea. "Aine, kick the living hell out of this crystal."

She cried loudly and absolutely _pummeled_ the mineral. It was causing quite the stir. Riven, Haona, and Bib had to cover their ears. When she was done, the crystal was now in pieces. About to say something, the ex soldier held his tongue, hearing a discomforting rumble. He swore that it sounded like a cave collapse.

"The hell was that?"

The rumbling got louder. Was it- No, no doubt about it, it _was_ a cave collapse. Dust began to fall from the ceiling. The entire cave shook and suddenly, the crystal protrusions on the ceiling looked a little more delighted to give them a big, spiky hug. They fell like spears, nearly impaling Mischief who just managed to teleport away. Riven shouted, "RUN. GO, GO, GO!"

The four ran into the tunnel and upwards at full sprint, coming to something cold and very solid. Catching his breath, Riven ordered Aine to breathe out a puff of flame, orange light illuminating the door he saw in the vision. It looked exactly the same, having no signs of weathering or rusting.

"Whoa. The markings look exactly the same as the ones on the orb. Whoever made this designed it to be quite the sturdy object." He tapped the metal, left eye surveying the strange markings on the door. He was not telling Steven about this. He would probably lose it and come down here straight away. Riven wanted his own concerns resolved _first_. He could care less about that blue haired Devon CEO. What was a CEO anyway?

He fished around inside his bag for the little blue thing, and inserted it inside the slot. The door shined and seemed to fade, leaving only the orb floating behind. Riven was now _sure_ that this was sorcery. Modern technology was fascinating but this seemed supernatural. The door _faded_. Doors just do _not _do that.

Taking the orb back, the door suddenly reappeared, startling all four of them. They turned around, only to feel like they were being watched. Then they heard little squeaks. Then _lots_ of them. Not good.

The cave was much darker this time. Even Riven's eyes had difficulty seeing what was making that noise. Whatever it was, it was less than pleased. Slowly and softly whispering to his Combusken, he held up another torch. " Aine, light the torch, then shoot some embers straight ahead." She lit the torch. The light showed nothing. The group failed to notice a small group of winged pokemon behind them, clearly aggravated. The fire type blasted forth more flames, which flared outwards, revealing scores and scores of purple bat creatures.

_More hordes of pokemon. Great._ All three of his pokemon and him stood in place, sweating nervously. Zubats. The bane of cave explorers everywhere. They also sucked blood. He had ignored a warning that a snotty kid had given him back in Petalburg.

_Hey, you're gonna go cave exploring some time right? Well! If you do that then you better pack some repels. Zubat and Golbat are CRAZY when it comes to people disturbing them. You can't even walk three steps without getting attacked! Oh and they suck blood, so you better get some good quality repels or you're screwed. See ya around old man!_ Little son of a bitch. He called Riven an old man the entire time he was homeless in the park. The worst part was trying to sleep with his damned teasing. The kid was annoying. He had shrugged off his warning, thinking that it was not as bad as the kid made it out to be. Seeing the walls lined with the bat pokemon kind of made him wish he should have just swallowed his ego and bought some repels.

Hindsight really was perfect.

The light from the torch awoke the Zubat and they uncoiled themselves from each other, screeching loudly. Suddenly every single bat in that narrow pass was staring directly at them, even without eyes. Silence remained for a few seconds before the Zubat horde let out an ear piercing cry all at once.

Riven sighed. "Really?"

* * *

A backpacker was resting outside of Granite Cave when he heard screaming. A black haired young man with a white splotch on the right side ran out flailing his arms about like a mad man. An Absol, a Combusken, and a Kirlia also shot forth, flailing about just as ridiculously as their trainer. Hordes of Zubat were swarming the poor group. The nocturnal creatures eventually realized that they were getting hit by the sun and quickly went back inside the cave. The young man was finally left alone, twitching and waving his arms up in the air, muttering something under his breath. He continued sputtering for sometime, which amused the backpacker.

"Why does this always…son of….I hate bats….no repel….." The younger trainer murmured. Then he turned back toward the cave. "FUCK YOU. AND YOUR SHIT, ZUBAT!" He picked up a rock and flung it into the cave mouth, then fell back onto the floor again, staring up at the sky.

The backpacker was speechless, he couldn't speak from how hard he was laughing. It was a silent laugh not a rambunctious hollering. Composing himself, he spoke to the younger trainer, who looked like a Krookodile had death rolled him. He was cut up, bruised and dirty. He also had bite marks freaking everywhere. His pokemon were no better, looking dusty and bitten as well.

"Heh heh, that was funny to watch."

The boy's head lifted slightly, staring at him. "Wha?"

"Nothing. It was just funny seeing you come out of that cave and scream like a little girl." He started to chuckle again. " 'Sides, how did you get the biggest horde of Zubats I've ever seen to attack you like that?"

"I have no idea. I seem to attract hordes of pokemon everywhere. First Scyther, then Ariados, and now Zubat. What is next?!" The boy complained, lifting his arms into the air before letting them plop back down on the floor.

"A Scyther and an Ariados swarm attacked you?" The backpacker was stunned. How wasn't this kid dead yet? Those were _deadly_ pokemon, even for experienced trainers. Hordes of Zubats couldn't compare to the lethality of a small Scyther swarm.

"Oh, yeah. The Scyther attacked on my first day as a pokemon trainer, on route 101. The Ariados attacked in Petalburg Woods when I got lost and tried to find an exit while ignoring a warning sign." He concluded quickly, playing off the fact that he had been hospitalized for a week following the Scyther attack and nearly died. The second one was his fault though.

"You must be made of some pretty strong stuff then, considering you're not dead. That means we're gonna have us a battle!" The backpacker took out a pokeball, and threw it up in the air, revealing a Graveler.

"GRAV!"

Riven sighed, telling Aine to take this battle. "Beat him into the ground, please. I will just-" The backpacker sputtered as the trainer immediately fell asleep on the ground, finding the rocky ground as comfortable as a bed after his Zubat ordeal.

His Combusken utterly smashed the backpacker's team, happily beating his rock types into the ground with double kicks and low sweeps. She was a jittery one and was full of energy. He sighed. Well, this was a largely fighting type dominated area. His rock types were at a huge disadvantage. His attempts with Brawly went over about as well as trying to put out a forest fire with a spoon of water. That Hariyama was tough as heck.

Staring at the sleeping trainer, he asked his pokemon, "Can any of you wake him up?" He didn't want to accidentally wake him up and get punched. That happened to him before, when he tried to wake up a buddy he was traveling with to Mt Coronet. Black eyes weren't very good for his face. Or his devilishly good looks. Mostly.

The trainer's Absol replied with a curt, "Sol." She trotted over to Riven and stomped a paw onto his stomach. The boy shot up, gasping for air. White Queen turned around and gave the backpacker a blank reply before walking back alongside Bib. Their trainer looked pretty pissed. He was leering at them, until his Absol stuck a tongue out at him.

"YOU! GAH! DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO WAKE ME UP VIOLENTLY?" He shouted at his dark type, who was looking at her claws. She certainly had an attitude. Professors often told starting trainers _not_ to catch dark types unless they were ready or experienced enough to handle their behavior. Many dark types found it humorous to hurt their trainers or act obnoxious. Dark type trainers had to be very patient but it was well rewarded, dark types were powerful in their own right. The boy stood up and ruffled his Absol's fur, "Stupid woman." She headbutted him in the stomach, sending him lurching over.

The backpacker smiled. He couldn't get interaction like that from his pokemon. They were rocks. They just….stood there. If they ever tried, they would probably break his wrist. The other guy recovered from the headbutt and cleared his throat.

"Wait. What happened to the battle?" He asked, a little lost and drowsy. His Combusken jumped into the air, making kicking motions. Then his Kirlia pointed at the backpacker and made a fist and an open palm. He closed the palm around the fist with a simple, "Kirl, kirlia." It roughly translated to,_ combusken just curb stomped his team._ The black haired trainer mouthed an 'oh' and turned back to the backpacker.

"I fell asleep during the match, that was fairly rude of me." The backpacker shrugged and brushed it off.

"No problem. I'm sure you must be tired after cave exploring anyway. I've been in plenty of caves myself, it gets me worn out pretty quick. 'Specially if you have a crazy horde of Zubats after you." He laughed whole heartedly. "Well, want to have some lunch? You look pretty beat up."

Riven was a bit cautious, naturally, it was not a good idea to trust strangers. Although, this guy seemed friendly enough. He _was_ hungry. No, not hungry, more like starving. "Sounds good."

Both men and their pokemon sat around some rocks, eating some vegetable and berry soup. It was delicious. Actually, any meal was mostly delicious if you hadn't eaten in a while and got chased by angry pokemon out of a dark cave at high speed. The backpacker was named Benjamin Thern. Apparently he was originally from the Sinnoh region.

"Benjamin, why did you stay in Hoenn?" Riven asked, curious as to why he would leave his homeland behind.

"Ben is fine. I didn't stay in Hoenn on purpose. I came here to visit a girl I was dating a while ago and purchased a one way ticket on accident. I didn't have enough money to go back so I stayed in Hoenn. That was roughly three months ago, I think. She broke it off two months in, apparently she was into girls but never told me," the backpacker explained. "I had _ideas_ and she didn't like sharing. Could have been a wonderful experience. Shame."

Riven eyed him dubiously. "What have you been doing this whole time then? Do you not have enough money to go back?"

"Ah, I thought since I was in this predicament, I should go explore more of Hoenn. Unfortunately, I keep getting stuck with ferry mix ups. I was supposed to head to Slateport from route 104 but ended up here in Dewford instead. I don't mind too much though, this place is tranquility incarnate."

"Not going to challenge Brawly, then?"

"Well, I did. And I got smashed. Rock vs fighting is a bad matchup for my pokes, unfortunately. I'm a casual pokemon trainer. I'm more focused on the travel part than the battle part. I like seeing new places, you know? Battling is just a side thing."

"I see."

"Enough about me though, what about you? What's your name?" Ben asked, wondering what this trainer's story was.

Riven mentally paused. He had to think of something. If he said what he did with Steven, Ben would think he was a lunatic, just like everyone else he told his story to. "My name is Gray. I grew up in uh, Littleroot. I became a trainer about two or so months ago."

Ben was surprised. "You have an Absol and a Kirlia in less than two months? Either Daddy's rich or you're something else."

"No daddy here. Or mommy. They died when I was young."

"Oh, sorry. That was uncalled for." Ben looked a bit down now. He didn't want the trainer to relive any memories if there were any. Lots of people lost their parents, they were never the same. Some of them went insane, others just became depressed and shut down. Being from Sinnoh… he could only imagine.

Riven held a hand up, dismissing the comment. " No sense fretting over something that already happened…it just makes a person bitter and hateful. That hate can….consume you."

"Ah, well, I'm still curious as to how you got an Absol and a Kirlia so quickly. I can assume that Combusken is your starter?"

"Correct. I saved both of them from a Mightyena attack." Before Ben could ask, Riven pulled out one of his blades and unsheathed it. He looked at the backpacker with a stern face. "I did what I had to. I did not want to see them die, not to a sadistic pack like that. I grew up with Mightyena. I know when they display sadistic tendencies. They tasted human blood before. Had to be done."

Ben averted his gaze from the blade, a very rare sight in today's time. He had heard of the Kanto smiths but he never imagined he would see a genuine blade, much less one that had already drawn blood. Looking at the trainer across from him, he looked odd. Like he didn't belong. It was similar to when you tried talking to an old timer about their time. It was the same feeling, but one hundred times worse. He could tell this guy lived through some serious stuff. He didn't ask though, it was probably a sensitive topic. "Well, I don't blame you. If pokemon wanted to kill me, I'd sure try my best to kill 'em back. 'Specially with what happened in Sinnoh recently." He shivered slightly. Ben smiled, lightly reaching over and patting Riven on the shoulder. The trainer tensed, but otherwise didn't react.

Riven hardly cared much for what happened in another region, let alone this one, so he neglected to ask. He was apathetic about most things in general, really. He just wanted to find out what in the hell happened to him and go travel or something. He still felt pretty lost, truth be told. He had no idea what to do or what he wanted to become. Becoming the champion seemed like something everyone wanted to do but it never particularly struck his interest..

"Berry stew, huh?" Riven remarked, tasting sweet pecha in the broth. He had a bit of a sweet tooth, and pecha berries were a weakness of his. Bland food was common when trying to survive in the wild, as well as the army he was a part of, so sweets were a rare treat. Shit, anything with a flavor was a rarity.

"Yup. It's a traveler's go to wilderness food. Take a pot, heat up some water, put some berries in and presto! You got a meal," Ben said, stuffing a spoonful of the stuff into his mouth. Killing pokemon was a crime in Hoenn, unless the pokemon was known for killing people. As long as it wasn't on the main routes, hunting was fine.

He had heard stories about Hoenn's lethality when it came to the wilderness though. It had many pokemon capable of killing people, and had comparatively more wilderness than city compared to other regions. That's why most people steered clear from the wilds there. He figured this Gray guy just grew up in some really obscure place.

"Meat tastes better," Riven stated, not giving two hells about stupid modern laws. He got chewed up for it by Amy, before her stomach betrayed her and tempted her over to the dark side. "Surviving on berries is a horrible existence after a while.

"You hunt on the main routes? Don't pokemon rangers come after you?" Not only was this guy armed and dangerous, but he had blatant disregard for laws too. Granted, this wasn't Sinnoh. The new laws back there were pretty strict, almost on par with Unova's. Hoenn was a lot more laid back, considering they were all _one with nature_ and stuff.

"If they did, I'd knock them out and be on my way. Not too difficult." A single dark brown eye stared back into Ben's. "And someone has to report you first. Split a kill with a hungry trainer and they will rethink that. Done it already with a girl near Petalburg."

_Ok, maybe inviting him to lunch was a bad idea._ Trying not to make things awkward, Ben asked a generic, but straight forward question. "What are going to do, Gray?"

The other trainer made a fist and rested his chin on it, "Hmmm. I have been wondering that myself. For one… challenge Brawly and get my second badge. Then head to Mauville, visit a friend and then head to Forina." He motioned to his Kirlia, who was lazily sitting on a stump and floating food to his mouth, _again_. "I heard there are dawn stones there."

Ben was once again, stunned. "Forina? The dawn caves right?"

"I guess?" He really had no idea. Steven told him so he just figured he would find out when he got there. People kept telling him to get a flying pokemon because climbing was too hard. _Tsk, what a bunch of girls. As if a little cliffs will deter me. _He expected Ben to ask if he had a flying type with him.

"Do you have a flying type?"

_There it is._ Riven shook his head.

"Are you fucking insane?"

_Mhmm._ "That depends on the day," Riven grinned. He was starting to enjoy this. He finished the last of his soup. "Thanks for the meal, Ben."

Ben was a little _more_ than just unnerved at this point. He had a potentially insane guy with blades in front of him that seemed delighted in making people squirm. Dangerous? Certainly. He stuck his hands into his pack and pulled out some money, in fear that Gray would skewer him with that sword. "I umm….forgot to pay you for beating me."

Riven shrugged, "I _did_ fall asleep during the battle, so technically it was not _my_ battle. Right?" He grinned. Skirting loopholes in laws was always fun. Besides, the man's ragged appearance showed the horrible signs of poverty and in general homelessness. Or maybe it was just being a again, he didn't look much different at the moment. Riven looked like he fell in a dust pit, rolled around in it, and slept on a bed of glass.

Ben's lips pulled into a half smile. "You conniving bastard. You just love giving the finger to authority don't you?"

"What can I say? I hate it when people try to control me."

"I can tell you're going to go somewhere, Gray. Maybe not the pokemon League, but somewhere. Well, aren't you going to challenge Brawly? What're you waiting for, man?"

"There is about fifty trainers waiting in line at this current moment, it will be about three damn weeks before I can even get a shot at the badge. So here I am, cave exploring. You saw how that went." Scyther be damned, he hated zubats more than anything now. They were nasty, ugly, and they sucked your blood. At least Scyther just wanted you dead. He could live with that. They also were not creepy.

Ben laughed, still picturing Gray's face as he tried getting the Zubat off him, swinging his arms around like a flailing Magikarp.

"You're picturing me in one of my biggest lowlight moments of my life are you not?" The backpacker broke out into hysterical laughter, confirming Riven's guess. Even Riven's pokemon were vastly unamused.

Haona was a proud Absol. She couldn't possibly stand being ridiculed by another human. She went over and bit Ben in the shin before regally, and _dramatically_, turning away with her head held high. He unleashed a barrage of curses and rubbed his leg, surprised by her attitude.

"You deal with that on a daily basis?"

Riven nodded, "Pretty much. She acts like a real human girl. The bratty kind. But she is really soft underneath all that. I named her White Queen because she reminds me of those stuck up Queens that just _love_ to push people around." He always hated higher ups. They needed to be brought down a notch. Or two. Or three.

Ben only shook his head, grinning at the sight of such an unorthodox team. An insane and potentially dangerous trainer, a lazy Kirlia, an energetic Combusken, and a regal Absol that bullied the insane one. It made no sense. But hey, he'd seen even more dysfunctional teams before. The champion of his region started off with a team that half wanted to kill each other at first. He only had a Graveler and a Shieldon. Rock pokemon weren't high maintenance at all, and seemed to lack the more obnoxious personalities.

He and Gray exchanged numbers. Even though Ben thought Gray was a little crazy, he seemed like a pretty chill guy after spending a large part of the day talking with him. They bid each other farewell and headed back to town.

* * *

Riven walked through the doors of the pokemon center, feeling a bit tired. Not hungry at least, but rather exhausted. Ben had been a pleasant fellow. He was not an asshole and reminded him of Amy, another trainer he had encountered that was not a complete cunt. Irritating perhaps, but tolerable and amiable for the most part.

He froze as he noticed Joy's face. She stomped out of the reception desk and stopped in front of him. She shook him, _hard_. Riven could intimidate most people, but not Nurse Joy. She was scarier than most men when she was angry, and she certainly scared him.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, YOUNG MAN? YOU LOOK TERRIBLE! TELL ME THIS INSTANT!" She demanded, drawing attention from the other trainers in the center. She was shaking the boy violently at this point. His head bobbed back and forth, shaking some dust loose from his hair.

"I uh...er…fell?" He replied weakly. Joy looked appalled at the pathetic attempt of an excuse. While not technically a lie, it wasn't the whole truth either.

"YOU FELL? YOU LOOK LIKE YOU GOT TRAMPLED BY A HERD OF TAUROS!" She exclaimed, checking his torn up arms and face. "You need to go wash up as soon as I take care of these cuts and scrapes. What in Arceus' name were you doing?"

"I went cave exploring and I kind of…fell." Her glare demanded truth. "Really far down?" The glare was still there. "About fifty feet?" He continued before Joy could shake him again."Then I got attacked by the biggest horde of Zubats I have _ever_ seen." He swore that most of the trainers in the center were snickering at that comment. _Everyone_ knew about Zubats and caves, except this idiot.

"_He didn't have any repels_," whispered a kid to his friend who was snickering alongside him. Riven shot them a menacing glare that promised bloody murder. The kids took off to their room, still laughing at him.

"Oh, my. Granite Cave can get dangerous, it isn't the first time that it had a cave collapse. Some people have died in there. Be careful!" She scolded him in the medical room, while subsequently dumping alcohol on his arms. He howled like a wounded Mightyena.

Slightly irritated at the fact that he was just man handled by Nurse Joy, he set his clothes to go wash in the wash room and went to shower.

One day down, twenty more to go.

After three weeks of training and preparation, Riven was finally able to get a shot at Brawly. He was a bit nervous at first, hearing disconcerting stories from disappointed trainers about how brutal Brawly's pokemon were. So, generally, he had a right to be wary. After all, only ten of the fifty trainers that had come to challenge him had succeeded.

The gym had been laughably easy. He just used Mischief, who was easily able to sweep most of Brawly's team with psychic and confusion. The only problem had been that damn Medicham. He used White Queen for that since Aine would have a weakness to its psychic and Mischief knew no non-psychic moves. She was able to get a good mega horn in after locking the Medicham's feet in ice.

The surfer handed him the Knuckle Badge and told him something unintelligible about a giant wave something or other. He was unable to decipher Brawly's supposed 'bro' talk, it was like an entirely new language. He just stood there, stupidly nodded his head and smiled when it seemed appropriate.

Proud of his newly earned badge, he supposed he should head to the docks to buy a ticket for Slateport City. With luck, the trainer would be able to get on today and arrive in Slateport a week later.

Unfortunately, as all things went when it came to his dear good fortune, it turned out that the ferry for the seaside city was not scheduled to arrive until _two_ bloody weeks from now. Which meant he had to stay on Dewford for another two weeks. Paying rent every day for fourteen more days was a definite _no_. It was going to be two weeks of homeless wilderness sleeping from here on out. It was not that horrible. He preferred the sounds of the waves and the night, they were soothing and all.

He spent the next two weeks residing in Brawly's gym, watching him battle trainers that were rematching him in hopes of winning a knuckle badge. Some of them put up great fights and lost by a hair, while others had crippling type advantages that Brawly's pokemon simply pulverized. An interesting match was against Sinnohan trainer named Seab with a Lucario. It fought well and managed to beat the gym leader's Hariyama for the win. It kept oddly staring at Riven though, sneaking judging glances at him like he was some sort of demonic creature. _Is it something on my face? What is that thing's problem with me?_

White Queen growled back, prompting the Lucario to turn away. Now that he noticed the Lucario's behavior, he remembered that the Medicham also looked at him that way, eyes full of hostility. What was up with that?

Brawly would often talk to him after the gym battles, surprisingly wise. Despite his near code like bro speech, he gave genuinely sound advice. He also told Riven to shorten his words more so he didn't sound like a high born snob. Brawly's way of telling Riven to loosen up involved many mentions of waves and "feeling the flow".

Apparently, he was more wound up than a Whismur at night. It took him a week to get used to it but he had started to use contractions quite often as a result. They made it easier to communicate and made him seem more normal, something Brawly also suggested him to do, since he had a face that could scare children.

Riven had to admit that Brawly also wasn't such a bad person either. In fact, he was much like Ben. They were understanding and pleasant to be around. Just like with Roxanne, he gave a farewell to the fighting type gym leader and a promise of a rematch. Before he left for the ferry, he made sure to pay one last visit to old man Samuel. The old man hugged him and told him to hurry up and become champion before he died, that way he could feel proud about something before he went. Riven felt strange, being hugged like that. But he didn't mind, Samuel deserved it, after everything he had been through.

Stepping onto the ferry, it would be a week before he arrived in the port city. The sky was clear, no storm clouds in sight. It would be a smooth enough voyage. Leaning on a rail, he wasn't depressed like he had been coming to Dewford. He felt joy and excitement, wondering what the city had in store for him. Mischief was next to him, thriving off the positive feelings from his trainer.

Riven felt someone bump into him and turned to the source of the distraction. His joyous mood came crashing down, realizing who he had _just_ encountered. It was that Elu kid from the Petalburg Woods.

"HEY! IT'S THE ASSHOLE WHO CUT MY POKEBALL IN TWO!"

"Oh, look it's the snotty nosed brat who tried to cheat me out of my money."

"REMATCH, DICK!"

"We can't battle here, idiot. You're going to get swept with an all bug team, you know."

"SO WHAT? WHEN WE GET TO SLATEPORT, WE BATTLE!"

Riven sighed, then laughed as Haona swept his team. Again.


	15. Voyages

It would be three more days until the SS Tidal docked in Slateport. The most interesting thing to occur in the passing was the sight of an abandoned ship that was floating in the water. It was barely afloat, and had numerous trainers and their pokemon exploring the interior. No doubt its valuables had already been cleared out long ago. It was probably a home for sea creatures at this point. It sent an eerie shiver down his spine though, the holes in the ship looked _human sized_. He didn't feel like thinking about what happened there. Stranded at sea didn't sound very nice.

Apart from that slightly chilling observation, the voyage was uneventful. He talked with other trainers but since they couldn't technically battle, it was all strategy and badge comparisons. Elu would spite him from afar, glaring around corners and eyeing him in the cafeteria. The kid seemed fixated on beating him for some reason. Riven often took up his place near the ship's nose, feet dangling between the bars along with his pokemon. He talked with Ben quite a bit. White Queen seemed to enjoy being out here the most. She fell asleep listening to the waves more often than not. She didn't seem to like crowds, given most humans' apprehension towards her, Riven understood why.

Looking out towards the sea, he took out the small blue orb he found in that crystal cave in Dewford and held it out up to the sun. It sparkled blue and caught the attention of some girls nearby. The trainer had to glare at them before they left, they kept bothering him to see it, apparently it was like a sapphire or something. He held the orb back up to the sun, trying to see inside of it. It was no use, the orb was solid and not hollow in the slightest. He still didn't know what in the blazes it did, or what it was made to do. Everything was such a mystery, and it was frustrating.

He figured he should call Steven, but at the same time, didn't feel like it at all. He would surely be interested in the sphere and could probably have more insight into its purpose. But, he trusted the man about as far as he could throw him. The orb was probably centuries old, maybe more. And worth thousands at that. Maybe he could sell it off to one of those collectors that he'd heard about and earn a nice sum of money so he wouldn't have to work again. But he still wanted to know what the damn thing _did_.

The sun was starting to burn. His pants were especially starting to heat up. It wasn't as bad as it was with the black leather cuirass he would wear but it was still uncomfortable. Standing up, he went back to his cabin, taking his pokemon with him. He preferred the shade anyway.

On the bed once again, he began tossing the orb in the air up and down repeatedly. Relatively bored, he took out his pokedex and set it on the side of the bed. "Hello, Charles. It's been a while."

The pokedex lit up and a smooth voice replied. "Quite, Sir. It has been some time indeed. Are you bored?" Charles asked. That was usually what his owner opened him up for, most of the time.

"Mostly." Riven felt a little bad for him, since he only opened him up when he was bored or had nothing to busy himself with. It wasn't fair to Charles but he couldn't have him open all the time. That would drain his battery. Charles said he didn't want to be left battery-less. To him, it was like death. Riven respected that, so he made it a point to charge him whenever possible.

"Ah, well. Where are you headed now?" The A.I. was last opened in Rustboro. He completely missed Dewford town.

"Slateport City. I just finished getting off Dewford after two weeks of waiting for the ferry to come here."

"Slateport is a beautiful city, sir. I suggest you visit the oceanic museum. The exhibits are interesting and could inform you of some of the wonders of Hoenn's ocean. There is also a bazaar where plenty of useful items and supplies are sold."

"Wait. If you can't see, how do you know it's beautiful?" Could Charles even see? Riven was curious.

"Ah, internet, sir. They programmed that into many pokedexes lately, it allows for more accessible information from a larger pokemon database. I can see through a scanner of sorts, it functions like a human eye."

"So…can you scan this orb and tell me some facts about it? Like you do with pokemon?." He held up the orb, unaware of what his pokedex's capabilities were restricted to.

Charles would have buried his face in his hands, if he had a face and hands. "Do I look like a rock encyclopedia, sir?"

The trainer was surprised to hear his pokedex respond that way. He was developing a snarky streak within him, somewhere. However it is that 'AI's worked. "Was that a snarky comment?"

"Uh. I meant that with no disrespect, sir. But in all honesty, that was a stupid request."

"Aren't you a computer or something? They have a plethora of information in them, they can find anything."

"Sir, you asking me to analyze a rock would be like me asking you to hack a sophisticated government run system with firewalls and security protocols. I distinctly recall your amazement when you first opened me. And when you saw a vending machine. The vending machine in particular."

"Point taken," Riven admitted. He couldn't even turn on a computer without making a mess of his brain. He had tried it in the library. Didn't work out. He ended up in the control panel typing with his two index fingers at a Turtwig's pace. The librarian that was teaching him to use the computer got so frustrated she threw him into the book sections and told him not to touch a computer again. So much for his lessons.

Charles let out a small 'aha' with his digital voice. His tone changed and was all formality again. "Perhaps I suggest warning Mr. Stone of the object?" It wasn't an ill conceived idea, in fact, most of Charles' suggestions were very intellectually sound.

Riven made a sour face. "I don't trust him. Besides, he's already busy examining a stone my mother gave me. I don't want him to get even _more_ distracted. The man is obsessed with rocks. I'm pretty sure it's useless but you never know with these things. It might hold some secret meaning. But I highly doubt it." Charles might say he was being paranoid about Devon's stand in CEO, but only someone with no sense of caution would trust someone immediately after they attacked them. Well, that's what Riven thought. People were different.

"Are you sure you are not just being overly paranoid?"

Riven groaned. What was with people being so _trusting_? Well technically, the AI wasn't a person. But that was besides the point.

"A healthy dose of paranoia never hurt anyone," he curtly replied, tossing the orb higher. Charles let out what sounded like a slight snort.

"Unless they're you, sir."

"Oh? You made a joke. That's new."

"Yes. I seem to be developing a sense of humor. I also know what went on in Dewford when you accidentally flipped me open and forgot to close me." Riven gave him a questioning look, even if Charles couldn't see it. "You, Zubats, panic. If I could have seen your countenance, I would have been dying of laughter. Figuratively, of course. And from the look of things, you seem to have taken Brawly's advice. Your speech sounds much less stiff."

His owner froze.

"Weren't you supposed to have been off this entire time? And yet you didn't say anything?"

"Why waste a good moment?"

"We don't speak about this ever again," Riven said. "Just forget it happened completelyIt was an embarrassing moment, exposing himself like that, in front of Ben _and _Charles, even though his pokedex had only heard what was happening.

_Gah._

Those fucking bats.

When he was four, he wandered out of the city and went cave exploring nearby. It felt great, being out of the palace and in a cave, he felt like a true explorer. Then, he tripped and woke up a bunch of Golbats. They had bit him badly and one of them managed to inject poison into him. He nearly died after his parents found him leaning on a tree stump with a face as white as milk, sweating up a storm. There was quite a long lecture about it afterwards.

"I won't tell a soul, sir."

"Good! Then I don't have to blackmail you into complying."

"Did you pick up that strategy from the human girl?"

"Amy?...No." Riven was still uneasy about her. He frightened her, somehow. That's why she left. He wanted to visit her in Mauville but he was still deciding whether or not to do so. And what would he tell her? She looked very disturbed with what she saw. First girl his age that he'd talked to for more than five minutes and he already scared her off. Wasn't looking good. "I'd prefer to avoid mentioning her at this point, I kind of made a mistake and scared her off, and now I don't know how to feel about myself. Or my confidence. Women are strange."

"Ah, I understand." Charles stopped talking for a while. The pokedex continued flashing blue, indicating that Charles was still there. Although he did not possess a living body, he was a like a person of sorts? Just an artificial one without a body. "Sir, is something bothering you? Besides this girl and her fright?"

_Better question would be what isn't bothering me._ "No," He lied, having ten different issues and problems flying around his mind. This place wasn't anything like before. It was complicated. In the army, out there, all he did was follow orders and fight. Now, he was on his own. He didn't know what to do, or what to think, even. And regular people were…difficult, to say the least. Amy came to mind. Come to think of it, he'd never even spoken to regular people before, just other soldiers. At least trainers could talk mutually about training but after that… well, his social abilities were about as keen as an old, blind Rattatta.

Although, he never had to deal with _unexpected_ assassination attempts either. Which brought up another point, one far darker. Enemies could be anywhere, could strike at any time, even in the safest of places. Petalburg had shown that. In some ways, the world was the same. It was all a delusion of safety. Still people out there that wanted you dead. It was slightly comforting, in a sick and twisted sort of way that there was still some semblance of familiarity left.

But he wasn't the target, it was May.

The attack still didn't make any sense. The attempt was done by humans. The assailants could have easily used pokemon. Then his little seemingly 'heroic' actions would have been in vain. But why hadn't they? You could fight people, but fighting a flamethrower was fairly hard. Using a pokemon would be_ far_ more effective, as much as it frightened him to admit it. It could have left him a smoldering pile of ashes and they could have still finished the job.

_With no one to stop them. But they chose the conventional method_.

If it was up to him to carry it out, he definitely would have used a pokemon if he wanted her dead badly enough.

But why choose the old fashioned way? Attract less attention? Maybe. But it contradicted with the fact that they chose a public execution. Unless…he had ruined their plans in another way. How? He didn't know. Regardless, it was done with. As long as they stayed away from him, it mattered little. He just hoped he wouldn't get caught in more dangerous situations.

Sick of thinking about Petalburg, he stopped tossing the orb. Arm falling limply to the side, he placed the orb back into his bag. Staring back at the ceiling, he sighed heavily again. Charles was silent. He probably knew that the trainer was thinking about something, so he chose to stay quiet. The red device's artificial being was extremely observant. Then, Riven spoke, changing the course of thought to something more lighthearted and less annoying and dark.

"Charles, how can trainers bond with pokemon so well if they can't understand a single word they say? All I hear is them utter their names, and guess at what they are trying to say to me. White Queen at least bites me, but I know she's a pushy shit."

His pokedex flashed again. "That is a good question. And that is what it consists of, many guesses based on observations and body language. Pokemon convey messages to trainers like a person would to another if faced with a language barrier. Physical movements, facial expressions, and especially the eyes. But, you can always just buy a translator. It's far more practical than learning how to read body language."

The young man shot up from the bed. "Translator? Where can I get one? How much? Does it work for all pokemon?" If he got one of those, he could talk with his pokemon. Finally. Then maybe he could sass White Queen right back. And snap some sense into his lazy psychic. Aine was fine, she just needed to slow down sometimes.

"Slow down, sir. I believe most malls have them in stock. However, I heard they are quite expensive. Most trainers can't afford them."

That was disconcerting but manageable. All he had to do was work a couple of weeks right? Shouldn't be too difficult. "I'll have to look for it in Slateport. With lu- best not even say that- rephrase_. Perhaps_ I might find some there. And not too expensive." He had only about forty thousand to his name, probably only enough for a TM. Given their prices, the translator could easily be twice that and then some.

"I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you, Charles. You're very helpful." Pokedexes were really amazing pieces of work. Without it/him, he would be a lost Growlithe puppy. Well, more than usual. He would probably still be stuck in Petalburg, gawking at the buildings and losing battles due to a lack of knowledge about typings. Birch should have explained that before he tossed him out there. Lazy professor.

"My pleasure, sir."

Flipping him closed, Riven's stomach grumbled and he headed off to the cafeteria to get something to eat. Bland food was so commonplace in his time and in the wild due to a lack of spices and everything this world didn't suffer from-like not having fresh vegetables. As a result, everything tasted _godly_.

_Fresh breaded Magikarp fillet today... wonder how that tastes._

* * *

Detective Williams sat in his desk, twirling a pin in between his fingers. It was blood stained, but the crimson liquid had already dried up. This little pin had given them no results. None of the databases on any of the teams matched a description. He was starting to think this was mob related. He didn't completely discard the fact that it could be a recently formed team though..

The fact of the matter was, he had no leads on which to go on. The motives behind the attack weeks ago were still unknown. His captain had grown tired of trying to answer to the press. They knew absolutely nothing. The _guy_ that might have, despite his repugnantly apathetic nature, was gone. They had his prints and photo, although it looked more like a beating victim picture than a mug shot. His right eye was swollen shut and dried blood ran down his right side. They only had a 'Gray' to go by, nothing else. The man was incredibly generic. Black hair that came down to his eyes, average build, six feet tall, pale, brown eyes. That was nearly eighty percent of the older male trainer population. Finding him would be near fucking impossible.

The detective groaned in annoyance and spun around on his chair for a bit, bored. There had been no calls or anything since the incident. Not a single damn robbery or murder. Crime was fairly low in Petalburg, compared to the larger cities. It wasn't very big, and easy to manage. They had done drug busts plenty of times before, and took down quite a bit of the mob's men with some help from Norman. The assassination attempt caused more of an uproar than anticipated.

The internet exploded. Coordinators and trainers posted on social media like mad, expressing their concerns and condolences, as well as an uneasiness about the Slateport Contest. Many of them were reluctant to participate in the Slateport Contest following the violent aftermath of the Petalburg Incident. The National Hoenn Contest Federation had postponed the contest due to a flooding of complaints and warnings of the people.

May had made a public statement that she was going to stay in Petalburg and not participate in any contests for some time. Williams could hear the shaking in her voice when she spoke, and figured the incident had created some trauma for her. It was unfortunate, she was a wonderful coordinator. Her home had been assigned extra police vigilance, in case the assassins came back to finish what they started.

Norman had recovered, but was still receiving physical therapy. The gym remained open, thankfully. That way, Nurse Joy wouldn't be tearing her hair out dealing with so many trainers. She was a kind soul, but when she was angry, she was a force to be reckoned with.

Williams began dozing off, when a phone rang and startled him. Rose picked up and asked what was the case. Her eyes widened. She hung up the phone slowly. She turned to the detective.

"Williams, we need to go. NOW."

"Why? What's going on?"

Rose gave him an ominous look. Whatever it was, it was grave. "The Office of Contests and Events was just attacked. Malcom Van is in critical condition."

Williams' eyes widened. Almost everyone on hand stood up and rushed out of the office. "Let's find them."

The building didn't look any different than normal. However, once inside, he saw several of the workers on the floor, severely beaten. The secretary at the front desk was dead, a bullet hole in her forehead. Williams swallowed and went in further. He kicked open the door to Van's office and found the man strapped to his chair, face bloody and purple from punches it seemed. "Call the paramedics. We have plenty of people here who are hurt. Who knows how many dead. Set up a perimeter and seal this place off, no one enters or leaves this area without us knowing about it." He told an officer, who ran off to go carry out his orders.

_Another attack… You'd be stupid if you couldn't connect it with the assassination attempt. This time it's Van. He isn't dead. They didn't come for his life, they came for information._

He knew Van. He was a happy go lucky man that never hurt anyone. He wasn't made for torture. He probably gave in and told them whatever they needed. Then they beat the living shit out of him. These criminals were ruthless, they were on a whole different level.

Van was taken to the hospital and some of his fellow detectives went with him to question him after he recovered. Williams and a few others stayed behind and examined the scene. They went through security tapes, the faces of the scum were all obscured by black masks. The footage didn't reveal anything significant. It only showed the brutality of the men. He turned it off after a few minutes, refusing to watch Van getting beat to a pulp.

An officer came up to him. "Detective Williams, there are fourteen wounded and three dead."

"Who died?"

"The secretary, the security manager, and an intern. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the cranium. He looked like a dang mess. Manager was shot three times in the chest, secretary died from a single shot to the head."

Williams nodded grimly before slumping in a chair in the security room. He had to go through the audio tapes now. Maybe they would reveal something important. He turned them on.

The men burst into Van's office.

"_DON'T FUCKING MOVE. MOVE AND WE'LL KILL YOU."_

"_Ok ok ok! Please, calm-"_

"_SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_

"_SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP UNLESS WE ASK YOU A QUESTION. GOT IT? OR WE KILL ONE OF YOUR PEOPLE."_

There was a brief silence. One of the attackers asked Van a question, booming voice going low and soft.

"_Director Van, who was that man?"_

"_What?"_

"_I won't repeat myself. Who was that man?"_

"_I d-d-d-don't understand!"_

Two seconds of silence.

_"Kill the secretary."_

There was a shot over the recording.

"_She's dead now. I suggest you start answering clearly. Now. Where were we?" _Pause_. "That's right. Who is the guy that you hired as the head security? We want to speak to him."_

"_Y-y-y-you m-mean for the contest?"_

"_Yes."_

"_He was a random trainer that came in! He just asked for a job and he was the first so I gave it to him. I don't know who he is!"_

"_I see. What was his name?"_

"_Why?"_

"_Intern too. Don't ask me questions. Let's just say our boss is less than thrilled about that entire incident. And that little piece of shit ruined everything. So we're going to find him. And get rid of him."_

Screaming was heard. Williams winced.

"_His name was…Gray. I think…"_ Van was shaking and crying in fear. It was clearly present in his voice.

"_Gray? No last name?"_

"_No…"_

"_What did you say?"_

"_No!"_

"_And you just let him sign on like that without asking for information? Hah, Van, you're an idiot."_ The guy questioning probably turned to the others. _"We're done here. Make sure he gets the message."_

"_WHO ARE YOU MONSTERS!?" _Van screamed.

"_We're the next step. We're the singularity."_ Fingers snapped. Boots were heard. Then metal extending.

Van could then be heard getting beat by metal, with his screams promptly dying out a few seconds later.

"_Oh and for the love of god, please get rid of the security manager. I can't stand the sight of him."_

_Bang. Bang. Bang._

The tape ended.

Williams froze. They were after that boy. That boy's head was on a hit-list now. _Shit!_ As much as he hated the kid, he didn't want him dead. _But how will they find him? That boy could be anywhere now_. Finding a specific person with just a first name and an appearance as generic as his would be incredibly difficult. On the flip side, that kid was no pushover. He knew how to handle himself, he was also a trainer, meaning his pokemon could defend him. However, he was only one guy. Eventually, even the strongest could fall with sufficient numbers.

_Stay alive, kid. Wherever you are._

* * *

Amy relaxed on the front porch, swinging from her porch swing with her Swablu. It had been quite some time since the Petalburg incident, but the footage still bothered her. Considering the person who was involved directly in that, she couldn't forget it. She shook her head to get out of her mind for a while. It was still the most talked about thing lately, considering the Slateport contest was supposed to be held in a week.

Obviously that wasn't going to happen.

Not with Petalburg still fresh in people's minds, even after more than a month of tranquility. The news had been questioning the National Contest Federation about the incident, which they declined to speak about. They only said they were trying to do the best they could to resolve the issue. It seemed problems were popping up fucking EVERYWHERE. First Sinnoh, and now this.

She looked up at the sky before she suddenly hopped off the bench, nearly knocking her Swablu off her head. It chirped angrily, scolding her for the sudden movement. "Mila, it's okay. I didn't mean to scare you." She tickled her beak, calming the flying pokemon. Amy was headed to Rydell's bicycles, he was getting a new shipment of bikes today and her dad gave her money to go buy one. He said that it would be far easier to get around on one. And it would save her from the infamous blister affliction that plagued trainers all the time.

The purchase didn't last too long. She bought a Mach bike in a dark red color. She liked speed over fancy tricks. Some of her friends could do those tricks on their bikes and hop onto those strange white rails on some of the routes, but she never bothered. She also didn't choose the color pink, despite her friends' insistence on it. Amy never really liked the color and she wasn't _that_ feminine to begin with. She became a pokemon trainer after all. Boys often said that women weren't meant to be _real_ trainers. She always answered back with a kick to the balls or a punch to the face. Some of the boys around were _still _scared of her.

Wattson saw her skill with battling and urged her to become a trainer. He said he saw the spark of adventure in her and wanted it to grow into a powerful bolt of lightning, like so many others before her. She felt energized and decided to enlist in the league. That was a year ago. Wattson had a way with trainers, just like many of the other gym leaders. They inspired them and kept them going, acting like mentors. She really liked the old man.

Walking back to her house, she passed by a tunnel. Overhead was the cyclist's road, where trainers and bikers zoomed by to get to and from Slateport in a hurry. She wanted to go up there tomorrow and race like crazy. Mach bikes were_ fast_. Thinking of how good the wind would feel, she bumped into something small and green without realizing it.

-"TRIKE!"- It zapped her with a weak thundershock after she stepped on it.

"Sorry!" She said as she passed by the little pokemon. It growled in response, sparking lightly.

That was Grumpy. He was an Electrike that lived under the tunnel and was almost always unreasonably grumpy and defensive. That's why some of the residents gave him the name. No one really _wanted_ him, since he was fairly temperamental and shocked anyone that came too close. There was also lots of Electrikes around too, but Grumpy was always under that bridge.

She had given him food on occasion and once thought about catching him. But she already had Jak, who was now a Flaffy. A diverse team was always the best and ground types would have an advantage over her if she carried two electric types, even if Manectrics were awesome. It was sad to see Grumpy under the tunnel every day, grimy and sometimes struggling to find food, but he didn't seem to mind.

Amy carried on and went past the tunnel, heading back to her home. She heard an explosion and squinted ahead to see flashes of light into the distance. Running up to the source, she saw two trainers battling it out. A Lucario was fighting against a Swellow. The explosion that she'd heard was from a collision between an aura sphere and an air slash.

The blonde sat down and observed the battle, she could get home later on her bike. This was _way_ more interesting. The Lucario and the Swellow traded hits before an aura sphere hit the bird in the face during a head on brave bird rush. The bird fell from the sky and crashed into the fighting type, carrying it into a nearby tree and almost felling it from the force of the impact. The two pokemon bounced off the trunk and fell limply to the floor, both out of commission. Amy could tell the Swellow broke a wing, while the Lucario had at worst suffered a minor concussion and a slash to the chest from an air cutter. Draws weren't too common, even against trainers of comparatively the same skill level.

Both trainers returned their pokemon and shook each others' hands, congratulating a battle well fought. The trainers split in opposite directions, with the Lucario trainer heading towards her. He probably hadn't seen her yet, being too focused on the floor. She stood up and called out to him as she ran over. "Hi! Nice battle!"

He looked up and spotted her. "Oh… yeah, thanks. It was tough but fortunately I didn't lose."

"You didn't win either."

"True, but my wallet is happy about that. I just need to go heal my pokemon now. You saw everything then?" He began walking, eyeing the setting sun in the sky while hoping to arrive before nightfall.

"No. Just the end of it. Double knockout isn't something you see every day." She fell into step with him.

"Oh…" He looked fairly nervous talking to her, avoiding eye contact. He started walking faster, but she matched him."Um… Do you live here?"

"Yep. Just over that hill." Amy got closer, prompting the boy to back away slightly. "Did you face the leader yet?"

"Ah…no. I thought I'd train a bit more. Wattson scares me."

"WHAT?" He was scared of Wattson? The guy was so friendly! "How come? He's one of the nicer leaders."

"Electric pokemon scare me. My sister has a Luxray that she let tease me for the longest time when I was younger. She'd zap me constantly, so I decided I'd come to Hoenn to challenge the league here instead. That way I don't have to see her around. Parents also said it was safer," The trainer explained. "Electric pokemon just don't sit well with me is all."

He was as tall as her and seemed to have a monochromatic blue theme going. Even his eyes matched the color of his hair, as well as the thick winter jacket he wore. She wouldn't be too surprised if his favorite color was blue.

_Clearly from Sinnoh, he's pale as heck._

"Sinnoh, huh? I kinda figured you were from up north with that huge jacket you got there. You'd be crazy to be wearing a jacket like that here in Hoenn normally. It gets _hot_. What's your name?"

"I'm Seab. H-hi."

He waved shyly.

"Amy. Nice to meet you." She scooped up one of his hands and shook it forcefully. "How old are you, if you don't mind?"

"Fifteen." He replied. "You?"

"Eighteen." She gave him a look and beamed. "I'm also a trainer." Amy knew what she wanted from him the moment his shyness evaporated and something stronger took its place. "Let's battle, Seab of Sinnoh!"

He smiled, confidence brimming in his eyes. "Alright. I accept your challenge. Right after I get my pokemon healed!"

Amy grinned, looking forward to stomping him into dust. That loss to Gray made her push herself harder than usual during training sessions. It paid off since Jak had evolved recently in response to the extra training. "Okay, Seab. Come back here tomorrow at two and we'll battle. I guarantee you that it won't be a tie though! I've never battled a Sinnohan before, and I don't plan on losing to one anytime soon."

The younger boy nodded and went off in the direction of the Mauville city pokemon center. She got on her bike when she heard a loud, familiar cry. Electricity was heard, and Seab screamed like a girl.

Amy giggled, _Grumpy strikes again_.

* * *

Ben leaned on the ship's railing, reluctantly and unsuccessfully reassuring a pathetic, sulking Riven that life didn't just deliberately screw with you. Unfortunately, this particular instant was tragically self-inflicted.

"It's okay man. It wasn't your fault…entirely. Okay… maybe it was." He was trying to convince the other trainer that it wasn't his fault he'd accidentally dropped his large case into the sea.

They were at the nose of the ship and Gray had left the case on the floor while he sat down and dangled his feet between the railings. Ben was talking to him about Sinnoh. He looked genuinely interested, especially with hisepic description of his trek to Mt. Coronet. While it was fairly obvious he was exaggerating quite a bit, it made for entertaining story nonetheless. So many things happened on that expedition, he couldn't possibly contain his excitement. He was telling Riven about it all with recallings of Ursarings, avalanches, and deathly encounters with wild pokemon. Eventually the conversation got to Riven's plan about going to Forina and then… well, then he dropped his case like an idiot.

"So, you headed to Forina?"

"That's correct."

"You're gonna need some rope for those Dawn caves, you know."

"Why's that?"

"You don't know?"

Riven cocked an eyebrow.

"Those caves aren't any more caves than they are holes in the very top of some of the Forinan spires." A brown eye widened. "They go down for hundreds of feet and branch off into a bunch of caves inside the spires. Which also means you have to climb up hundreds of feet on an almost vertical surface, find your way inside, and climb back up." He grinned at the black haired trainer, who looked astounded, and slightly unsure of himself. He slapped him on the back. "Don't worry, it's not like people haven't fallen to their deaths there many times, right? An experienced climber like you can handle it, rigggghhhht? Mr. I-don't-need-a-flying pokemon?" Ben laughed, slightly teasing.

"Oh, ha-ha. I'll get up there, flying pokemon or not. If only I could prove it once I do, just for spite." Riven looked up at the bright blue sky, following some of the clouds with his eye. "Then you'd shut the fuck up."

"You can take a picture with your holo caster." Ben had the feeling Gray was a technophobe. By the absolute suckage with technology that he'd displayed these past few days around the ship, he was right. Ben remembered watching him open up his cabin door with a keycard. It opened with a swipe and he stood there pointing at the door like an idiot who'd seen his first pokemon.

_IT OPENED! Whoa. It's like magic! How do they _do_ this?No keys! Look!_

He then proceeded to repeatedly open and close the door with the keycard.

Ben snickered. Fucking small town kid. Dangerous small town kid, but still an idiot with technology. The hiker waved a hand and just looked out at the shimmering blue water ahead. Then he saw Riven shift slightly, moving something large and black to his side. The motion jarred the object, and a watery _plop_ could be heardseconds later.

Riven shot up to his feet and stared at what he'd just dropped, making a strange strangled noise as he reached out over the railing and sucked in a breath like a choking Charmander. It was the large case he carried around that hid his weapons and strangely enough, a fishing rod. Now it was in the water, below a gigantic cruise ship, just floating and bobbing in the waves. Only the top of the case was visible before it submerged completely. Ben looked back at the younger trainer, whose mouth was open and only uttered a strained wheeze.

Hence, Gray's somber attitude. He looked defeated, not broken, just…bummed out? The black haired trainer held out his hands while on his knees, then gripping the bridge of his nose so hard it turned red. Ben felt like snapping a picture. But he didn't. He didn't know how attached Gray was to those blades, but by his reaction, pretty significantly.

He mellowed out two days afterwards, now only moderately bothered by the loss of the case. He'd wanted to go dive back in for them, but they were in the Tentacruel fields. If he got caught in that, the guy was totally dead this far out at sea. Ben convinced him that it was _not _a good idea to go get the case, as it was probably under hundreds of feet of water at this point or captured by overgrown and venomous jellyfish. Death by paralysis followed by drowning sounded horrible.

Then, Ben saw something that was sure to lift his mood. "Look!" Gray didn't move a muscle, Ben huffed and turned his head towards the front of the ship. "It's Slateport, you depressed fool! Cheer the hell up already!"

Riven's depressed state seemed to vanish entirely, now replaced by one of sheer awe.

"Holy. _Shit_."


	16. Mounting Worries

Obviously, Riven was astounded by the bustling port city. This one looked even bigger than Rustboro, but had fewer towering buildings closer to the ocean. Ships were docked in the harbor and people were everywhere. Some lined up for passage on the ships or simply leaned on the dock rails to look out towards the sea. Wingulls and pelliper flew overhead, squawking mixing in with the murmurs of the people and movement of the water. Definitely the telltale sounds of a busy port. The young man could see much taller buildings in the distance, and to the sides of the port, smaller warehouses by the looks of them. A beautiful building with silhouettes of water pokemon was directly adjacent to the SS Tidal—the Oceanic Museum.

Parents and their children entered in and out of the building constantly, smiles on their faces. Charles had suggested that he visit the museum but since it was an aquatic one, he figured he wouldn't be able to extract any relevant information there.

He ignored the place and ventured into the city. It was far less urban than Rustboro and lacked the bus routes too. There were more tourists and street vendors, as well as trainers on bikes. He needed a bike. It would be easier on his feet. He had been developing a nasty blister on his right foot.

_If only I could find a bike shop._

Ben had left him and told him that he would be staying in the pokemon center, there were three in the city so three weeks of free rent would be good for just about anyone. Riven explored the city until nightfall, dazzled the most by the central part of Slateport, which boasted an open air bazaar on both sides of a manmade canal which emptied out into the sea near the port. The bazaar smelled of spices, herbs, and food. Fish and berry vendors were everywhere, even TM shops and pokeball stores dotted the area. It was a wonderful gathering spot for small time merchants and a melting pot for people from different regions. Looking at the geography of the city, it wasn't hard to understand why that was.

It was a port city with a natural harbor and access to plenty of fish. Access to a water source must have definitely helped. Trade would be abundant here, causing a swelling in size and people. It was an ideal location. Having a beach and beautiful, crystal-clear water? Definite bonus. Riven spent some money on some food that was apparently from the Unova region. It was a plate of pignite ribs with some cheri berry sauce on the top.

Riven salivated as the waitress set the food down on his table. He felt a tug by his feet and stared at a blue face and red eyes. White Queen looked curiously intrigued.

White queen seemed to want some. He placed a slice on a napkin and lowered it onto the floor. She sniffed it before recoiling in disgust. She turned to Mischief. "Absol! Sol-sol!" His face also had an expression of disgust and they distanced themselves from the food.

Like it was _damned_.

That was unusual. "Huh? What's the issue? It's food. I thought you liked food."

"SOL!"

"KIR!"

"Oh come on, it isn't _that_ dreadful." The cook's face fell. Riven took another huge bite out of the juicy meat. "It's just a little spicy." Riven then drank an entire cup of water when his tongue felt like someone poured burning tar onto it. Both his absol and kirlia looked visibly annoyed. Mischief had his hands folded. "Alright, so it's _really _spicy." His mouth was open and he was fanning his tongue with his hand, also sweating and red in the face. "…I think I made a mistake eating this." His stomach lurched. "Definitely. Ugh."

Both pokemon rolled their eyes and responded in a way that sounded like _i-told-you-so_.

" I'll give it to Aine, I can't take this anymore."Oh man, the restroom would be hell later on. He let Aine out of her pokeball, who emerged looking lost.

"Aine, you want the rest of this? It's pignite ribs with cheri sauce. It's really spicy." He hoped he wouldn't have to throw it away, it was perfectly good food, albeit spicy as unholy hell.

"BUSK! BUSKEN!" The fire type responded, looking…well, she always looked happy. Maybe she was happier? He moved the food to her side of the table and she began devouring it. White Queen and Mischief looked horrified.

_I guess they don't do well with spicy food_. _Bad wild experience? Aine looks perfectly fine. Then again, she's a fire type. It only makes sense it wouldn't bother her._ He smiled as she finished up the meal with some cheri sauce on her beak. He took a napkin and cleaned it off.

"BUSKEN BUSK BUSK! COMBUSKEN!" She blew out a happy breath of flame, startling the cook in the back. Which then set a table on fire. With the faintest of pained whispers, he swore he heard his wallet cry.

"Sorry!"

Riven left the bazaar and got directions to the nearest pokemon center from his pokenav, after an hour of fiddling with it to try and find the damn GPS function. He couldn't believe how easy it was to go around the city with it. All a person had to do was look at the screen and follow the line, it was amazing. He got to the pokemon center near the beach, the same one Ben was staying at. It was HUGE. It was bigger than one measly little house sized facility, this looked like a proper building. It had three floors of residency and four pokemon recovery facilities, and two dining areas.

He had never seen so much trainers in one place. There were four Nurse Joys around a circular reception desk in the middle of the center, attending to the needs of other trainers. It took some waiting but he was able to secure himself a room on the third floor. He rode in the elevator, next to a boy in nearly all black and was startled when he turned to him abruptly and said, "71568, 71568, 71568."

Riven was confused. "What?"

"He caused it."

"I don't get what you're saying."

"Wrong. Don't trust.71568." The boy's purple eyes bore into Riven's, scaring him a bit. The kid's eyes were lifeless and hollow-it was like staring into a pitch black hole. He inched away… _slowly_.

"You're crazy." It was ironic, considering that everyone thought he was the insane one. This was a real nut.

_Okay… _His eerie meter flew into the atmosphere and he started back towards his room. His gut was telling him to stay away, and he surely wasn't going to discard its advice.

Riven noted the appearance of the rental room. It was no different from other centers, so he just took care of the usual and headed off to bed. But not before visiting the restroom for explosive results. He was _never_ going to eat spicy food again. Feeling spent, he flopped onto the bed, outstretching his arms and legs.

Maybe there'd be no nightmares tonight. Weird though. He hadn't had any recently. That was definitely a bad sign.

The _other_ was strangely quiet. He knew it was going to hit him hard later on. Problem was that he didn't know _when_.

* * *

Amy stood proud on route 117, grinning down at the blue haired boy whom she had just beaten. Seab had put up quite a fight- his lucario had managed to take down her treecko but got taken out by an air slash from her swablu. Mila and Seab's staravia battled it out in the sky, exchanging air slashes and gusts, along with high speed tackles. His staravia was faster and had more maneuverability though, it flipped backwards in the air and landed a nasty air slash on Mila, cutting her back. She fell to the floor bleeding, Amy returned her to her ball before she could get hurt further.

After her swablu fell, she brought out Jak. His wool crackled with electricity and caused Seab to flinch. He _was_ afraid of electric pokemon. Amy smiled viciously and told Jak to use thunderbolt to finish the Sinnohan's staravia off. He easily zapped the bird and it fell onto the ground, yellow sparks flowing across its feathers. It was down for the count.

Seab was out. He had lost. He went up to Amy and forked over two thousand P-yen, while trying desperately to avoid her Flaffy. Jak only looked mildly confused. The blonde took the cash and brightened, feeling redeemed after her loss to Gray. It didn't hurt that she showed a Sinnohan what Hoennites were made of also._ Not all of us are pushovers or tree-huggers! _She thought as she returned Jak.

"Great battle, Sinnoh dude!"

"My name's Seab…" He murmured back, too low to hear.

"Huh? I couldn't hear you."

"Seab. My name. Not Sinnoh dude."

"Right. Sorry." The blonde laughed as she waved her hands in dismissal. "Anyway, why are you so afraid of electric pokemon? A luxray can't be that bad right?" She had seen a picture of one of them in her school, it looked like a blue lion thing-and kind of awesome. "Sure, they're pretty scary but-"

Seab winced. "Ah…my sister is kind of a bully. Her luxray would shock me at random times for fun and step on my stomach when I slept. Not only is it really strong now, but it's still a bully. It's like they're the same person. And I hated the teasing, like I told you before." He kicked the dirt a bit with his blue shoes. "And Sinnoh has been dangerous. It was bad like one or two years ago, it isn't that bad now but a lot of trainers and families left for the other regions. Something terrible happened. So I thought I'd have a better shot in Hoenn. It isn't as cold either."

"Oh. That sucks. I heard something crazy went on there but I never paid much attention." She remembered hearing tidbits about some serial killers and something or other. "Luckily, that stuff hasn't happened here yet." Then Petalburg slammed into her mind again. Her mood sunk into the Earth's crust and a menacing scowl replaced her smile.

"Is something wrong, Amy?"

"Erm…no. It's nothing. Just something…no, someone….I'd like to forget."

"Oh…so…what now?" Seab asked awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Amy was older than him, which made him nervous because he felt like a little kid, even though they were the same height. Older people were just…more demanding. She also was a good trainer, which was a rare trait in most girls. He had heard that many female trainers in Hoenn actually became coordinators instead of trainers, that's why being a male coordinator was embarrassing. Gender disparity was nasty. At least that's what he heard back in Snowpoint. There were quite a few of them in Sinnoh too, but not nearly as much.

He started to walk away from her, towards the pokemon center. The boy was held back by a thin hand. Hers. He looked puzzled, tilting his head in curiosity. "Uh… do you need anything else?"

"You're heading up to Lavaridge?" The blonde girl wondered.

"Yeah, I guess, after I beat Wattson. Whenever it is I, uh…face him." Seab looked unsure of himself, desperately avoiding the girl's green eyes. She intimidated him slightly, and she looked like she was about to say something crazy. She stood there for a moment, thinking something over. Seab wasn't going to like it.

"Alright! I'll come with you!" The older girl smiled and grabbed the younger boy's arm, dragging him along into the main part of the city, passing through the route gate. "But first, you're gonna kick that old man's ass alright?" She giggled devilishly as he looked like someone had slapped him with an octillery.

"WHA WHA WHAT!?" The kid was flabbergasted_. She's gonna make me fight Wattson? ELECTRIC? I…ugh…_ Seab went limp.

Amy stopped, noticing a sudden shift in weight, like dragging along a large stone. She looked back and saw a paler than normal Seab on the floor. Amy's eyes narrowed in annoyance and she pulled him to his feet. Then she shook him until the color returned to his face.

"Snap out of it. You are going to get that gym badge and that's that. We need to go before the desert storms get here, the desert is a nasty place to be during that time. And you can't fly over it while the storms are up." Her tone was direct and had no hint of nonsense in it. The desert sandstorms were no joke. Trainers often got lost in the blinding storms while attempting to cross the desert, losing their way and dying of dehydration or other things. Darker things.

Seab recovered and nodded tightly, accepting his fate. He also didn't want to get caught in the storms. The tales about the desert from some older trainers in Mauville sent shivers down his spine. Apparently the storms were strong enough to rip the flesh off of a grown man. He didn't want that to happen to him. Gulping, he was dragged along by Amy straight to the gym.

The battle against Wattson had been brutal. Seab only had two other pokemon, one of which had a severe type disadvantage to electric types. His lucario wasn't as bad as his staravia, but one against a team of four was a difficult task for any pokemon. Amy doubted he could do it and actually began to regret her impulsiveness to make him battle the gym leader, forgetting the fact that the younger trainer only had two pokemon.

Alas, his lucario managed an amazing save while on his last legs, paralyzed and barely conscious. He had knocked out all four of the gym leader's pokemon to secure the victory. Wattson began crying in admiration at the boy and his pokemon's valiant will to go on. Stuffing the boy with the classic Wattson pep talk, Seab left the gym feeling much better than he had gone in. The words the jolly old man had said to him made him feel empowered and…kind of awesome. His fear of electric pokemon had subsided a bit, a wince instead of a full on panic at this point. Amy congratulated him on his victory and showed him her own Dynamo Badge. She grinned and followed the boy to the pokemon center.

After his pokemon had recovered sufficiently, Amy took the boy back to her house, introducing him to her parents. Well, just her mom. Her dad was still at the daycare.

"Mom! This is Seab. He's a trainer from Sinnoh!"

Her mom wore a look of befuddlement. "Why would a Sinnohan trainer come to Hoenn? Oh and forgive my manners, hello Seab. I'm Amy's mom." The boy waved to her.

Amy spoke for the boy. "He came to Hoenn to get away from his sister and also because of the fact that Sinnoh isn't exactly the safest place to be at this point." She grimaced after she said that._ Not that Hoenn has been any better recently._

"Oh. Well, I assume you brought him here to tell us that he's your travel companion?"

"Yep!" Amy replied, excited to continue her journey. It had been relaxing, staying with her parents, but she wanted to go adventure now. She had waited until she was eighteen to start training because of the insistence of her parents that ten year old girls wouldn't be safe by themselves.

"Great. You're the older one, Amy." The older woman gave her cheery daughter a stern glance. "Take care of him." Then she turned to the boy, "And you take care of her. My daughter can be a bit impulsive and prone to obnoxious behavior. Please keep her in check. She has a habit of running into unsavory characters."

Amy winced. _Gray. Damn it_. She didn't want to think she had traveled with a killer like that. He crushed a man's windpipe without thinking about it. Underneath that calm demeanor, Amy got the feeling that the guy had something pretty drastic happen to him, but she couldn't possibly imagine what a rookie trainer like him could have gotten himself into. The scars on his body suggested criminal past. If that was the case, it was best to stay far away from him. Besides, Seab didn't threaten to kill her.

Her mom smiled warmly, hugging Amy and Seab, before shooing them out the door. It was still only noon, the truck driver should still be near the entrance to the desert on route 111. He was a generous man that took young trainers from route 111 through the desert for a fee. It was a long drive-about a day or two to get through the desert going at ninety, three or four going any slower. They shouldn't have a problem.

The two trainers left the house. Her swablu, Mila, was perched on her head. "Mila, we're going adventuring again!" Her pokemon enthusiastically chirped in response, eager to see new places as well.

"Swab- blu-blu!"

Amy laughed and stroked the blue bird's cottony wings while she got on her Mach bike. The bicycle was built for speed and tough roads, with gear shifts to accommodate for rough terrain. It had pegs on the back. Seab noticed the pegs and Amy's sly smirk.

"Oh no. You are _not_ going to have me ride on the back of a mach bike right?" Seab gulped again, this time _really_ fearful for his life. Mach bikes were incredibly fast and difficult to control, many a trainer broke an arm or leg because of carelessness and inability to make sharp turns easily. "I don't think that's a good idea, Amy…"

"Nonsense, Sinnoh Kid! We gotta go fast!" She grinned again before she took off.

They made it to the trucker alright. Seab nearly passed out and his heart almost exploded, but yeah…they made it. Amy looked refreshed and Mila was exactly the same. Meanwhile he was on the floor while his heart was beating at three hundred beats per minute. _It's one thing being the cyclist, it's another thing placing your safety and well-being on another person while they go at an insane 40 mph while they hurrah._ They were going so fast that some of the trainers on the route couldn't even ask for a battle. They zoomed past them all while Seab was screaming at the top of his lungs.

The man was a regular looking guy with a hat and faded blue jeans. The truck wasn't in amazing condition but it would do. He looked at them and said, "Get in the back and buckle up because we're gonna go straight to ninety. The fare is one thousand from both of ya. I expect payment by the end of the ride or you're gonna be having choice words with my Machamp, ya hear?" Both trainers nodded furiously, a little scared by the Machamp threat. The trucker looked at Seab before chuckling loudly. "Yo kiddo, I hope you don't soil yourself. It's gonna go pretty fast." The boy shook his head, at least he was in a vehicle this time and not standing on a bike. "Good to go? Alright! Let's get this on!"

The vehicle accelerated and they were off.

* * *

Steven was relaxing on his couch, watching a crime drama on the flat screen in his office. He was drifting off to sleep when his holo caster rang. He stood up and went over to his metagross, who was meditating in the air silently. Steven picked up the device from atop the giant psychic and set it on his coffee table.

"Swear to Arceus, if it's Riven I'm going to tear my face off…." He grumbled. That boy better not have disrupted his favorite show for something as stupid as 'DID YOU FIND ANYTHING? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU'. He saw the caller's identification and his brows climbed up to his hairline. It was a pleasant surprise. Depending on the message, at least. The caller identification read: _Your Dazzling Champion, Wallace the Great_. Steven snorted. Wallace had set that up as his ID on Steven's registry the last time the champion came to Rustboro a few months back. He didn't bother to change it since he found it amusing.

He clicked on the green call button. "Well, well, well… I didn't expect the champion of the Hoenn region to call me so suddenly. Did a trainer finally take you down a couple fabulous levels, Wallace?"

"No one is ever as grand as me Steven. Don't forget that your crassness." He flipped his curly bang. Steven stifled a snicker. "Jests aside, my dear Devonite, I'm afraid I just called you because I'm how do you say it…frustrated."

"Sexually?"

"That's your forte I'm afraid. Poor Flannery, such a shame." Wallace pretended to wipe fake tears from his eyes.

"Don't even start with that."

"Then don't try and get clever with me, Steve, I can embarrass you in more ways than one," The champion bragged, sure of his ability.

"Okay, what do you want?"

"I just want to vent…a bit."

"Wallace."

"Yes?"

"Whenever you vent, you turn into a monster."

"I do not."

"The last time you did that, you dropped enough truth bombs to level a mountain."

"I went a little overboard last gym leader meeting didn't I?" Wallace asked nervously, twirling his curls.

"Just a bit."

"ANYWAYS. Stop sidetracking me Steven. It isn't gentlemanly." He held his forehead with his right hand, rubbing a headache. "I met with the Hoenn regional council today."

Steven's face was no longer amused. It turned into one of utter annoyance. "Oh. _Them_."

"Yes. _Them_."

"What did they ask for _this_ time?"

"Ugh. Mundane things and stupid property damage bills. Ever since the new house was elected, the new members have been on my case for a relentless three months. They keep trying to pass new bills that give them more power over trainers. It's annoying, considering they've been getting bigger and have access to more funding now."

"Property damage bills?"

"Yeah. Many of the complaints are from farmers on the routes and people who live outside of cities. It's not unlike the norm but the damage estimates are climbing. They're starting to get particularly _nasty_."

"What are you going to do then?"

"What _can_ I do?" Wallace sighed in an exasperated tone. "My hands are tied. I've tried to get them to increase the age requirement for trainers but they just shut the bill down. Over and over and over. It's infuriating. It's like they oppose their own beliefs. Ugh. I wish I had more clout, that way I wouldn't have to deal with fools."

"But you don't. So what do they suggest to do then?"

"They want to ban destructive pokemon," the champion snarled, uncharacteristically vicious for someone like Wallace. He must have been _really_ frustrated.

Steven frowned, "That's complete stupidity. All pokemon can be destructive." Every single pokemon was capable of immense damage. Just ask the poor stadium clean up crews.

"I know. And if we do _that_…then a trainer's freedom would be severely restricted, and the backlash we'd get from the people would tear us apart. But they don't understand that. They aren't pokemon trainers, they don't know what it's like. This society exists because of pokemon trainers. If it wasn't for them, we would still be at war with ourselves." Wallace slammed a fist down on a table below him. Ignorant bureaucrats. What did they understand? All they knew was how not to do anything and still get re-elected.

Steven thought about what Wallace had said. _He's right. The pokeball did more than just allow us to bond with pokemon. It changed our entire existence. But…there's always a negative side to it. _Steven knew it was the champion's responsibility to stabilize tensions with the non trainer population. That was partly the reason why the regional council was even founded. It gave the non trainers more of a voice in matters that concerned them _and_ pokemon trainers. _But now…it seems like all they're trying to do is undermine the league and take control. Politics has never been a bed of flowers. It's dirty and ugly. And the champion's responsibility too. _That was partly why Steven quit. He had no time to pursue his passions with all the bickering and headaches of fighting the council and playing politician.

"I don't know what to tell you Wallace. You're going to have to compromise or pull out something reasonable and hope it sticks. Don't give in to them. That would doom trainers everywhere."

"You know I wouldn't do that Steven. I love pokemon. We all do. Every single trainer knows that. To segregate certain pokemon from battling would discourage generations of new trainers and piss off a_stupendous amount_ of existing ones. Maybe even to the point of riot." He smiled sourly. "Heh, I can see why you quit."

Steven nodded. "It's a huge responsibility. Everyone thinks it's easy. It isn't. You spend more time playing the appeasement wagon than actually battling. Not many trainers make it past the elite four. It gets stale quick."

The flamboyant man chuckled. "Well, I'm not going to just let them waltz over me so easily. If push comes to shove, I'll blast them into the ground. If they want a fight, then they should be prepared to get a hydro pump to the face. Hmph!" He hair flipped again.

Steven smirked. "That's the spirit Wallace."

"Quiet, quitter!" Steven raised both hands, acknowledging it.

"Hey, at least I'm actually happy now."

"You find enjoyment in overworking yourself and living off two hours of sleep just to look at rocks under microscopes?"

"Well when you say it like _that_…" Steven scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. Wallace made it sound like the former champion was a hermit. He knew it was true of course, but he didn't like admitting it.

"I'm just teasing, Stevey." He clapped his hands together. "Anyway, thank you for being unhelpful. I'll make sure to tell Flannery that you're thinking about her every day and night. She turned redder than a slugma the last time I told her you thought she was beautiful." He grinned from ear to ear.

"You bastard," Steven hissed.

"Hee hee." Wallace covered his mouth with his hand. "Later Steven!"

The hologram faded and Steven was left in his office thoroughly flustered. "That guy. Argh!" He threw himself on the couch again, tapping the table with his foot. The movement caused a small black stone to fall onto the ground. Steven picked it up and placed it back on the table. Steven fell asleep after a few minutes, turning off the TV.

In the dark room, the stone flashed blue.

A helix appeared on the surface before fading a second later.

* * *

Riven wanted to slam his head against the pavement. It had been two weeks of utter and complete garbage. The young man was embittered and resentful of the word 'job'. What was he doing now? Eating a snow cone. It was sweet. It was good. It was red. His brows were furrowed and his glare could kill a small child. Ben sat next to him eating a blue snow cone. He hit his forehead with his right hand hard enough that he left a red handprint on his face.

"Gray. You mean to tell me…that you got fired from FOUR JOBS? In two fucking weeks?"

The other trainer, whose hair was completely black again, bit into his red cone. He came to regret that. The cold stung his teeth and he held his mouth. "Ah, shit. Yes, Ben. I fucking did."

"How is that even possible? HOW DID YOU GET FIRED AS A ROOM SERVICE WAITER? THAT'S LIKE THE EASIEST FUCKING JOB IN THE WORLD. Arceus!" Ben was incredulous. He had never encountered someone that inept. Pokemon trainers were often useless in a variety of domestic work but not to _this_ degree of useless.

Riven groaned, reluctant to recount his room service disaster. "Look. First and foremost, my employer had a… not positive first impression of me."

"Understandable. You look like murder waiting to happen."

"Lies," Riven huffed in response. "False claims. All of them."

"Smells like bullshit. You almost never smile. And when you do, it's more of a I'm-picturing-you-dead-smile. Face it man. You're not a friendly guy." His serious face alone deterred most female trainers, much to Ben's chagrin. He wasn't an ugly guy but he could sure use some lessons in how to fake friendliness. It would help him _keep_ a job at least. Maybe even find a date, the guy looked like he'd never even touched a girl before, much less gotten intimate with one.

"Argh. Fine. Will you let me inform you of my misadventures in the workforce or will you continue criticizing my normal expression?"

"That's your normal face?"

"Yes."

"Arceus protect us if you ever get angry."

Riven shot him a glare. Ben gestured him to continue. "Yes. Well… the woman who hired me. She kind of-"

Gray's description of bad first impression was grossly understated. The woman hated trainers . With a burning passion and heaps of verbal abuse along with it. Sure, his hair did make him look like a skuntank cosplayer but that was harsh. "So you dyed your hair? That's why it isn't…you know." Ben waved a finger above his right eye, where the patch would be if he was Gray.

"Yes. I showed up and she threw me into the changing room then immediately got me started. I was drenched in sweat by noon, that lady was relentless. I had to run just to keep up with the demands." He hissed as his face twisted. "Then it was _her_."

Ben's interest peaked. "Her?"

"Yes. _Her_."

"Girlfriend? Old acquaintance? Sister? Ex-girlfriend?"

"No to all of those. She was just a random tenant that happened to be a picky dickwad."

"Did you pick up that word from the sailors?"

"Yes and I like it. It has a nice insulting feeling to it."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"Moving along." Riven sighed. "She called me up seven times. Four of those were extra orders, and the other three were complaints about the food." He bit into the snow cone again, not giving a damn whether it stung his teeth or not, he was getting annoyed just thinking about the ordeal. "I had to go back to the cook, tell him what was going on, then go back up to the tenth fucking floor and knock on her door. She called me up for the seventh time and I was beyond simply aggravated." Ben swore he could see steam leaving Gray's nostrils.

"What did you do next?"

"I told her off and called her an entitled piece of shit that should get her own food. I also told her to burn in hell. She complained to the manager and she fired me."

Ben face-palmed again. "You're not supposed to do that! You need to be professional!"

"To hell with professional. That lady was being a cunt. I _hate_ people like that."

"Gray. Working those kinds of jobs, you're going to be running into people like that _all the time_. You just need to deal with it. Or else you're going to be left penniless and just as frustrated."

"I'd rather smash trainers into the ground and take their money." He took another agonizing chomp of his red snow cone. Ben winced every time Gray did that. That couldn't be good for his teeth.

"There's that but you might challenge someone that can wipe the floor with you and then half of _your_ money just went poof." The other guy was still recovering from the cold. "Alright, maybe room service wasn't for you. What else did you get fired from?"

Gray chucked the paper remains of the cold treat into the trash can. "Chef. I set the entire kitchen on fire. Maintenance. I couldn't tend a bed to save my life. And finally, cashier."

"How did you fail at cashier? Can't count or what?"

"The cash register was a fiend from hell."

Ben stayed silent for few seconds. Then slowly bit into his blue cone. After a minute of cold pain, he turned back to Gray. "How did you even get this far? It baffles me how retarded you are with technology. How can you even operate a pokeball?"

"Hey. A pokeball is simple, relatively speaking. It only has a button. A button, Ben. Push it, ball gets bigger. Throw it, pokemon comes out. Push button and hold for five seconds, pokemon returns with red light beam. Push button again and ball shrinks. Easy. Simple. I can do it." Riven scratched his head. "But cash registers…They have like fifty buttons! I don't even know what one does! They also did a terrible job of explaining everything."

"How long did it take you to open the register?"

"I didn't."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Good lord. You _are_ screwed. You can't operate technology worth a damn, you can't cook in a proper kitchen, you can't fold a bed, you can't even talk to people without scaring them for Arceus' sake! Gray, what _can_ you do?"

"I can fight. That's about it." Not a lie, really. He was a soldier that learned how to survive in the wild and kill other things that wanted him dead. And many things wanted his head on a pike.

He didn't need to learn how to cook a meal using a fancy kitchen and stove. He didn't learn how to be nice. He learned where the best places to stab someone were, how to read the hostility in someone's voice, and how to disarm someone before they left you on the ground as a lifeless corpse. To say he was a Magikarp out of water was an understatement.

"You're hopeless." Ben got an idea. "You know what? Let's forget about this. To the beach!" Skirt chasing was a relaxing activity, and it would probably keep Gray from murdering someone out of frustration. The younger man nodded, not wanting to dwell on his inability to do anything civil or—well, normal.

Slateport beach was found on route 109, chock full of tourists and swimmers who came to enjoy the sand and the sun. A lighthouse overlooked the beach and guided ships into the harbor further ahead while a lemonade shop served ice cold beverages to beachgoars. Children, adults, and trainers were scurrying around or relaxing in the sun. And of course, there were women in swimsuits that could hardly be considered anything greater than a few strips of fabric.

Ben was salivating at a group of female trainers a distance away, to which Riven rolled his eyes. But really, the guy might know more about the world than he did, but he had zero self control, especially when it came to women.

The beach was uninteresting; there wasn't really much of anything to do. Riven and his pokemon, excluding his Kirlia(he wasn't letting his perverted psychic out here), sat under an umbrella and stared at all the beachgoers. He couldn't properly enjoy himself in the sun because the Scyther near Littleroot had left him looking like an overused practice dummy. Scars were everywhere, and jagged, ugly ones too. Taking off his shirt probably was ill-advised.

After Ben had his fun and gathered a few numbers, they headed back to the pokemon center for some rest.

A couple of days later, after seeing the prices of the translators and getting fired two more times, Riven decided he just about had it with Slateport. He gathered his things and went off to Mauville to see if his fortunes would improve. He left Ben in Slateport with little concern for the womanizer, who wanted to stay a bit longer since he was dating a girl he met on the beach named Madelyne. What that guy wanted to do with his lower parts was his own damn business, Riven didn't want any part of it, and he really didn't want to take dead weight on the trip either.

After all, he figured he could handle himself. Or so he thought.

Everything seemed so easy at first, but it was after he found himself alone in the middle of the forest and trees that instincts and fears born of years of being chased down came full force.

Fueled by paranoia and danger that was hardly present, Riven grew extremely jumpy, nearly beating another trainer's face in when he jumped out of the bushes to battle, seeing an enemy rather than a trainer.

Without his blades, he felt exposed. Vulnerable. Anything could come out of the grass and maul him or worse. His fists wouldn't do anything to a Scyther if it came out and attacked him. Throughout the entire route he was in a panicked state of mind, feeling hunted, helpless. Didn't walk, only sprinted, an agitated and desperate run towards civilization.

_Need… safety._

Now in Mauville, he rushed into the pokemon center and collapsed on the bench, sweating excessively and shaking. The Nurse Joy at the front desk came up to him and asked him what was wrong. A rattled wave of the hand answered her.

"Are you sure you're ok?" She asked again, concern coloring her face.

"I-I-I'm…I-I'm fine…" Riven picked himself up with difficulty and shakily asked for a rental room. A couple of trainers looked at him strangely, like he was something to be avoided. Taking the keys with shaky fingers, he stumbled into the room as breaths came shallow and never seemed to be able to fill his lungs. Everything spun and a light-headed feeling came over him, losing the strength in his arms and legs.

Pure anxiety.

He'd forgotten about the danger, and just then everything rushed back to him. Hours passed as he tossed and turned, trying to find some rest for his exhausted body. What little sleep he achieved was met with nightmares and memories, brought out by the sudden vulnerability. A small voice comforted him as he tried to drift off to rest again, exhaustion overpowering his frightened mind.

_You can't escape Cerul. Shh…don't cry._

_Everything will be just fine._

* * *

**A/N**

**Something you don't see in the anime or games (manga might elaborate more on this with the gym leader meetings and all) is the role the champion has as a political figurehead. Since basically the entire world is based off pokemon, you would think that the champion is indeed the most powerful person in the region. And with that, he also has to deal with the very real issues of NON POKEMON TRAINERS whose lives do **_**not**_** revolve around pokemon. Naturally, these people wouldn't understand what it's like to actually be a trainer and how important a trainer's pokemon are to them. For a perfect example of this, see Max from the anime in the beginning of the Hoenn season. That kid just doesn't get it. I imagine many other people to be the **_**exact same way.**_


	17. Origins

It was night time in LaRousse City, quiet and peaceful. By this time, most of the visiting trainers were in hotel rooms and an occasional police robot glided by. The Lund Pokemon Research Lab was always busy though. Scientists buzzed around, researching things from pokemon evolution to new technological inventions. The lab always had a faint aroma of coffee from one to many sleep deprived scientists and the lights never went off. The men speculated they were being overworked and underpaid, but they didn't care. This was science…or something. Truth be told, they haven't had anything particularly interesting to work on lately.

_Slam._

Kim slammed a paper down on his table, getting up to go make himself a cup of coffee. His research partner was obviously doing something _other_ than working. The guy was a genius but often got too distracted to get anything productive done. Kim swore Blake had the attention span of a hyperactive plusle.

He was holding a tablet and watching some kind of video. Kim scowled, disapproving of Blake's laziness."Keep staring at that thing and you'll go blind." Blake spent far too much time looking at that thing, he needed to cut it out before his brain turned to scrambled egg.

The other man poked his glasses. "I'm already blind." He also had a knack for smart-ass replies. This didn't earn him very much respect within the lab, even drawing disdain from Professor Lund himself. They didn't dare fire him though, the man was the best at what he did-whenever it was he felt like doing it at least.

"I meant completely, idiot." Kim rolled his eyes, brushing off Blake's stupid little comment. He felt like punching him sometimes, his comments were borderline irritating and since he was practically stuck with him 'till retirement or until he got fired, he had to deal with his shit. Which unfortunately came in droves.

"This is interesting." Blake admitted with wide eyes and lifted brows. He lifted his eyes for a second, looking back at the scowling Kim. "You're going to get wrinkles if you stay angry all the time." He pointed to his own face, still young and smooth. "The key to healthy skin is not to give a crap. It works for me."

"I can see that."

Blake tapped the tablet and paused the video, adjusting himself in his chair. He scratched his nose and stared blankly at Kim. "Besides, there's absolutely nothing to do here." Then he went back to his video, still straight faced.

Kim's scowl lifted, replaced by an expression of faint disinterest. "Can't argue with you there." Blake was right. There _was_ nothing to do. The night shift was always a grind to get through. People were tired and looking at samples through a microscope in the wee hours of the night was never a fulfilling experience. Many of the guys in the lab just used the opportunity to get some sleep or dick around, like Blake. "What are you watching there anyway?"

"Last year's regional conference match," Blake replied, light reflecting off his glasses.

"Which one?" There were many good fights last year, Kim remembered losing about one thousand P-yen on a bet that had gone sour. It was one of the more exciting league conference matches and was pretty much a no-holds-barred fighting type beatdown. It got his blood racing just thinking about it. His wallet definitely missed that cash though.

Blake grinned. "The Dance of Dragons." It was the semi-final round between two trainers, one from Johto and the other from Unova. The battle kept everyone on their seats, at the stadium and at home, people couldn't get enough of it. It was one hell of a match. The views on that match were the highest they'd ever been in the league season last year, it was the most anticipated fight of the league.

"Oh. The Hydreigon vs Dragonite battle?" Kim saw that one too.

"That's the one."

"You remember that dragonbreath clash?"

"Mhmm. Damn near took down the stadium. 'Member the dragon pulse and dark pulse clash later on?"

"Oh, yeah. That was insane. It took like two minutes before the dust cleared. They kept fighting too, until the dragonite ice beamed the hydreigon's wings and sky dropped it for the win."

"Sure did…wonder what it's like though," Blake mentioned, looking at the victor congratulating his worn-out Dragonite while waving at the crowd. He closed the internet tab and switched the tablet off. He peered out the window, it was pretty dark outside. Probably around midnight by the looks of it. A munchlax was trying to get a burger out of a vending machine. It made him chuckle.

"What is?"

"Raising a dragon. I heard they're one of the hardest types to raise, considering you need to respect them and all. Not only that but they eat a lot. Especially when they get bigger." Blake knew that dragons like Salamance ate entire bags of formula. Some of the wild ones actually attacked trainers and miltank farms. Luckily, most of them lived near Meteor Falls and Forina. _Far _from LaRousse. Which was good, considering Rayquaza went on a pride revenge quest a few years ago and caused millions in property damage to the city's infrastructure.

"I have some friends near Mt Chimney that work with dragons. They say that a great deal of patience is needed, and some fireproof clothing. The infants tend to blow things up quite a bit." Kim laughed nervously, having witnessed a baby bagon set fire to an entire house once. It also headbutted his car and left a permanent dent in the side. The insurance company had a field day with that one.

"I would assume so. I heard they're just a little higher on the difficulty scale compared to oh…darks and psychics." Those were difficult types to train. The former because of the attitude and general nastiness that came with them, and the latter because a trainer needed to invest a lot of time into them to earn their trust and admiration.

"Well, they told me that once you earn a dragon's respect, they'll fight with you to the end. Not like darks. They'll double-cross you the first chance they probably get. No wonder most people don't like 'em. Most psychics are tame enough though, they just require emotional investment and positive reinforcement," Kim said while sipping some fresh coffee. The caffeine ran through his system, he felt less dead than usual-but still pretty dead. Being a scientist for professor Lund was mentally taxing at the best of times.

Blake didn't respond. He just turned the tablet back on and searched up other fights. Rhyperior vs Typhlosion, Steelix vs Scizor, Sceptile vs Serperior. All amazingly good fights. Their trainers were top notch and were some of the toughest in the world. Their pokemon were absolute monsters, making craters throughout the arena. He lost interest in the fights themselves and just watched the pokemon spew flames and throw razor sharp leaves around. It made him think.

"Hey Kim."

"Yeah?"

"Ever wonder why pokemon can shoot flames and cause earthquakes? And we can't?"

"That's always been on our minds Blake. We want to know why things aren't a certain way. And if possible, make things better." He was trying to sound purposeful and mystical, it didn't work.

"You're starting to sound like a Rocket," Blake said with a disapproving frown.

"Oh, NO. Don't compare me with those monsters. What they did was inexcusable…if not downright horrible and atrocious. Never put me up on that broken pedestal. I'm glad they were taken care of, who knows what would of happened if they _succeeded_." Kim was burning holes into Blake's skull. He wasn't a mad scientist, he worked to make the world more understandable. He never wanted to be like them. Thinking about gene splicing made every hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

Blake shrugged. "Alright. I get it. You don't want to be compared to them. Me neither. But still, why are we so…" He searched for the word while fidgeting his hands in the air and making faces.

"Normal?"

"Yeah." Blake figured that was the best way to put it. He couldn't find another word to something that meant not special in any _way, shape, or form_.

Kim's brows furrowed. That remained one of the biggest mysteries in the world, it baffled scientists even today. Some people claimed that humans just appeared, but Kim didn't believe that. Any theory proposed was almost always shot full of skepticism and chock full of holes that a solid comprehensive theory was never fully accepted. A myth in Sinnoh apparently claimed that at one point, humans and pokemon were virtually indistinguishable. If it had any merit to it, that supported the fact that they had a simian ancestor who was originally a pokemon.

Blake seemed to read his mind. "You're thinking about the human evolution theory aren't you."

"It's kind of hard _not_ to think about it when you start talking about topics like those."

Blake nodded and went searching through a document cabinet next to him. "I suppose. Hold on, getting something." He spent a couple of minutes wading through the mass of documents in the file cabinet, all scientific papers about the evolution of pokemon and (supposed) human evolution. "Here it is." He threw a paper on the table in front of Kim, published in the Unovan Scientific Journal by Professor Juniper.

"Her pokemon origin paper?" Kim had a quizzical look. "What's so important about it? That paper has been published for years."

"Well, it claims that millions of years ago, treecko-the most common starter given to trainers in Hoenn-hasn't changed very much in genetic structure. It's DNA remains largely the same. The same can be said with all other pokemon. They haven't changed much at all in millions of years. Yet here we are, bipedal, normal and weak. And we change frequently."

"So what you're saying is…in order to evolve like we believe we evolve, we need to have...what?"

"Unstable DNA." It was the only thing that made sense to Blake. Cancers and illnesses were common in humans, a trait that humans shared with almost _nothing_ else. People had highly unstable DNA, that's why appearances and height, weight, skin color, eye color and everything else was all chance. Pokemon had very strict sets of DNA, containing almost no extra junk information-something humans had an abundance of. It was perfectly structured and had nearly no flaws. There were never any mixes, only one pokemon or another. If a zebstrika and a rapidash had eggs, it was either blitzle or ponyta offspring, not a weird electric fire mix. Only one other pokemon fit the bill.

"Like eevee."

"Precisely."

Kim gave Blake a skeptical look. "So in about say a couple million years, there's going to be fox people? You do know how stupid that sounds right?"

"If my guess is true…maybe. And yes, it sounds stupid, but so did pokeballs remember?"

"Argh. Point." Kim's skeptical look didn't dissipate though. "And you're only thinking about this now?" Someone was bound to have thought of this before. Kim was sure that Blake wasn't the first curious mind to put two and two together.

"I've thought about it before but one thing still doesn't make sense."

"Which is?"

"Well, eevee evolve when exposed to some sort of electromagnetic stimulus from evolutionary stones or rocks. We…don't. Imagine the body horror if we did."

Kim did. "Yeah,I can see why that's a problem. Don't want none of that hehe. Growing fish fins is kinda freaky." He shivered. "And when Eevee evolve, their DNA corrects itself. No more flaws. The stones take care of that."

"But…what if…" Blake rested his chin on his palm, thinking rather hard about the topic. His brows were furrowed in concentration and he was staring at the floor. "What if a mutation happened to our ancestors that caused them to evolve differently, or at least retain their genetic information when producing offspring. That way say a…jolteon had offspring with another jolteon, then a jolteon came out. Not an eevee. But still had unstable DNA, only retaining the type code. Then further mutations would allow it to become something else."

"It sounds a bit implausible but it's a good if not ridiculous guess. But if that did in fact happen, why aren't we…elemental and stuff?"

"I don't know. That's what bothers me." Blake placed a hand on his forehead. "Losing our typing would be fatal. Even if we had the drive and motivation to use tools, we needed the typing to even stand a chance, otherwise…we'd get ripped to shreds."

Kim was about to say something when Blake cut him off, continuing his scientific tangent.

"And if we were pokemon, why are we so damn weak? Our cells don't even regenerate at the same rate. Imagine if we could use rapid recovery technology like pokemon? Shit, a cut would heal in minutes and brain damage would be a thing of the past. And our bones aren't nearly as hard." He paused to catch his breath. "And then there's the fact that most pokemon exhibit human-like intelligence, so there goes the sacrifice typing for brains theory. The only thing pokemon lack is the drive to advance further, they don't see a need. We do, that's why most of them haven't risen and crushed us yet."

Kim was dubious. "It sounds counter-intuitive to do so. I mean, it goes against what evolution would theoretically be like. Typing isn't a liability. Or hardness of bones. Why would we get weaker just so we could build things?" Kim didn't have an answer for Blake, but he did bring up important points.

"Kim, what are the oldest human remains we've found? Up to date," Blake asked, completely serious now. Oh, the man was in serious get shit done mode. If only he worked this hard every day.

"About four hundred thousand years. Give or take a few." He didn't understand why that was important though. It seemed totally unrelated. Maybe he was just shooting the tauros at this point. Who knew? Blake's mind was a bag full of skitty.

"We've read about hundreds of excavations at Sinnoh, all rocks and pokemon fossils. But absolutely no human remains, even though there _should_ be." The rocks in Sinnoh were some of the oldest in the known world, some going back billions of years. There was a reason it was called the 'cradle of life'. Yet no other human remains had been found prior to 400000 years ago. That was odd. Very odd.

"Yeah. It's really strange." Kim shrugged and finished his coffee, which was cold at this point. Blake was still in a hardcore think tank mode, it was hard to dislodge him once he was this dug in. But…all of Blake's points were moot if they didn't have any concrete proof of his eevee-esque evolution theory. "Unless you have proof of your theory, it ain't going anywhere though."

"I know, but I need to look at an eevee's DNA. Might give me more insight. I feel good about this one."

Kim raised a brow. Eevee's themselves were rare, finding one in the wild was next to impossible and Lund didn't like spending unnecessary funds on buying a pokemon from some uptight pokemon breeder for a wacky theory one of his scientists came up with. "They're too expensive. Unless you want to capture one yourself. But you're no trainer."

"Maybe we can ask someone for one?"

"Not many trainers bring unevolved eevee kits here Blake. They come here to battle. Your best bet would be the daycare near Mauville. But even then, the eon line is rare. Breeders usually got them, but they're…a damn fortune to say the least. They're a bit more common in Johto, but not all that much."

"Shit. I thought I was on to something too."

"You might just stumble across something never before seen. Then we'd really be in for a surprise. But I doubt it. Your theory is ridiculous."

"Kim. You are an ass. Can you ever see the positive side in things?"

"I thought positive once. It was disappointing."

"Whatever, you're still an asshole."

"Pretty much, I won't deny it." Kim put his mug back up to his mouth and drank more of the caffeinated drink. "That doesn't change the fact that your hypothesis is far from sensible. But that's none of my business, it's your scientific credibility on the line. Fuck this up and you will never be taken seriously again."

Blake stared out the window, eyes tracing the illuminated Battle Tower in the distance. _Eevee huh. Maybe I can…_ He got an idea. "I'm going to hire a trainer to catch an eevee and bring it to me."

Kim stared blankly at Blake. "Because apparently you can shit gold right." The trainer would probably be just as likely to keep it or sell it to some collector for big bucks. Eevees were way to rare to just give away and the stones to evolve them? Even more so.

Blake caught Kim's look."Argh…most trainers are brainless and will do anything for money. I could probably get one to catch an eevee for a low price. You've seen how these trainers are. They'd follow a creepy man into a white van if he promised them something."

Kim thought about that for a second. "Sadly, that's very true. Makes you think why we let them prance around on their own." Most trainers _were_ stupid. Considering most of them left home at ten, they weren't skilled in real world craftiness, and were conned frequently. Kim wiped some coffee off his coat. "I don't know, whatever suits you Blake. I'll just let you know now that I don't believe a word of your crazy idea. It's too unlikely. And you better pick a trainer you can afford crossing, some of them are dangerous. Sinnoh showed us that _very _well."

"I know. But as long as it's not impossible, I don't care." It was a start. And if he was right, that meant an award. That would shut up all those who scorned him, and even get him some respect from Lund and become a world renowned scientist. Risks were worth it. His genius would come into the light and he would be the greatest in the world. Then maybe he'd move out of this stupid lab and set up his own. Wouldn't that be something."On second thought, I don't have any money."

Kim facepalmed. "Even though you're a genius, you're still an idiot." He shook his head and lifted the cup to drink again. Blake tipped it over with his hand, causing Kim to spill all over himself. He turned and left out the door, smiling smugly.

"Son of a bitch."

* * *

**Going to be uploading shorter chapters from now on. Makes revising and proofreading easier. Well, maybe.**


	18. Shock and Awe

Riven remained in a deep sleep, tossing and turning, beads of perspiration running down his face. His heart was racing and his breathing was ragged and strained. He wasn't dreaming anymore. Riven no longer saw the other staring back at him, covered in a pool of blood with a smile that could only belong to a demon. His not-self's red eye staring directly at him before fading away.

Now he was on the floor amidst shouting and explosions of flame and lightning. He picked himself up, scanning the scene in a daze. He was in the plains somewhere, watching as Rose troops rode in on rapidash, shooting flame tipped arrows over to his side. A memory, a flashback. It was a battle. It couldn't be anything else. He recognized the place.

_Nimva Plains. Why did it have to be here?_

He woke up screaming, holding his chest and feeling an unbearable burning in his right eye. Riven was panting, gulping for air. For what seemed like an eternal five minutes, he stared at the door while rubbing his face raw. Riven was on edge still, every sound only served to make him jump. He was unable to go back to sleep. Instead, he paced around the dark room over and over again in a restless trance.

The sun rose and he left his room, going to the kitchens to get something to eat. He stared at everyone around him, ready for someone to come up and attack him, but no such thing happened. Riven ordered his usual pancakes with pecha jam on them, but they weren't like they usually were. They tasted dull and stale, no flavor, no sweet fulfilling taste. He ate on instinct while staring at the wall, only to jump when Nurse Joy called out to him.

"Are you okay? You came into the pokemon center last night a nervous wreck. What happened to you?" Her features were not joyful or optimistic, but worried and scared. She looked uncomfortable and hesitated to speak to him.

Riven didn't know how to respond, he stared at Joy for a minute, unable to form words. Her face grew more concerned and she waved at hand in front of him. He snapped his attention back towards her and stuttered, "F-fine."

Joy noticed his pale complexion and heavy breaths."You don't look well at all. Maybe you should go to the hos-"

"NO!" Riven shouted, moments later noticing the eyes of everyone in the dining area. His anger subsided."I'm sorry...no hospital." Joy nodded and walked away, she swore she felt something malicious about the boy's irritated outburst. Trainers exchanged whispers and barely audible murmurs about him, discussing his strange behavior last night. He ignored them and walked outside. Unable to soothe his nerves, he retreated to a cluster of trees and exercised excessively, until his arms and legs couldn't handle it.

Riven sat down near a tree, hair flowing with the wind. _I don't feel like doing anything. Should I be doing something? But what? _He remained under the tree until the afternoon, nothing feeling correct or enjoyable. He challenged the gym leader and lost very quickly. His reactions were delayed, his senses distracted, he couldn't think of any strategies. His attempts to attack were pitiful and poorly thought out.

Leaving the gym, Riven didn't feel sad or disappointed. He just continued walking. He got to the pokemon center and tried to fall asleep, but still couldn't. This lasted three days. On the fourth day, Wattson stopped him.

"Son. What are you doing? You need to stop this. I'm not going to accept your challenge until you get better. You look terrible, have you slept these past three days?" The boy had dark bags under his eyes, he always looked lost and seemed to clench and unclench his fists constantly. He also ignored almost everything, from conversation to things like loss. It was starting to worry the old man. Trainers were usually frustrated or very vocal about losing three times in a row, never this nonchalant.

The boy shook his head after a few seconds.

"Come here. You're not leaving this gym until you straighten out. This doesn't look healthy. Laughter is healthy, you look like the opposite of that!" He pulled the boy closer. "So, what's got you like this?"

"Can't sleep. Nightmares."

"What happened to you?"

"I don't know. Hard to remember." In truth, Riven didn't want to think about it. Nimva Plains was hell. He had passed out and woke up the next day, hearing that they managed to beat the Rose and Liran troops back.

Wattson spent the next few days talking to the teen in between gym battles from other trainers. He also watched the boy speak to someone on a holo caster, a Samuel. His attitude improved by heaps and bounds and was actually responsive. He looked at the battles regularly and he even snickered when a female mightyena used attract on his manectric. The boy-who called himself Gray-was a mannered individual who was a bit tight-lipped but very calm. That struck Wattson as odd, comparing the Gray from a few nights before and the one chuckling in front of him now, it was as if they were two different people. The old man was just glad the kid had lightened up.

"Do you know what happened to you now?" The old gym leader asked, watching Gray clean up the gym after Wattson's recent match. He was paying the guy to help him, he felt bad about beating him three times in a row and taking most of his money.

"Petalburg," Riven blankly stated, sweeping some rubble out of the way into a pan. He didn't want to share guilt and horror experiences just yet. Besides, no one would ever believe him. He used Petalburg as an excuse to avoid talking about the real thing that bothered him.

Wattson's face fell, the trainer clearly meant the Petalburg Contest that went awry. It shook the entire region, scaring coordinators off left and right. The government and the media were still in a frenzy over it, resulting in_ another_ gym leader meeting to be scheduled in Lilycove. Wattson figured this boy must have been _right_ there. The police had been unable to make the captured men talk, much to the frustration of both the league and council.

"Did you see what happened?"

"I think?" Riven still saw the images in his mind, the experience was disturbing. But it didn't hold a candle to some of the things he had seen in his own time. The part that disturbed him was that he reveled in satisfaction every time his fist connected with that man's face, and he didn't feel like stopping. Even though he had told the detective that he did what he had to, he knew that he didn't have to kill them. It did make it easier though. However, to protect his identity, Riven pretended not to remember."What happened?"

Wattson didn't know how to tell this kid what happened. He thought that the boy must have developed some kind of trauma from the event, he didn't want him to regress back to his original state. "Oh, nothing. Just something…unusual. Don't worry about it haha!" He felt bad about lying to the boy, but it was for his own good.

"Ah. Alright then. Tomorrow I want to challenge again," the black haired boy stated calmly. The gym leader sighed in relief. He was glad that the young man didn't press the matter further.

"HO HO HO HO! Don't hold back on me ya hear? I want to have a good time on this one, none of that depressing show you had me on for a few days. Laugh, smile, have fun!" The jolly old timer placed his hands on his large belly and released his loud trademark laugh.

Riven nodded with a slight smile. "Unless you call getting half your money taken from you fun, I'm bringing it all." Wattson continued chuckling heartedly, holding his belly. Returning to the center, Riven greeted Nurse Joy-who also noticed his improvement-before heading off to bed. He was able to sleep soundly with the help of some sleeping pills Joy had given him.

The next day he was holding a Dynamo Badge and grinning rather smugly at Wattson. He held out his hand and the old man forked over a few bills with corphishes on them. Four thousand. Almost enough to replace what he had lost.

Aine had destroyed his magneton and saved her flamethrower for his magnezone, who fainted in one hit. The electric leader's voltorb then used an explosion attack to knock out Riven's combusken. Then he sent out Mischief, who won Wattson's manectric with a well placed point blank psychic followed by two confusions. His kirlia was getting rather fond of teleporting to confuse his opponents, he was definitely faster now. Although, he couldn't quite deflect lightning yet. Oh, and he got paralyzed again. Mischief was going to chuck a boulder at Riven if he kept getting him paralyzed, burned or poisoned.

"I didn't think you'd be so different when you got your head on straight," Wattson chuckled, surprised by the trainer's ability. Considering he beat the kid three times before, it was startling to see him completely thrash his team. "I'll say, you're definitely better off when you're calm. You're also kind of intimidating, has anyone ever told you that?"

Riven counted his money. "Not a day goes by when someone doesn't tell me that." Wattson beamed and laughed again, with a jolliness only that man could pull off. Riven's smile faded into a thin line. "Wattson, thank you."

"For what?" Wattson asked, stroking his white beard. Riven wondered if he'd do that when he got old. Beards made people look wise, he had to try it sometime.

"For helping me, I guess."

"I'm a gym leader! It's what I do. If it weren't for us, who'd look after miserable trainers like you?" He reeled back in laughter again. "Just kidding, ho ho! But seriously."

Riven wore a blank expression, but it quickly lifted into a slight smile. "You're too cheerful. I thought old men were supposed to be sour?"

"Making fun of my age huh? Laughter is what's kept me this cheerful! If you don't laugh more, you'll end up with white hairs before you know it!"

Riven frowned. _Too late for that._ Soon, the paint would wear off and his white patch would come back again. Then it was back to being called an old fart by snotty nosed brats like Elu. He didn't enjoy that, even if he was technically older than everyone he had met so far. "I'll pop back in for another challenge some time, old man. I appreciated your help none the less."

"Bye kiddo! Oh and have this, you can teach it to that kirlia you got there." He handed over a yellow disk case, _TM # 24: Thunderbolt_.

Riven did a mental handstand and accepted the free TM. _Free moves are always encouraged_, he thought. It would be useful for Mischief to learn something _other_ than a psychic move. More type coverage was better anyway. He was about to leave when he remembered something. "Wattson."

The gym leader turned around, "Yes?"

"Do you know where a girl named Amy lives? She's supposed to live here somewhere."

"Ye high?" He lifted his hand up to his mouth. Gray nodded. "Blonde hair? Really pretty? Green eyes? Kind of obnoxious?" Gray nodded to all of those. "Amy Baer! I know her! She brought in a boy scared half to death in here the other day. She lives near the outskirts of Mauville, up near route 117. You know her?"

"I met her near Oldale. She said she would be here when we parted ways in Petalburg. I just want to thank her for buying me food when I didn't have money. Just a friendly visit before I head north."

"Oh. I thought you were looking to ask her out on a date or something. She's around your age, you should think about it wahaha!"

Riven paled. "I don't think so…uh…I'll be going now." He hastily left the gym, setting off a trap and shocking himself. "Gah!"

Wattson hollered. Young trainers were always good to see, even if this one was a bit older than most. The old man had high hopes for every trainer that beat him. He smiled and then scratched his head.

"Hmmmm…now whose going to clean my gym?"

* * *

Riven walked up to a comfortable looking home with a well-maintained garden and a porch swing in the front. A sitrus berry tree stood to the left of the porch, recently picked clean. He cleared his throat and knocked firmly on the white door to the home. A middle-aged woman who looked surprisingly youthful answered the door, her blonde hair exactly the same color as Amy's. However, her eyes were hazel, not jade colored like her daughter.

The woman saw him and looked confused. "Umm…hello?" He looked pretty casual, despite his questionable looking face. She noticed a belt that contained small red and white spheres. He was a pokemon trainer. Who else would knock at their door? The mailman?

"Hello. Does an Amy Baer live here?" Riven asked politely, he didn't want to make a bad impression on Amy's mother. He already made enough of those.

Her eyes grew curious. "Oh, yeah. I'm her mom, Irene. And you are?" She'd never seen this boy before, then again, she had never seen Seab either. But this boy was older and had a more ragged look to him, his right eye was covered and his expression was blank. She could tell that he had a lot buried under that expressionless mask, they always did. Her husband always said, _beware the quiet ones_.

"My name is Gray."

"Oh. Gray huh. Well, she was here a couple days ago but left for Lavaridge with a Sinnohan trainer named Seab. Maybe she's still there," Amy's mother said, feeling bad about having to relay disappointing news to the boy, who probably came a long way just to see her daughter. Her eyes narrowed and she grew suspicious. "Hmmmmm…you're not her secretive boyfriend are you? I can imagine my daughter sneaking off with another trainer and not telling me about it."

Riven's face contorted in horror. "NO. I'm not her boyfriend. She is just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less." Irene picked up no trace of dishonesty in his voice. He apparently had no sense of guile.

Her eyes were still narrowed-then dropped her Sherlock investigation face. "Ok, I believe you, I was just teasing. You need to lighten up," Irene suggested with a sly smirk. The trainer's left lip lifted slightly. She had a feeling people told him that often. "Since you're a friend of Amy's, do you want to come in?"

"I don't think that's necessary unless you erm…want me to?" Riven responded, gulping slightly. Why did this feel more like stepping into the interrogation room and not into a house?

"Just get in dammit." Irene pushed him inside. "You trainers are always so jumpy! It's not like I'm going to kill you! That's a wild pokemon's job!"

Riven nervously chuckled. _She has no idea. Wild pokemon are vicious in these parts. Especially that little electrike near the bridge._ That one was particularly vicious. He was passing through the underside of the bridge when this green pokemon shocked him. It growled at him to leave-which he did, lest it shock him further.

Riven was shoved inside, the living room smelled faintly of vanilla and everything was neatly organized and clean. A flat screen television was in the center, atop a wardrobe. Three couches were aligned to face the television a few steps away, a computer sat in the corner of the room. This was a modern home. It looked warm and inviting. Riven had only ever been in the rental rooms in pokemon centers and very briefly in a hotel room, he never had a chance to see a regular home. It looked serene and relaxing, a sharp contrast to the occasionally hectic and active lifestyle of a trainer. He sat down on the couch, feeling a little awkward in Amy's house.

"So! You're a pokemon trainer?" Irene asked. She knew it was rhetorical question but asked anyway, it was pretty much small talk. It didn't matter, as long as it started a conversation.

"That's correct," Gray replied. He was looking around the living room, studying some of the paintings and artwork nailed to the walls. They were paintings of the surrounding wildlife and there were portraits of several pokemon. One was of a swablu, most likely Amy's, and another of an irritated and very familiar electrike. Riven pointed to it and asked, "Is that one of the electrike under the bridge?" He held a face of disdain and disapproval.

Irene nodded and began to laugh, holding her sides. "He shocked you didn't he!" The look on the trainer's face said it all. "HAHAHAHAH! He did!" She was kicking her legs out, now breathless from laughing. Riven sat there with an impassive face.

_First Ben, and now this. Wonderful._ He nodded in embarrassed acceptance. Wild pokemon didn't like him and most people it seemed. They never did. He couldn't recall any time when he _didn't_ get attacked by something. Even _before _he got launched into the future. It was always bug pokemon or a pack of angry fearow, or huge dogs that wanted to turn him into a fine pile of ash. Of course he could fend them off with his weapons but since they were currently hanging out with tentacruel at the bottom of the sea, he couldn't exactly _do_ that.

Irene stopped her giggling fit and calmed down a bit, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry, it's just hilarious. He shocks nearly everyone. I had to take two thundershocks from him before he sat still and let me paint him."

Riven studied the portrait. "You're very skilled. It looks exactly like that sour _thing_." He made a face at it, unintentionally mocking the painting. This made Irene burst out into another giggle fit.

"You're so silly! Even though you look so serious." She started laughing again, covering her mouth with a pale hand.

_Definitely Amy's mother_. _She is exactly like her._"Why thank you," he replied, sounding a little salty. So he looked a little rough, so did nearly every other trainer who spent most of their time out in the wild. _Not all of us are city dwellers._

She stopped laughing and smiled instead. "That one is Grumpy." Riven raised a brow. "That's what some people call him, considering he's always so grouchy and territorial. I call him Grum though."

"Is he wild?"

"Mhmm." She assumed he was thirsty or hungry, maybe both. "You want anything? We have oran juice if you want some."

"Oh, uh…sure." He assumed oran was another berry. Hopefully it wasn't spicy. Wait. What kind of evil monster made spicy drinks? He always thought that the Rose clan drank boiling blood and spicy alcohol. They were evil enough, and they loved fire. If anyone ever made an evil drink that was disgustingly spicy, it would be them. Irene looked harmless enough.

_But it's the harmless ones you need to watch out for_. That was his paranoia talking. He crushed it with a mental fist.

Irene came back a minute later with a glass of some orange liquid. She set it down in front of the table and watched him taste test it. "It doesn't have poison in it. A little paranoid aren't you?"

Riven nearly choked. "I didn't mean to assume!" He sputtered, unsure whether he offended her with his erm…habits. One never knew.

"It's alright you silly boy, just drink up."

"Sorry, habits."

"Did you grow up in Kanto with those ninjas by any chance?"

"NINJAS?" Riven couldn't believe what he'd heard. The tales were true! Ninjas existed! Those sailors weren't all full of shit after all.

"Yes. Ninjas. They're in Kanto along with all that other old martial arts stuff they have going on. Most of them are poison specialists, you look dangerous enough to pass. And since you're taste-testing _juice_, I assumed they trained you too," Irene sneered, gesturing him to continue drinking.

Riven finished his juice, which tasted similar to Sitrus berry juice. He guessed that they both had a well-rounded flavor. He shivered thinking about cheri berries-those pignite ribs taught him the pains of spicy food. _Spicy equals no. Unless I want to take more painful trips to the restroom_.

"So, did it taste like poison?" Irene asked smugly. She reminded him of a grown up Amy, it was scary.

"Erm..no. It was good. I was half expecting it to taste spicy," Riven admitted, getting a little red in the face.

Irene stared at him before breaking into another laugh.

"Are you sure you're not related to Wattson?" Riven asked, amazed at how this woman could laugh so much. It was like Wattson the second.

"That tough old coot? Oh no, his jolliness is infectious. Just being around him makes you happier. Then you can't stop giggling."

"I worked with him for a week and a half," Riven deadpanned. His face was completely devoid of happiness.

Irene's happy aura fell apart."Well, you must be immune. Are you even capable of laughter?"

"I did laugh."

"How many times?"

"Once."

Irene gave him a look. Riven faked a laugh. "That was pathetic, Gray." Well, he tried. "Let me see your pokemon then. Amy didn't let me see Seab's before she took off. So I get to see yours." She crossed her hands, and glared at him. She did that juice offering on purpose. Show hospitality and guilt him into doing what she said, within reason. Smart move.

Riven grumbled, realizing she played him. She was better at it than Amy, that was sure."Alright." He took out three pokeballs and enlarged them before releasing his team. They appeared and Irene's eyes became as wide as saucers. White Queen barely opened her eyes before her face was stuffed into a fluff of blonde hair. She stiffened and she couldn't help but sniff the woman's hair. She smelled familiar, like the human girl Riven had met a while ago.

"OH MY GOD! Your absol is gorgeous! My house might combust randomly because you showed up with an absol but oh Arceus, she's beautiful!" Irene was fawning and squealing over White Queen. Riven, Mischief, and Aine exchanged utterly stupefied glances. Mischief held his hand up to his head and started making spinning motions. Riven snickered and Irene glared at him. He promptly smothered it and switched back to his blank face. He dodged that one.

She finally let go of Riven's absol and started freaking out over Aine's feathers. "So soft and warm! I bet she's a comfortable heater when it gets cold isn't she?"

"I don't use her as a pillow…"

She poked Aine's legs, gasping. "Her legs are so strong too! She's gonna be a strong Blaziken when she evolves!" Aine cried happily, puffing out a lick of flame. It singed a bit of the blonde woman's hair.

"Ummm…sorry about that," Riven apologized, Aine had a habit of shooting out fire when she got excited, which was unfortunately _all the damn time_. He already had to reimburse the shop in Slateport for burning one of their tables into ash. Seven hundred good, _usable_, poke-dollars. Gone.

Irene turned her gaze towards Mischief. "A Kirlia! She's so cute!"

Riven couldn't. He broke out into hysteria, he caught Mischief's irritated look and his laughing became howling. Irene smiled as the trainer rolled around on the couch, laughing himself to death. It was a nice change from his blank stare.

"Oh!" He breathed in deeply. "She called you a girl! HAHAHA!" His kirlia threw a cushion at his head, muffling his laughter. Irene waited until Gray regained his composure before she decided to ask him what his pokemon's names were.

"Ah…" He sniffled one last time. "The absol is called White Queen, the Combusken is Aine, and that's Mischief." He gave a disapproving scowl to his kirlia, who was currently burying his head in between Irene's chest. She gently lifted the psychic off her lap and onto the floor, he looked disappointed.

"I can see why you named him Mischief. Why did you name that beautiful absol White Queen though?" It was peculiar to give titles as names for pokemon, usually trainers named their pokemon something simple and short, like Ky or Iki. Aine was reasonable enough though. Certainly strange but reasonable.

"Because she has an ego large enough to put a mountain to shame." Mischief snorted, causing White Queen to turn around and headbutt Riven in the stomach. "Gah…and she's violent." She tackled him again. Irene only giggled. Trainers were fun to watch, each and every one of them had their quirks. Even her impulsive Amy. Which brought up another point.

"How did you and Amy meet?"

"She tried to blackmail me," the trainer stated.

"SHE WHAT?"

"She tried to report me to the Petalburg rangers for killing a furret unless I gave her some."

"MY GOD! MY BABY IS LEARNING!" Err…what? He_ did _just tell her that her daughter was turning into a con-woman. Something smelled odd here. Most parents would be appalled and or losing their shit. Riven was not expecting _this_.

"You're happy?"

"Well, yes! That shows me that she isn't so gullible and impulsive after all!" The blonde woman jumped for joy.

"You're a strange parent."

Irene held a scolding finger up."Only cautious. I don't want her getting murdered like those poor kids in Sinnoh. Savages are roaming around in that country, even if they got rid of most of them by now."

Riven scratched his nose. Everyone kept talking about Sinnoh even though he personally didn't give a rattata's ass what happened there. He shrugged and gave up on the subject, he had come from a place probably ten times as worse. "Well, it didn't work. She made me lose the furret to a pack of mightyena she alerted with her shrieking."

Irene sighed, her daughter still had a ways to go it seemed.

Riven looked outside the window, it was nearly dusk. He stood up and returned his pokemon. Aine waved good bye to Irene before being sucked in. "I need to go now, Mrs. Baer. The sun is setting and I want to leave Mauville early tomorrow. I should be heading back. And where can I get a bike? My feet have been trying to murder me recently."

"Central Mauville. Look for Rydell's bicycles." He bowed in thanks. "Bye-bye Gray. If you find my daughter, tell her I miss her and to drop by soon ok?"

"Gladly, Mrs. Baer."

"Please, stop the Mrs. Baer business. You're making me feel old," She joked, rolling her eyes.

Riven smirked. _I'm the ancient one here, heh._ He stepped outside and looked at the bridge in the distance. He was going to dread getting shocked again. Stupid electrike. Why did it have to be so aggressive? _Might as well, I can take a few shocks._ He gathered his courage and stepped off the porch, then instantly stopped when he saw yellow sparks light up the bridge. Grumpy was shooting sparks everywhere. Charles said that electrike spark when storms approached. He slowly glanced upwards, thunderclouds were beginning to form overhead. There _was_ a storm coming. _On second thought, I should just stay away_. Electric pokemon were lightning fodder, he didn't want to get a lightning bolt from the heavens to end his journey abruptly. That would suck. He did an about-face and knocked on Irene's door.

"Oh, you're back. That didn't take long," She commented, noticing the black thunderclouds overhead. "I can see why. Come in, we get storms like that a lot. It isn't safe when Grumpy is near the bridge, or any electric pokemon for that matter. You might get hit and then just like that, we're short another trainer. Cleaning blackened corpses off the ground isn't fun you know."

"I would never have guessed," Riven snarked.

"I can leave you outside," Irene countered.

"No, that's alright. You don't have to do that." Riven shifted his eyes to the sides, trying not to irritate Irene. Sleeping in the rain wasn't pleasant, _especially_ with the eminent fear of cloud to ground lightning fueled death.

"Just come in." She broke into a grin. "LEMME SEE THAT ABSOL AGAIN!" Her eyes flashed and she cackled evilly.

Riven sighed and fed White Queen to Amy's mother. Better her than him. Irene led him to the guest room, which had cream 'qualot' colored walls and a decently sized bed. It was better than the rental rooms at least. Another day rent free would do good for his funds. He nearly melted into the mattress, which seemed to sink with him. _Oh, this is…good_. Aine and Mischief gave in to drowsiness in under five minutes. This was heaven compared to those beds in the rental rooms.

He felt good. No bad dreams, no paranoia, it was great. He savored it, because he had a daunting feeling that he wouldn't have a chance to enjoy it again any time soon. He always had this feeling before things went unbelievably south. It was just a matter of _when_ and _how bad_.

_Oh well, I'll deal with it when it comes, assuming it doesn't kill me first._ He slipped into a deep and relaxing sleep, hearing only faint claps of thunder and the calming sound of running water.


	19. Stranded

Riven was sprawled out on the bed, mouth hanging open, snoring lightly. Mischief was to his left, Aine had fallen to the floor in the middle of the night but didn't wake up. Riven groaned when he felt something fluffy against his right hand. "Uhhhh…is….go…away." He moved his hand in a swatting motion. The fluffiness retreated for a moment, only to return once again. He felt a light breathing on his right hand. Then he swatted it away, hitting something.

White Queen was at the foot of the bed, trying to wake up her stupid human. She appeared to be annoyed. Well, it was common for her anyway but she was still annoyed. She tried the gentle approach but Riven just swatted her nose away. Narrowing her eyes, she called out to him. "Absol." No response. She tried again, this time louder. "Absol." Nothing. She got fed up and drew in a breath. "ABSOL!" An ice beam accidentally hit a lamp in the background and froze it, which fell over and shattered.

"WHAT THE FU-" Riven's heart jumped in his chest. That shattering sound scared him straight out of his sleep and he flailed around like a magikarp before falling right off the bed, crashing down into Aine. He recovered and stood up, looking down at the broken lamp, covered in ice. Riven turned his scowl back to the right side of the bed and saw guilty red eyes staring back at him. His absol looked like a stantler caught in the headlights. "I'm going to have to pay for that aren't I? But I'm up, just like you wanted. For hell's sake, White Queen. Can't you ever try waking me up in a way that doesn't hurt me directly or indirectly?"

She buried her head in her paws. White Queen then tugged on his pants with her teeth. She was pulling him towards something, probably something she wanted him to see. He rubbed morning grogginess out of his eyes, then stretched and yawned loudly. "Want to show me something?" She tugged harder. "Alright. Slow down. I'm coming." She led him over to the living room, where a canvas sat in the middle of the room. He looked at the painting.

It was a portrait of his absol. Irene painted her on a rock, looking towards a setting sun, all regal and dignified. Riven quickly saw why White Queen liked it so much. She struck the pose in the picture, which drew a snort from her trainer. "So that's what you and Irene were doing last night." Then he noticed a foot. He stepped to the side and peered behind the canvas. Irene was sleeping peacefully on the floor, still holding some brushes. She had an apron on that was smeared with paint. Riven wasn't sure whether to nudge her awake or carry her to her bedroom.

Carrying her to her room would be awkward. This was Amy's mom, that was like…taboo. It would be very, very hard to explain if her husband walked in suddenly. Things like that tended to happen at the most inopportune of moments for some odd inexplicable reason. Instead, he left her on the floor. Riven took out some food for his pokemon and served them their formula. As for him, he nibbled on a piece of dried meat and some bread he bought in the market some time ago. He was afraid to dig through Irene's kitchen. He remembered how he set the kitchen on fire in Slateport. That was a proper disaster, which would also then bring some truth to her joke about her kitchen and house spontaneously combusting if he repeated it. And his wallet would definitely _not_ be laughing after he saw the bill.

Just as he was about to finish his last piece of meat, Irene woke up. Riven was on the couch next to her, lazily chewing on a piece of meat like a run of the mill miltank."You're finally up. Overworked yourself there didn't you?" Irene stared at him before realizing how disheveled and unkempt she looked. Her face turned tamato red and she shot up on her feet.

"OH I'M SORRY! YOU MUST BE SO HUNGRY! I'LL MAKE YOU SOMETHING…JUST LET ME GET FIXED UP. I LOOK LIKE CRAP!" She stormed off into her room. She came back a few minutes later, looking a bit more presentable. Women sure loved to look their best. Men didn't really give a damn. Most of the male trainers Riven saw at the pokemon centers woke up with bed hair and stayed that way. The girls were the only ones who didn't look like they wrestled with the sheets. Riven's hair was always straight down, it was really low maintenance, which was good since he didn't have to worry about fixing it so much. Not that he would bother much anyway.

Irene yawned and started cooking something. Riven stood behind her, curiously watching her cook. He wanted to learn, so he wouldn't set another kitchen on fire the next time he tried his hand at any sort of culinary endeavor. It wasn't that bad, or so he originally thought. All he did was put aluminum foil inside this microwave thing, that didn't mean it had to go and _explode_. How was he supposed to know that it would explode if he did that, he pushed some buttons and then KABLOOM. Not his fault, nobody told him_ not_ to do that!

Meanwhile he was reminiscing about his abysmal attempts at civilian employment, Irene was starting to get uncomfortable. "Gray. Can you not stand behind me? It gets me nervous. Amy does it all the time, I don't need you doing it too." She poked him with a finger in the chest, he was a bit bony.

"Oh. Of course." He stepped away and sat down at the table instead, twiddling his thumbs. He didn't have anything to do, so he resorted to rolling around White Queen's pokeball on the table while he watched her admire herself in the painting. The food was ready some time later, he stared at it like a hungry houndour. "What is it?" It looked good, but he never had it before.

Irene looked confused, what kind of child didn't recognize egg when it stared at him in the face? "Scrambled egg and buttered bread. Never tried it before?" He shook his head. "Have you been living under a geodude your whole life?" She crossed her arms, giving Riven an incredulous stare.

"Yes," he replied in a condescending tone.

"Really?" Irene tried not to smirk.

Riven's glare could pierce steel.

Irene chuckled. She was pulling his leg, he was so serious that it was essentially impossible not to mess with him. Irene could just imagine what kind of conversations he had with Amy. Or lack of conversation. That girl was a motor mouth at the best of times. She giggled thinking about it.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Oh nothing, just thinking about something highly unlikely."

Gray shrugged and started to eat. He was glad he was eating something other than dried meat, it got old quickly. He finished his plate in minutes; in fact, it took more time for Irene to make it than for him to devour it. He was embarrassed to ask for more, he wasn't even half satisfied. Irene gently flicked him on the head.

"You can ask for more. I can tell you're hungry, besides, you're not a ten year old boy. You need more calories than a little egg and bread. Don't be afraid to ask ok?" Sheesh, it was like talking to one of Amy's friends back when she was still in school. Gray didn't seem familiar talking to other people at all. He was awkward and stiff, like he hadn't spoken to a girl in a very, very, long time. Or possibly ever. She muttered "boys" under her breath and shook her head.

"Thank you." Irene was very motherly, even though she still looked very young for her age. It was something Riven never experienced with his mother, she was always too busy to deal with him, or he was always caught up in lessons. He grimaced, he never really spent much time with his parents now that he thought about it. The thought was depressing. Riven shook his head, he didn't want to think about that right now. It didn't matter.

He talked with Irene for some time, then left around noon to go buy a bicycle. As pleasant as Irene was, he had to continue on. He did promise to check up on Amy though, and that he'd return for a full portrait with him and his pokemon. She hugged him good-bye and Riven couldn't help but smile. If only he had this as a kid, then maybe he would have turned out differently. But the world was different then, just like it was now. All he could do was adjust and hope that nothing felt like killing him anytime soon. With luck, it would lay off for a few days, then come back and bite him in the ass in a week or two.

* * *

Riven arrived in front of a shop with bicycles of all different assortments and colors outside. Trainers came in and out of the store, holding onto their own. _They must be a serious relief for the legs. Sword wounds have nothing on bloody blisters. Seriously, NOTHING._ He stepped inside, unsure of what bike he wanted. He looked around-all of the bikes were under five thousand-which was a good thing. He could afford it. As Riven was looking around, a particular bike caught his eye. It was a silver color and had thin wheels, and a sleek frame as well. It looked appealing: lightweight, aesthetically pleasing, and ergonomic . A store helper noticed what he was looking at. "Ah, that's a GX 135. Fastest Mach bike model available, only true speed demons get that. Scares the pants off casuals anyday, I only recommend it for serious bikers and danger seekers. You can go up to 50 mph at full blast. And it can even handle rougher terrain too. I can see you're eyeing it, you sure you can handle it?"

"It looks nice. And fast is good. Faster means less time wasted, it would be more efficient." Being the most efficient as possible was the best option in every situation. It got things done. He hated being slow. This was also a reason why he hated shopping malls in the current time. People walked so damn _slow_, he felt like stabbing everything in a five foot radius when he had to shuffle behind slow walkers(teenage girls especially irked him, they formed walls to impede passage, something that irritated him beyond belief). He never had this problem in his own time.

"Ok, but I will warn you. It's hard to stop once you get going, if you're not careful, you could hurt yourself. We aren't liable for any damages if you get brain damage or a broken arm or something." Riven had never rode a bicycle before, so he was excited to get his own. He saw the cyclist road when he was having his panic fit a week and a half ago. That wasn't pleasant but he recalled that those bikers were zooming by like lightning, which looked enticing-kind of like surfing. Of course when Brawly tried to teach him how to surf all it did was lead to one too many dunks in the water, until a sharpedo bit his board in half. He didn't go back in the water after that. He felt like keeping his legs, thank you.

Exiting the store with his shiny new bike, he got on it to ride. Then proceeded to fall multiple times. Other trainers laughed at him, a nearly fully grown teenager was embarrassing himself by being unable to ride a bike. It irritated him immensely and he spent the entire after noon teaching himself to ride until he was able to control the damn thing. He had no idea it was that hard to balance on two wheels, but it got remarkably easier once he was able to. What followed was Riven speeding throughout Mauville, having a blast. He was shooting through the city, watching stores and people becoming blurs, traveling along with cars and other cyclists. This was fantastic, now he knew why cyclists went rabid over this sort of thing, the feeling of the wind howling past his ears as he zoomed by and maneuvered around obstacles at high speed was nothing short of pure unbridled freedom.

After speeding through Mauville, he found himself on the same clearing he had been in the first day after his freak out. Except this time, he was actually happy. He still didn't have a purpose, but hell if riding a bike wasn't damn fun.

The next day came and he eagerly rode his bike along route 111. Riven was stopped multiple times by a few trainers, who stood out on the routes waiting for challengers. According to the trainers in the centers, it was a fairly common strategy. Riven found it boring though, he liked being on the move-dawdling was a waste of time. He lost to an ace trainer who had a bird pokemon and a ludicolo, as well as a sableye. He made a mental note of working towards an electric or grass type. Flying types and water types shut down Aine magnificently and ghosts and darks beat Mischief pretty easily. White Queen had a significantly better time facing them but had very little type advantages over them, aside from the ice beam doing twice as much damage to the swellow. He had taught his kirlia thunderbolt, which would be useful in dealing with birds and water pokemon. However, an electric type would be preferable, and there was no way he was catching an electrike after Grumpy. He was going to have to find one elsewhere. Oh, and the magnemite line bored the hell out of him, Riven didn't want one of those.

Although, he did slightly regret teaching Mischief thunderbolt. The little bastard would often shock him for fun, giving him playful but annoying zaps to make him jump. Mischief got quite a kick from it too. He returned him when the shocks irritated him enough, he would let him out when he battled next-served him right. Riven didn't encounter many trainers after he beat a couple others along the route, considering the landscape become more like a valley in between two mountainous areas. Passing through the valley on his bike, he failed to notice a little figure out a ways ahead of him.

"Use rock tomb!" Riven heard, wondering where it came from. He looked to the sides before noticing a chunk of rock jet out from the ground in front of him. He couldn't halt fast enough and his bike collided with the rock, ejecting him from the seat and sending him flying onto the ground ahead. He rolled quite a bit before coming to a stop. His clothes were now stained and dirty, his exposed arms had some pretty nasty scrapes and a rock had cut his cheek during the tumble. Riven's groaned and picked himself up, unsure of what just happened. His vision was a blurry and could only make out a small shape advancing towards him. It looked like a kid.

"Ugh…what the…?"

"Ah! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I d-didn't mean to do that!" The little boy stammered, aware that the attack and collision could have seriously harmed the older boy. He saw the scrapes on his arms-which were bleeding and coated in dirt-before freaking out.

Riven shook his head and focused his eyes, getting a good look of the little devil that caused him to crash. The kid had medium length black hair under a red hat with a pokeball logo and a red jacket. The boy's eyes were a light shade of red and he was tannish, probably due to the region's climate. Riven noticed that he was getting darker too, most notably his arms. It wasn't a bad thing per say but it was different. Riven stared at the boy in a dull, dazed stare before realization loomed within him.

"Wait. I _know_ you." The little boy stiffened and he drew in a nervous breath. Riven narrowed his eyes before his face became full of bitterness. "You're the one that blew up my room with your quilava," Riven spat, nearly acidic in tone. The little trainer's red eyes gazed at the floor for a moment before retreating a safe distance away. Riven wasn't going to hurt him, yet. He needed to assess the damage before deciding whether to break the child or not. He had standards but frankly, this was tauros shit.

"I'm sorry! Nez was just practicing a TM move and then you came really fast and then you crashed and you rolled! I freaked out and I thought you died so I came running and I'm sorry!" The little boy was frantic and he definitely wasn't lying. He genuinely looked concerned. Riven changed his mind reluctantly and decided that the boy wasn't entirely at fault. That is until he turned back to see his bike completely and utterly destroyed. His jaw hit the floor before he got angry.

Riven went on a five minute tirade full of ground punching, rock punting and copious usage of the word _fuck_. He had just gotten that bike _yesterday_. Now it was destroyed beyond repair. The wheels were smashed, the handle bars were twisted and the frame's metal had contorted. First Petalburg and now his GX135? _Oh no, this kid is very dead._ Riven stormed back in the boy's direction, causing said boy to freeze in mortification. The look in his brown eye was downright vicious. "You will pay me." Riven pointed to the top of a cliff above them. "Because if you don't, I will have my kirlia teleport you up there, drop you and watch you become a red splatter on the floor. Then I'll let the murkrow feast on your corpse!" Riven was seething, practically breathing dragon fire at this point.

The little trainer instantly pulled out a wad of cash and held it out. "H-h-how much was the b-b-ike?" His hand was shaking but he still managed to hold eye contact with the outraged trainer.

"Four thousand five hundred," Riven answered coldly. This was a lie of course, the bike was sold to him at three thousand, due to a discount for coming from Littleroot. Extra cash didn't hurt, and the kid owed him for incinerating half of his room back in Petalburg. The boy counted the money and Riven snatched it away with a growl. "Control your pokemon," he spat_. I despise kids._

He turned on his heel and walked off, further towards the end of the valley. He became annoyed when he heard a lighter patter of shuffling feet behind him. He stopped and whirled around to see the small boy and his nuzleaf behind him, the former shaking in terror. The nuzleaf just looked confused, and not at all intimidated. Maybe it's because humans didn't scare pokemon, usually.

"Why are you following me? Leave me be."

"I'm not following you! I need to get to the desert too!" The destructive little boy huffed in response, crossing his arms.

Riven cursed under his breath. "How do you plan on getting through the desert then?"

"There's a guy that takes us through if we pay him. He has a truck." The little boy edged around Riven and started to walk ahead of him.

Riven practically glared daggers into the kid's head every second of the way. The boy kept yelling at him to stop staring at him that way and also kept apologizing for Petalburg occasionally, but stopped after he got fed up with Riven's poisonous gaze. His nuzleaf started playing his leaf, which annoyed Riven and prompted him to send out Aine, which blew out a puff of flame to shut him up. Then both trainers started arguing, their pokemon started arguing and both parties were left exceedingly annoyed with one another. The boy seemed to completely forget about fear at this point, basically daring Riven to do something to him.

"You're a bully!"

"You're a walking disaster area!"

"I should report you to the police!"

"I should throw you off a cliff!"

"Shut it rag face! You're annoying!"

"Listen here you little sh-"

Riven and the little kid were interrupted by an amused older man next to his truck. "So, you two kids gonna get in or am I just standing here like a fool? We gotta go! You know the fee, since both of you headed this way. Ya might also want to stock up on some water and supplies" Both trainers glared at each other before begrudgingly handing over one thousand for the ride through the desert. They got in one last growl before hopping into the back of the truck with a canvas covering. They drove into town and picked up some supplies and protective clothing before heading back up to route 111 and exiting into the desert.

"I hate you," The little boy said.

"Oh, don't worry, the feeling is mutual," Riven countered back.

They exchanged quips back and forth, scaring a girl in her mid teens next to them. She thought they were about to tear each other apart before they abruptly stopped. Then they began exchanging names in a know-your-enemy kind of manner.

Riven started first. "What's your name, devil spawn?"

"Will. What's yours, the Grinch?"

"Gray, like the ashes of your body after I burn it in a fire pit."

"Like your room in Petalburg?"

"I'll cut you."

"You want another rock tomb?"

"Not unless you want a seriously _nasty _case of frostbite. My absol has no qualms about putting people in their place."

"I guess it hasn't found yours yet, a prison."

"The only time I'll go to prison is after they find your mangled body and I'm standing over it."

"Then you'll rot in prison, like you should be."

Both trainers snarled, nearly coming to blows. The boy was surprisingly snarky. He also stopped apologizing and actually expressed joy at torching his room, just to spite him. Riven could respect the boy's quick comebacks and defiance in the face of a larger enemy. Silence fell as both trainers crossed their arms and turned away, falling asleep.

The next day, both of them were talking about their hometowns in what seemed like a knife-edged manner. They were a day and half into the desert. "Where are you from?" Riven asked, glaring at the boy while eating some sweet bread(courtesy of Irene). The kid was eating a sandwich, which he bit into rather viciously.

"Slateport." He responded, mouth full of food, reddish eyes narrowed. He chewed slowly and loudly, clearly trying to piss the older trainer off.

"Littleroot."

"My cousin lives there. She said it's boring and the people are boring. _All_ of them." He faked a cough. Was that a sly shot at him?

"And I've been to Slateport. It's full of snotty and irritating people. Reminds me of _certain_ individuals," Riven hissed, looking straight into Will's eyes.

Then their insult matches came back, _completely_ ignoring the girl next to them, who was terrified. Not even her own brothers fought like this. "Guys, can you please-"

"NO. Shut up!" Both trainers yelled in unison. She cowered in the corner, her wurmple was curled up in terror in her lap with her.

Suddenly, a loud boom was heard. The truck screeched to a halt and the window panel opened up in front of them. The driver turned back to them. "Ah, shit. Tires are shot. Stay here, I'm gonna check it out." The trainers sat in the back, waiting a few minutes for him to return. He appeared at the rear of the vehicle, looking into the canvas covered back. "Some son of a bitch pokemon used stealth rock in the middle of the damn road, now the front wheels are completely gone. I got a bird that can carry two of us back to Mauville, then I can get help."

Oh, Riven didn't like this in the slightest. He knew something downright shitty would happen soon, he just didn't know what it would _be_. But since this was in a desert, it was going to be ten times worse than the norm. It was a guarantee, he knew nothing was going to go according to plan. Multitudes of failed plans rang in the back of his head. Those never ended well, and included gigantic servings of improvisation to work out. S_cyther? Alright, kill them and you might survive. You're stuck in the desert? Better hope you're not shit out of luck._ _And you better hope you have enough water with you._

"So, whose gonna come wit' me?" Both Riven and Will raised their hands, then the girl did as well. The trucker passed over Will and Riven completely, taking the girl's hand. "Ladies first, need to remember chivalry guys! I'll be back in a day, stay here and keep hydrated!" He summoned a pidgeot and he flew off. The girl waved sheepishly.

Riven and Will stood out in the desert heat, looking betrayed, before slowly turning to each other. They exchanged looks of disgust. Yes, things just got worse and they certainly weren't going to get better any time soon. Both of them looked up at the sky before cursing.

"Fuck! I had to get stuck here with you!" Both of them said the exact same thing, which annoyed both trainers.

"Stop copying what I say!"

"You copied me!"

"Whatever, let's just get inside and wait," Riven replied, rolling his eyes and climbing inside the truck.

Will climbed in with a scowl before sitting down. Both trainers peeked out at the desert behind them. It looked like a very long way back. The sweltering air distorted the view of the road, both trainers were unable to see the cliffs. They were miles into the desert and it would take more than a day for the trucker to return. But both of them had a feeling that no one would come back. They just hoped it wasn't right. Bad thing about gut feelings? They usually _are_.


	20. Silicosis

Will sat in the truck, fanning himself with a hand. "It's hot." An understatement, it was searing hot. The air shimmered, making the heat clearly visible. Both boys were already sweating. Riven eyed some sandslash that were making their way across the dunes in the distance, the air distorting their image. Some vibrava buzzed by, startling them both.

"Very astute, Will."

"Go die."

"I will one day. And if no one comes back, we're both going to die really soon," Riven hinted, picturing just how bad this situation could really get. Deserts were a hellish place. Being stuck in one was going to be hard. Surviving? Harder still.

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because whenever I'm around, when things could go wrong, they usually do. And not just slightly, but catastrophically and fatally wrong." Riven noticed this quite some time ago, usually during attempted ambushes that always turned out wrong, or mountain hikes that always ended in rock slides or a wild pokemon attack. Apart from that, a swarm of murderous scyther attacking him on his first day in the future reinforced the notion. It was undeniable at this point. Shit was about to go down in about fifty different shades of _wrong_.

"You don't know that."

"Oh, I do. _Trust me_."

"Why should I?" Will gave Riven a distrusting look while crossing his arms. He was rightly suspicious of a man who threatened to kill him a day ago. At least he had a healthy sense of doubt. That was leaps higher than most trainers.

"Well, at least your parents taught you correctly. But if you chose not to believe me, that's your issue. Just don't complain when I'm correct." Riven hoped he wasn't.

Will rolled his eyes and clambered out of the truck. He squinted due to the bright glaring desert sun and the reflection of its rays on the sand. The temperature was a sweltering 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was only noon. It would get even hotter in the next two hours. Riven joined Will outside, visibly sweating too. He wiped his forehead with his hand, shaking off some of the salty liquid.

The smaller trainer walked to the side of the truck and looked around. "There's sand for miles." Look to the north, sand. Look to the south, sand. West? East? Sand. What's that over there? Fucking sand.

"We're in a desert, did you expect daisies and waterfalls?"

Will huffed at the snide comment. Gray was a jerk."Are all older trainers assholes?"

"You sure you should be using that language?"

"Fuck you."

"Eh, what do I care? I'm not your father. Thank the heavens for that."

"Ugh." Will felt a breeze brush against his face. It was an uncomfortable and dry wind, providing no relief against the desert heat. It didn't feel like the prairie breezes or gentle winds of Petalburg, it was like opening an oven, a rush of hot air. It was a little better than having no wind at all though. "It's kind of windy."

Riven noticed the wind brush against the exposed skin on his arms. He lifted his hands, feeling it further. "You're right. But it's incredibly dry…" Riven felt like he was missing something important here. He thought it would come to him later, so he shoved it to the back of his mind. "Hmmmm, we still got another day to go."

Will looked confused. "Why's that? They left hours ago. They should be back soon." Obviously this Gray bastard was a downer, like those emo kids Will hated back in Slateport. They always sought the negative side of things. That pissed him off.

Riven sighed, this kid knew nothing. "Will, this is a desert." It sounded obvious but the implications of it made the kid's assumption tauros shit.

"Yeah, genius. You said that to me already."

"Think about it." Riven waited, but after receiving a blank stare, he continued with his explanation. "It's hot, and that pidgeot is carrying two people over miles of desert in 103 degree heat. It's going to have to stop to rehydrate and rest. It can't go the full trip that quickly. Plus, the trucker is bringing back vehicles to get us, if it took a day at 90 to get here, it's going to take them a while to get here too. So we may have to stay overnight."

"Out here?"

"Nooooo." Riven placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and waved his free hand in an arc facing the sky. "On the moon." Then gave Will a scowl. "Idiot."

"Asshole."

"You asked a stupid question."

Will hissed and positioned himself under the truck's shade. He was short enough to do it. Riven wasn't, unfortunately. He had to crouch to get under its shade, for now it was too small for him, but later it would get larger with the position of the sun. Will's face twisted in disgust. "Why are you here? This is my spot."

"You don't own the shade. And it's the only spot with some protection from the sun."

"Fine, just don't touch me or anything, you're all sweaty." Will wiped his face with his sleeve, and took off his hat, which was making his head itchy. His hair was damp and his shirt was beginning to accumulate sweat at the collar. Riven noticed.

"So are you."

"Shut up."

Both trainers remained this way for quite a while, before Riven went back to the truck and brought out a mini gallon of water to drink out of. Will was drinking a bottle of water, it wasn't nearly that big. Will caught sight of the gallon and turned back to staring at a sand dune in the distance. Then he did a double take and stared back at it. Riven noticed the smaller boy staring at him and raised a brow.

"What?"

Will pointed to Riven's gallon. "Did you have to bring that much?"

"This? I brought four of those, and several bottles in my bag."

Will's jaw dropped. Either this guy was crazy prepared or went overboard on everything. "WHAT? Why so much?"

"Because I had a feeling something unfortunate and potentially full of suck could happen. And the most crucial thing in a desert is water. Food is well and good, but no water means you slow down. Slowing down means death," Riven stated simply, taking another gulp.

"You're paranoid."

"You have _no_ idea."

It was now three in the afternoon, and the temperature had risen to 107. The winds got a little stronger. Will noticed it and pointed out the change again. "The wind got stronger." He kicked some sand with his foot.

"Yes." Riven drank some water again, staring at the same dune that Will was staring at. He swore it was getting smaller. That feeling of missing something came back again, but stronger. He couldn't quite place it. A sandshrew rolled down the dune into a depression and out of sight.

"Is that dune getting smaller?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Must be the wind."

"Probably."

They sat under the shade a few more minutes, sipping water and eating some snacks to keep hunger away. Meanwhile they were eating, the wind picked up a little more. Sand blew onto the makeshift road, landing at the trainers' feet. Riven munched lazily, staring ahead in a blank daze.

"Hmmm, the wind got stronger. That's most curious…."

Something _still_ didn't feel right. The dune had disappeared and the sands were shifting due to the wind. Riven and Will exchanged glances and continued eating. Then the sand started blowing a little harder, it bothered Will and he cursed at it. Riven wasn't really disturbed and finished his jerky. The wind picked up once again, sand brushing a bit more harshly against their face.

"Why is the wind getting stronger? This is a desert," Will complained, blocking some sand from his face with his sleeve. It was getting annoying and some sand was getting in his sandwiches. "Go away!"

Riven froze. "Wait, wait, WAIT."

"What, what, what?"

"The wind keeps getting stronger."

"Well, duh. It's been doing that."

Riven's visible eye widened and he drank a bigger gulp of water before closing the gallon up in a hurry. "Will, what happens when it gets really windy in the desert?"

"Annoying sand in your face?"

"No. I mean yes!" Riven ran a hand through damp hair and nervously scratched his head. "Oh, shit."

"What? What's going on? Why are you freaking out?"

Riven took out a small pokeball and enlarged it. It opened and White Queen emerged, looking confused. She noticed the desert environment and started to complain. "Ab! Absol, sol-so!" Riven held up a finger and waited. Then, she tensed and sank low to the floor. Her pupil's dilated and her neck stiffened, her horn tingled fiercely. "Absol! Absol! Absol!" Her trainer nodded and returned her. He gulped slowly and cursed.

"What was that about?" Will asked, unaware of the impending danger. Why did he summon his stupid absol anyway?

"Will, get inside the truck. Now," Riven warned, looking out at the desert.

"Why? I don't have to listen to you."

"Now isn't the time to be hostile. This just became serious." Riven's tone unnerved Will, the older trainer's last sentence sent shivers through his spine. "You can hate me all you want, if we want to survive, you are going to listen to me. I've been through this before, and I know what's coming. So work with me, I don't care what you do after."

"F-fine." Will could feel an ominous vibe coming from Gray, it scared him. "What's the danger?"

"Something is coming, something really, really, nasty."

Will quickly hopped into the truck again, joined moments later by the older trainer. Gray started to take out goggles and rags, unwrapping his right eye and counting his water. Will couldn't help but take notice of the sudden change in the guy's behavior. "What's going-"

"Quiet." Will stopped talking. "Will, I need you to be calm. Can you do that?"

"Y-yeah."

"Good, because we're going to need to be very calm."

"Tell me what's going on!" Will demanded, tired of the vagueness and cryptic warnings.

Riven looked at him with both eyes, his brown and blue eye. There was a seriousness in them that indicated that he was not messing around. "There's an enormous sandstorm coming." Will paled, he had heard of the storms from people in Mauville, they were nothing to scoff about. He didn't think he'd get caught in one. He started to panic.

"I told you to be calm!" Riven scolded, holding the boy in place. The winds outside began to pick up further, sand blowing into the road a bit harder now. Will calmed down, still breathing a little harder than usual. "A sandstorm will hit us soon, it's better to stay inside here. That canvas is tough and might protect us, moving about in a sandstorm is dangerous. Any exposed skin might get roughed up by the sand and random rocks can outright end you if they're being flung fast enough."

Riven looked at the boy and then at his bag. "Do you have desert goggles and a bandana with you?"

Will nodded. "Yeah." He dug through his bag and took them out.

"Alright. Put them on. Make sure the bandana is tight and covers your nose and mouth. The goggles will protect you from any sand getting in your eyes." Riven put on his own. "Wear your jacket, don't take it off. Cover as much skin as best you can. Also, drink water now." The boy listened and drank more water than usual. The wind started to whip against the canvas.

"It's going to be loud, it's going to be dark. Breathe slowly. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, but why?"

"Sand is going to be everywhere, if you breathe too quickly, you could inhale it and clog your lungs with sand. Then you'll choke and die. It's not a pleasant way to go. Even if you do survive, you might have trouble breathing for a while. If you breathe slowly and hold the bandana tight around your mouth, you should be fine. Wet it first though." Riven pointed at his backpack. "Use that to cover your face, it will lessen exposure to sand. And one last thing, make sure to keep warm, it's going to get _very_ cold."

Will nodded furiously and put on his jacket and pulled over his hood, pulling on the strings to tighten it. Riven did the same with his hoodie and used some cloth that the trucker had in the back to cover his arms. Sand traveling at high speed chafed and scratched skin ruthlessly and painfully, he didn't want to live through that. He also needed to keep as warm as possible, the sand would block out the sun, which would cause the temperature to plummet. Hypothermia could kill just as well as dehydration.

The wind began to howl and Riven peered outside momentarily, seeing a wall of dust hundreds of feet high rapidly approaching them. He turned back to the frightened young boy and motioned for him to calm down. "It's coming. Brace. It might hit the truck hard. It's one of the biggest I've ever seen." Riven retreated next to Will and held on, hearing the wind steadily increase in volume. It howled and screeched before the roaring of sand could be heard. Both trainers breathed in and prepared themselves.

The sandstorm passed over them and hit the truck with a slam. Sand poured inside the back, coating both trainers from head to toe in sand. The howling of wind blocked out any and all sound, Riven reassured Will with a grasp from his right hand, lightly squeezing to calm him down. The sand kept assaulting the interior and eventually, the truck began to creak and tilt. Riven and Will held their breath, unable to suspect what would happen next. The wind slammed back into the truck, harder this time, tilting it and sending it over into a dune.

It rolled and flipped, tossing Riven and Will around inside, leaving them bruised in various places. The sandstorm still didn't let up, both trainers lay flat on their stomachs now, watching the sandstorm wreak havoc outside. The truck had flipped over and was now upside down. Riven and Will would have to crawl out of the space now. They had minor injuries and their supplies were entirely intact. However, Will's pokenav had fallen out in the tumble and was currently being buried by the barrage of sand outside.

The storm continued on for quite some time. It was terrifying, seeing nature create such freakish storms. It made human destruction look miniscule and petty in comparison. The canvas had been damaged and was ripped in places. There was no way the truck would be useful again. Sand got into the engine parts and exhaust pipes. It was completely dead. The temperature had dropped significantly and visibility was next to nothing. After the storm stopped, Will and Riven crawled out. They stood up and kept their masks on, the air was still heavy and thick with dust.

"What now? I-I-It-t's freezing!" Will said, teeth chattering.

Riven opened up his pokenav, asking Will to find the temperature gadget. It would take him too long to find it himself, so he had the younger boy do it. He did and the reading was at a twenty eight degrees Fahrenheit. Riven was shivering himself, having much lighter clothing and no jacket, unlike Will. It was incredibly dark, and even he had trouble seeing much of anything. The only light anywhere was the pokenav's screen. They needed a fire.

Taking out his knife, Riven cut away strips of the canvas for future use before Will lit up some flammable items with a lighter. They sat in one spot and huddled around the small fire, it kept the cold away, even though it wouldn't last long.

Will spoke first, breaking the eerie silence. "So what happens now?"

"Let's wait until morning." Riven grimaced, he was going to hate breaking the news to the boy. He was going to hate what would come next even more though. His pokenav was on low battery. They used it as a light source and the sun wouldn't shine through the dust cloud for a day or more. It was likely going to die soon. And the lack of sun would prevent them from charging it.

Morning came, less dusty but still cold. A bit warmer, which was an improvement, but by no means good. The day was as cold as night, and it would get even colder in the night if things continued this way. Luckily, most of the dust cloud was dispersing, but visibility was still at critically low levels.

Will tugged on Riven's shirt. "Can't we just use a fire pokemon to keep us warm?"

"No."

"Why?"

"If they breathe in the sand, they can choke too. We also have to conserve our water and food from now on."

"What? You're saying that like…."

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." Riven hesitated, but persisted anyway. The kid had to face reality. This was going to be struggle for survival. "Will, no one is coming. This time for sure. No one on a bird goes out in the middle of sandstorms and a dust cloud. It's suicide. They won't come until it clears and until the sandstorms pass. It might be days before the cloud disperses completely, and who knows if another sandstorm might hit. If there's flooding, it's even worse."

"Floods?"

"Yes. They occur often. And fast. If we get caught in one, we need to get to the highest possible ground and hope lightning doesn't hit us." Will didn't imagine ending up in a place like this. He was trembling, thinking about his parents and his sister back home. He started to think about death and was an inch away from crying when Riven shook him.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"I know what you're thinking. Cut it out. We have to try and survive this the best we can. No way am I dying out here. You got a family right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then stop it. This is what happens in the wild, you're a trainer, you better get used to it. Life is not sunshine and rainbows. This is your reality check, be glad it happened sooner rather than later." Riven's tone could cut through ice. It was harsh but necessary. Trainers had to know what they were getting into. The world was not a safe place, they had to accept that. They were lucky they didn't go through what he did, and with fortune, they would never have to.

Will looked down to where his feet were supposed to be when he felt droplets on his back. He was about to speak up before Gray told him to pack his things and hurry the fuck up. Gray stuffed the mini-gallons in his bag and carried others over his back on a strap before jolting Will upwards. They ran frantically to the highest dune they could find.

Water began pouring down, filling the inside of the pit they were stuck in. The water completely engulfed the truck and a rising pool of water began to approach them. Gray dragged Will along at high speed, running up the dune to avoid the water.

Riven cursed. _Fuck, fuck, fuck. Need to move. Can't let the water get to us. _He reached the top of the dune and let Will catch his breath. The water stopped ten feet below them. They both waited for the water to recede before sighing in relief.

"That was a flash flood?"

"Yes."

"That was freaking scary."

"Tell me about it." Cold and wet was just a formula for hypothermic death. The water could suck out the heat from a body and make conditions even worse than they already were. The water was also undrinkable due to being infested with sand particles. Not to mention the danger of falling in a basin and drowning. This was turning out to be a nightmare, both for him and for Will.

A few hours later and some sunlight managed to sneak through some of the dust. It was still extremely dark but Riven could see somewhat and was acting as Will's guide, who couldn't see a thing. The temperature rose slightly but remained largely unchanged, the dust was still too concentrated to be able to breathe safely. The water had gathered in basins and pits and their clothes had partially dried already. Riven's pokenav had also died. They were completely guideless, no stars to keep track off, no GPS, and no road to follow. It had been swept away by the sandstorm. All that was left was sand.

The pair had no idea what way was north to Lavaridge and decided to walk in a direction. Any fucking direction. It was better than waiting for help that wasn't going to come for days if not weeks. They walked for a few hours, seeing some dry plants scattered about. Riven gathered the brush and stuffed it into his bag. It would be useful fuel for burning. They resumed walking for even more time, until they decided to rest and start another small fire with the brush they had collected.

Riven and Will sat on opposite ends of the fire, staring into the flames. Will chuckled. The older boy looked at him with a confused expression behind his goggles and mask."What's with the laugh?"

"It's funny."

"What is?"

Will continued chuckling, holding out his quilava's pokeball. "You know, I never wanted to be a trainer." He had always wanted to be a racer. Like those guys who drove really fast cars and raced around Slateport. That looked really cool.

Riven's eyebrows climbed nearly to his hairline, even if Will couldn't quite see his facial expressions and vice versa. "Really? Then why are you a trainer?" If he didn't want to be one, then why was he even doing it now? Much less collecting badges.

"Mom forced me." He stopped playing with the pokeball, only holding it and staring at it. His foot kicked a bit of sand out of the way.

"Why would she do that?"

"You remember when I blew up your room in Petalburg?" Will asked, trembling from the cold, tightening his hoodie again.

"Are you mocking me or asking me a legitimate question?" It didn't sound like mocking. Of course he remembered, no one forgets nearly jumping out of their skin after a wall next to them decides to explode.

"Second one."

"Then yes, I do remember."

"Well, imagine that, but like every week." Will looked down at his feet with shame.

Riven paused, thought about it, and winced. "Yes, if I was your mother, I'd ship you off to become a trainer too. Do you always randomly set things on fire?"

"I don't try to! It's just…Quil loves setting things on fire."

"That's your quilava correct?"

"Yeah…"

"Sounds like he has an obsession with fire. Isn't surprising. My combusken sets things on fire when she's excited." Slateport came to mind. Also, part of Irene's hair. He didn't want to think about the untold destruction she would cause if she became a blaziken and didn't mellow down.

"Quil does it for fun." Riven gave him a skeptical glance, even through the goggles and facemask. Will continued, "He laughed when he set an abandoned cottage on fire."

"Joyful laugh or?"

"More like mua-ha-ha-ha."

"A fire type with pyromania. That's a dangerous mix. Could lead to…mishaps." Accidental forest fire anyone? How about accidental burning building?

"Yeah." Will paused and Gray stayed silent, until the older boy suddenly stated something strange.

"My kirlia's a pervert." Will wasn't expecting that. He thought his team was weird. Maybe all trainers had strange pokemon.

"Really?"

"Yes. He shoves his face in whatever modestly sized chest he can find. He also uses psychic to lift skirts. That's one of the reasons why I didn't let him out in Slateport. There's only so many slaps a man can take before his cheek falls off." Riven snorted and Will snickered also. It was ironic, having two people making jokes and laughing while they were caught in one of the worst situations imaginable, next to being stranded in the ocean.

The laughs died down and Will looked up at Riven. "How did you become a trainer?"

"Accident."

"How does that work?"

"I was looking around Littleroot and had my absol and kirlia following me around. They weren't mine at the time and only followed me because I was a food source. Birch saw me and then signed me up for the league without even letting me get a say in the matter. Then I saw the opportunity that training presented so I took it and went traveling since. It's a pleasant change of pace. And battles are satisfying." Training was a nice excuse to travel and actually gave him something he _could_ do, which was beat other trainers into the ground and take their money.

"Yeah, they are."

Both trainers then stood silent for a while. Riven looked up at the orange sky and sighed."We should get some sleep, stay close to the fire. We need to cover more ground tomorrow." Will nodded and both of them huddled close to the fire again. They fell asleep quickly.

They spent the next few days walking and making camp fires while the dust started to clear. It was rapidly getting hotter again and they started to sweat again. They could breathe better now and didn't need the facemask so much, but they still wore the goggles to keep sand out of their eyes. Will had managed to fall in a quicksand pit and Riven lost his pokenav trying to save him. At least Will managed to capture a trapinch by smacking one with a pokeball. He got angry and maximized the pokeball before chucking it randomly. Somehow it hit the trapinch and caught it. Will rejoiced for much of the day after that.

"I'm going to name it Maximus Prime!" Will announced, raising the great ball in the air with a triumphant tone. He looked overjoyed at the fact that he randomly chucked a pokeball and managed to catch a pokemon. Riven wished he had that luck. Then again, Will was also stuck in the desert with him. Maybe it wasn't worth it, he took back the wish instantly. The universe could have been listening.

"Calm down there. Maximus Prime is a mouthful. And what if it's a female?"

"Fine, Rika."

"That sounds much shorter. I approve."

"I wasn't asking for your approval."

"Alright, fine. It's your pokemon. Let's keep walking. Don't have to get so defensive."

"My feet hurt."

"I know. Keep walking."

* * *

It was day six and the sun was scorching hot. Both of the trainers were red in the face and sweating profusely. Will was about to take a huge gulp of water when Riven's hand stopped him.

"What the hell! I need to drink water!"

"Don't be stupid. Drink small sips instead of huge gulps. It makes the water last longer and can save you later on. Conserve your water. And don't discard the water bottles when they're empty."

"Why the water bottles?"

"In case we ever need any…extra hydration."

It took a few moments for Will to understand what Gray was implying. Oh no. He had seen this on Man vs Wild. He was…no. "You are not going to tell me what I think you're going to tell me." Gray formed a ghost of a smirk before taking a sip of water. He looked back at will before saying what Will hoped he wouldn't say.

"Urine has water in it."

The younger trainer's face fell into a mix of horror, disgust, and incredulous gaping. He couldn't think about drinking his own piss, it was yellow and icky. "Doesn't it taste awful?" He shuddered thinking about such a thing. It smelled terrible, so it must taste terrible too.

"Will, sometimes we need to do things to survive. Many of those things aren't going to be pleasant. But it's better than being dead. And they do make for impressive survival stories."

Will looked downwards and started to complain. Riven shook his head and just kept walking. The sand was blazing hot, the heat could be felt even through their shoes. Both of them had been walking on blisters and the heat made the rubbing unbearably worse. They stuffed rags inside to reduce the rubbing. It seemed to help and made walking bearable. They couldn't stop, or else the sun would bake them even further. There was no shade anywhere, just sand and dry brush here and there. However, the desert pokemon didn't seem to mind.

They crossed into an area of the desert that was a bit more rocky than the sandy dunes behind them. There was more vegetation there and burnable brush but the temperature was by no means cooler. Strange shaped cacti were motionless and spread out around the area. Of course they were motionless, they were just a bunch of cactus. Riven and Will eyed them strangely, getting goosebumps and an uneasy feeling when around them.

Night descended and they set up a fire as usual, using the collected brush from earlier. They sat silently next to the fire, the night was colder than usual. The heat of the fire helped ease the cold. They would have to collect much more if they wanted to travel further. Will and Riven more filling meals. They couldn't take on pokemon by themselves, and they didn't want to waste more water on their pokemon. The pokeballs protected them from the conditions of the desert. Plus, if their pokemon got hurt, there wouldn't be a center for miles. Then they could die from blood loss or poison. Both of them didn't want to risk that.

Will took out a jar of peanut butter. Riven stared at it. "What is it?"

"Peanut butter. It's a good trainer food. Lots of people told me to get it, it has protein and fat which is good for someone in the wild. Try it." Will let Gray get a spoonful and watched him taste it. He waited to see his reaction. Gray simply nodded in approval.

"It's sticky but it has an agreeable taste. Not too bad at all." It did taste good, Riven would have to buy some the next time he encountered a market. If it was as useful as other trainers made it out to be, it would prove an invaluable source of nourishment for any extended period of time in the wilderness. "You should save it, don't eat too much."

"I know. You scolded me for that already, _dad_." He took a spoon of peanut butter and put the jar back into his bag. Will then turned around and stared behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up, so were the ones on his arms. And it wasn't just from the cold.

"What?"

Will turned back to Gray and shifted his eyes around the surrounding area. "You ever get the feeling that you're being watched?" It was like someone or something was watching them. From _every single direction_. And not just any small little sandshrew or trapinch either.

"Will. On a scale of completely alone to the entire bloody desert feels like it's watching us, it feels like the latter option right now. I know what you mean, but I can't see anything moving about." The light from the fire made it difficult to make anything out, only a bunch of cactus, rocks, and plants. Nothing was moving out there... why did it feel like something was watching them? "You know what? Let's sleep in shifts. You sleep for a bit and I'll keep watch. Then you watch and I'll get some sleep. I'll take the early ones."

"Ok." Will didn't want to argue with him, he felt creeped out. He didn't want something to kill him in his sleep either, at least with another person awake they stood a chance. Will curled up next to the fire and fell asleep.

Riven's paranoia came back full force and he surveyed the surrounding darkness with extreme vigilance. He took out his knife and kept it close to him. Anything that came after them was going to take a stab to the jugular. Whether it be pokemon or man. He wasn't taking chances. He kept watch for a couple of hours, then nudged Will awake for his shift. Riven slept until morning, until the sun rose and started to bake the land again. Will shoved him awake, looking nervous and jittery.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

The smaller boy pointed towards the direction of the dunes."Is it just me, or did some of the cactus move?" He swore that they moved. Maybe Gray's paranoia was contagious.

Both trainers looked around the surrounding area. Some of the strangely shaped cactuses appeared to look closer. Or were they? Were they there before? They weren't sure. They exchanged looks and packed up quickly. They didn't plan on sticking around to find out. Their paranoia meters were on overcharge now and they wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

"Let's get moving, this place feels wrong."

"No kidding. That was the most paranoid I've ever felt in my life," Will stated, twitching after he remembered last night.

Riven nodded and made a mental note of his remaining water. He was glad he brought along excess, which certainly made a difference. It's a good thing he was overly paranoid and always packed more than he needed most of the time. If he hadn't, he'd be in a much dire situation than he was in now. However, Will didn't bring quite enough with him. He was down to his last bottle. Soon, he would run out of water. Their food supply was also dwindling quickly and dangerously low. They would have to tear into the pokemon food if this kept up. The longer they spent, the more they would have to ration.

They had to get out of this place, the clock was ticking.


	21. Warnings

"Gray, can I ask you a question?"

Riven didn't even look at him, he just kept shuffling his feet forward in the desert heat. Both of them were walking slower than they had before, partially to avoid disturbing the terrible blisters they'd developed and partially because of exhaustion. Will dragged along a little slower.

"Fire away," Riven said, waving a hand airily.

"What's your name?"

Riven scrunched his face before turning back to Will with a questioning look. His name was Gray. Will knew this, why was he asking stupid questions? Maybe he was trying to annoy him. Seemed like it.

"It's Gray, you knew that already."

Will scoffed and wiped off some sweat from his face before it went into his eye. The little boy was more intuitive than most people, his parents always said that. He would see things that others didn't. "That's a fake name isn't it?" 'Gray' stood a little straighter and paused for a moment. _Gotcha_. "I knew it. You don't even have to tell me, your reaction told me everything I needed to know."

Riven looked at the little boy, a bit impressed. _People watching is one of his hobbies too huh, trainers should take some notes from him._ "You're pretty sharp. I thought it was just comebacks and general snarks but it seems you're pretty intelligent. How old are you? Ten?"

Will huffed, "I'm thirteen, almost fourteen."

"Oh. You're pretty short." Riven thought Will was younger. At his age, he was pretty tall. But at that age, he was learning how to stab a guy in the throat, not training pokemon. Aging went by quick. His parents being rather tall helped as well.

"My parents aren't that tall, it isn't my fault. You know genes and stuff." His dad was only 5'7, and his mom was 5'4. There was a very slim chance he'd make it to six feet like Gray. Actually, Will had seen eighteen year olds before, they certainly didn't look like him. If he hadn't told him his age, he'd still think Gray was in his twenties or something. Maybe it was that blank expression he always wore, it made him look older.

Riven had no idea what genes were, so he didn't mention it. That was Steven's department, not his. That lecture back in Rustboro was supposed to be introductory biology, and it still went over his head."Regardless, I'm surprised you caught my alias. What gave it away?"

Will chuckled loudly. "Gray? Really? Come on. What kind of sick parents name their kid after such a boring color? It's so dull! Even black has more spirit. Seriously, what's your name?"

Riven sighed. Amy said the exact same thing. Gray was indeed a dull color but he liked it because it was simple and unassuming. Easy to remember. He should have named himself something like Nathan or Eric. People from this time were infatuated with those kinds of names. 'Riven' was an oddity around here. "Real name is Riven."

"Riven? It sounds cool. What's it mean?"

"Don't know. No one ever told me."

"Not even your parents?"

Riven felt resentful as he thought about his parents. Irene reminded him of how... marginal his parents really were. He never felt warmness from them, only lectures, scoldings, and lessons. In the brief time he had known Irene, she acted like more of a mother than his did. It pissed him off but felt the anger fade away just as quickly as it came. He exhaled soberly. "My parents wouldn't even have the decency to give me the time of the day."

Will noticed that he might have struck a nerve. He backed off, it wasn't worth fighting with him in the middle of a desert anyway. "Sorry."

Riven shrugged. Instead, he just motioned the boy to continue walking. "It's fine, not your issue anyway." Riven looked up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. Today, he would have to get a good look at the sky and try to find the north star. Then he could use it to find a way to Lavaridge. Hopefully they were near the exit, even near Mauville would be preferable.

"I think you should stick with Gray though."

Riven raised a brow. "Why's that? You calling me dull?"

Will snickered. "Am I?"

"Well, if that's what you're implying, then you're not the first to tell me that."

"That's not what I meant though."

"Then what did you mean?"

Will shook some dust out of his hair and drank a little bit more water."It fits you I guess. I can't really explain why. Riven sounds pretty cool and all but Gray sounds simple, and it's easy to remember."

"Yes, it is."

"Why _did_ you use a fake name? You're not a criminal are you?" It could explain his tendency to threaten things. Will squinted at him.

Riven stared at Will for a moment. He should know perfectly why he was using an alias. Riven recognized that he was more jumpy than a Skitty at night.

Will brought a palm to his face after realizing who he was talking to. "That paranoia is a serious problem."

"It saved us with the water. Speaking of which, how much are you down to?"

Will took out a single bottle. He grimaced as he noticed that in a day or so his supply would be finished. He caught Riven's look and shifted his gaze elsewhere. "I'm not going to ask to have some of your water. It's yours." It was more out of pride than anything, he hated asking for things.

Riven walked up to him and smacked the boy upside the head. "When you run out, tell me. I don't mind sharing. I'm not going to leave you out here so the desert can turn you into a mummified corpse. I can't snark to a dead corpse. That would be boring."

Will rubbed his head and accepted silently. Maybe Riven wasn't too bad for a jerk after all. But he was still a jerk. They still hadn't left the rocky part of the desert yet and those weird cactus things were everywhere, he still felt uneasy around them. Will was fixated on the older boy's blue eye."Why don't your eyes match? One is blue and the other is brown, what's with that?"

Riven thought about it, he didn't really know. He did get a lot of shit for it back when he was a little boy. People kept calling him illegitimate or something. "I was just born that way." It was all he could say. After all, everyone back home thought he was some kind of bastard. No one here did. Although, they did stare quite a bit.

"Pretty weird. Which one is the odd one?"

"The brown one."

"Really? So your parents both had blue eyes?"

"Yeah. When I came out with a brown eye, everyone lost their minds. That's why I cover it up. Some find it intimidating or unnerving. I scared a girl away with it in Petalburg, right before you torched my room."

Will pretended to whistle, but he failed pretty badly. Riven didn't want to tell him he had a crazed bloodthirsty thing in his mind and that his eye turned blood red at random intervals for reasons he still didn't quite know of yet. It sounded very unlikely. It would be best if he never found out. Will didn't speak anymore so they continued shuffling along through the desert heat. Night would come soon.

When the sun went down and the temperature plummeted, they did their usual routine of setting up a fire and such. It was pretty much a standard, except the feeling of being watched came back again. Riven and Will were jumpy as all hell, looking behind them every few seconds. Riven looked up into the sky and found the polar star. He drew a line in the sand to indicate the direction that north was in.

Riven flipped open Charles. The pokedex's blue lights lit up and he was greeted by a smooth voice. "Hello sir, it has been quite a while since you last requested my services."

Riven cracked a smile.

"Indeed."

"What is the occurrence?"

"Oh, you know. The usual."

"What's trying to murder you this time, sir?"

Will's interest piqued. Who was Riven talking to? He moved to the side and saw him talking to…his pokedex? "Are you talking to a pokedex?" Maybe he was insane after all. He heard that crazy people talked to inanimate objects. The desert heat was getting to him, most likely.

Charles' lights flashed. "Ah. I see you have company. I am Charles, an A.I."

Will was surprised that the pokedex talked like it could think and reason. He actually recoiled back. It acknowledged him, that was freaky.

"Is that a new model? Mine doesn't do that."

"Affirmative. I am one of the newest models. I am a product of collaboration between Devon, Silph, and the Institute of Technology in Castelia City. May I ask your name, trainer?" Riven rolled his eyes.

"I'm Will."

"Hello, Will."

"You sound like a person."

"Well, that is the purpose of my programming. My creators wanted my model line to connect with trainers on their travels, and to give them someone to talk to in the wilderness. I am still programmed with the functions of a normal pokedex however."

"That's so damn cool!" Will looked at Riven, who seemed amused with the kid's exchange with Charles. "How'd you get a new model? You're poorer than dirt." He only had a standard pokedex model, not some awesome AI that could talk and hold a conversation.

"Ah, I believe I can answer that," Charles stated. "He received me from the lab in Littleroot, which belongs to Professor Birch. He is a good friend of the Devon CEO Steven Stone, so naturally he would receive the first models. In truth, the AI models are still experimental and not available to the public. My owner is actually a test Rattata for this sort of thing."

Riven scowled, he had a feeling he was being used.

"Maybe I can get one too, in the future."

"Perhaps. The companies hope that the AIs are successful. If they are, they can be used for multiple purposes, facilitating computations and boosting the performance of technology." Charles made a brief pause. "Sir, am I successful?"

Riven thought about it. Charles might be a computer whatever but he certainly seemed humanlike. "I think so. You definitely seem human, you can think and feel. I know it because you've given me some snark in the past."

"Sorry, sir, but it seems to rub off. You're no saint." Charles made a digital cough sound. "I meant no disrespect of course." He coughed again.

"Well… I am a bit of an asshole." Riven had to admit it. Nearly everyone in the military was a full on asshole or a watered down asshole_. Comes with the profession, I guess._

Will saw an opportunity, he took it. "Tremendous."

"Shut up."

Charles chuckled. "Sir, it seems you may have met your match."

"You didn't hear the verbal battles we had some time ago, Charles. I won of course."

"Bullshit!" Will retorted. "I destroyed you!"

"Right," Riven teased. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"It sounds like they were very enjoyable. I wish that I had the chance to listen to them." Charles was curious as to where his owner was currently located. He did not have a GPS function like the pokenavs, so he was unaware of their current position in the Hoenn region. "Anyway, where are you sir?"

Riven saw Will shrug in a way of saying _tell-him-if-you-want-I-don't-care._ "We're in the desert in the middle of route 111." The worry in Charles' strange silence was almost palpable. He said nothing for a full minute. He knew his owner well enough, he was definitely in a life threatening situation. Considering he had company, it wasn't loneliness. That meant that his owner was stuck in the worst possible desert scenario possible.

"Sir, what part of the desert are you _in_?" His tone was serious and full of concern. Will and Riven felt that what he was about to say next would make their already sour mood even more sour. "Describe it to me._ In detail_."

Riven looked around. He began describing the surrounding area. "There's rocks, some vegetation, boulders, wild Sandshrew, and sand. Lots of sand. Sand everywhere. Did I mention there was sand?"

"Are there any cacti?"

"Yeah... Some of them are spiky and standing straight. There are some others though. Look pretty strange."

"What do they look like? Tell me."

"Ummm, it looks like they have strange pyramid shaped tops. They don't have as much spikes on them as the others do. Also, they're green. But that goes without saying."

Charles was deathly silent before saying three words that made electricity crawl down both trainers' spines. "Those aren't cacti."

Riven and Will's hearts skipped a beat. "What." They both squinted at one of the strange cacti, unable to discern it from the more regular looking ones.

"Sir, you and Will need to get out of the desert at all costs."

"We kind of knew that with the sun baking us all day long."

"Don't stop. Don't fall behind. And whatever you do, do not move at night. Move in the day, stay close to the fire at night, they won't approach."

"Who won't approach?" Will asked, more than a little frightened at the pokedex's chilling warning.

"Cacturne." Both trainers glanced at the strangely shaped cacti. There were _dozens_ of them. They couldn't fight them all off. They had fire pokemon but what would be the use if they couldn't see two feet in front of them?

"What's so dangerous about them?" Riven asked, he figured the same thing Will had. Take out a bunch of fire pokemon and roast them.

"They stalk travelers until they fall victim to the desert heat. Then they eat them." Alright, not so bad. "Also, once they have prey in mind, they don't stop following you."

Well then.

Both trainers let out a string of curses foul enough to challenge a Muk. Desert, sandstorms, floods, and now stalking cactus? Amazing. Will groaned and glared daggers at Riven. "Does this _always _happen to you? My travels had been fine until you showed up! Now we can't go a day without something trying to murder us!"

"I got attacked by a swarm of Scyther on my first day." Both as a trainer, and in the future. It was symbol from the heavens for sure. Fate treats you like its personal butt Mankey.

Will winced. So this was a regular thing for him. His paranoia wasn't misplaced after all, everything _was_ trying to kill him. But maybe not to this degree, even _nature_ wanted them dead right now. "That _really _sucks."

"Ten days in the hospital strapped to a bed. Not fun in the tiniest of ways." Riven stared into the flames, holding his hands out to warm them. "Besides, you're a walking disaster area and I'm a doom magnet, what did you think would happen?"

Will sighed. "Good point. What should we do then?"

Charles gave some monumental advice. "Survive."

Both trainers frowned, they weren't even surprised. Some help that was. Will spoke up, voicing his annoyance. "So, try not to die from dehydration and don't move at night because freaky cactus pokemon want to eat us. Then we have to sleep through them watching us, that won't be hard _at all_." Riven nodded in agreement. He flipped Charles closed again.

He pointed at Will. "Enough talk. Sleep. You know the routine." Will did as he was told. He had some trouble falling asleep but managed it after thirty minutes of turning. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

The next few days after that left them in a perilous situation. They were down to Riven's last little mini-gallon. Sharing water between the two of them had finished the rest of his water pretty quickly. The last gallon was only half full too. It didn't even look like they were even remotely close to the exit. Just some more desert for miles ahead. They had drunk their own…urine too. It was gross but necessary. They had tried to dig a hole in the ground to try and find water but it just left their hands roughed up and bleeding. Even through bleeding they were losing water, so they stopped that too. Rika had no luck finding water either. Riven tried to cut open some cactus(that weren't Cacturne) but found that the liquid in them tasted even more foul than urine did. Needless to say, they refrained from doing that again.

They trudged along the harsh desert ground, a weak gait instead of a solid walk. They were sunburned and the sweat and dust had dried in their hair, turning it white and pasty. Their clothes had grown stiff due to the sweat and their feet felt like hell. Their conversations were barely coherent anymore.

Riven walked further ahead before he noticed that the shuffling of feet had stopped behind him. He turned around, feeling a bit nauseous. Will stood in place, holding his head. His face was red and he kept swinging back and forth. "Will. What are you doing? Get a move on."

"Riv…en…I…feel…dizzy. I just w-want to rest." Then, he crumpled to the ground, falling face first into the sand. Riven ran up to him. The heat had gotten to him. He was a child, Will was much more susceptible to heat stroke than he was. He grabbed the water gallon and opened his mouth, pouring some of the liquid into the younger trainer's mouth.

"Will, wake up. We can't stop, come on. Wake up." He slapped him, but the boy was still out of it. He needed some time to get that water through his system. He picked him up and carried him. He continued walking along the rocky ground, giving the boy some water in intervals. The gallon had emptied and they no longer had a fresh supply of water. The urine was undrinkable at this point. It was dark and smelled worse than a rotting corpse. Eventually, after another few miles of aimless wandering, Riven hit the sand too.

* * *

The sound of droplets stirred Riven awake_. _A cool feeling came over his skin. It felt like water. It was impossible, he was in the desert. There was no way. He thought the Cacturne would have gotten to him and Will at this point. There wasn't water for miles. He shakily got onto his feet and nearly cried in joy after seeing a pool of water around him. He tasted it. Fresh, cold water. He lapped it up like a parched hound. "Water… sweet drink of the gods. But how?"

"_I can answer that_," A strange ethereal voice said. Riven turned around impossibly fast, crouching with his knife held out. He saw Will and a large _thing_, with pink eyes that levitated off the ground next to him. Will's eyes were glowing blue.

"What are you doing to him? Answer me!" He tried to reach where he kept White Queen's pokeball but found that all his pokeballs were missing. _Fuck. There goes that option._

Will's mouth opened and the voice spoke. "_If you are looking for your devices, they are in the other room. We took them for good measure, your friend mentioned you are more than paranoid._"

"Will said that?" Riven lowered the knife. "But he was unconscious."

"_As were you. We found him and you in the desert, about to get devoured by the dark ones._"

"The Cacturne?"

"_If that is what you call them._"

"Oh. So you…saved us?"

"_That is an accurate description. We do not normally save humans, but we did it to refuse those creatures of sustenance_."

Riven hissed, full of skepticism. "Oh, how splendid of you."

"_Well, we were more interested in saving the boy than you. We hoped you would perish in the desert but your friend insisted_."

Riven cackled darkly."This is exactly why I'm paranoid. Either everything wants me six feet under the ground or they leave me to brave the elements and die anyway. No surprise there." He folded his arms and started tapping his foot. "Why are you even bothering to talk to me then?"

"_We are going to warn you_."

Riven wasn't having any of this. "If it's some prophecy conspiracy then I don't want anything to do with it. I see the future and all of that ton of crap can stay inside your psychic mind. I don't care. Your future sight can go fuck off."

"_We do not have a prophecy for you. We cannot see your future, because you are not where you belong. We only have a warning._"

"Spit it out then." The long-windedness that these psychic bastards were so fond of was beyond irritating. They needed to get to the point.

"_You do not belong here, you or your ilk. You are an error, an anomaly. You are a danger to this world. Leave, go back_."

"I can't go fucking back!" Riven growled and bristled like a Sandslash. "I came here on accident! I was about to die when suddenly I'm here, in the future and everything seems so sweet and nice that my brain felt like it was going to decay. I didn't ask for this. And you know what? I don't _feel_ like going back. So unless you tell whatever legendary son of a bitch accidentally sent me here to send me back, I'm here to stay. Deal with it."

The clay statue levitated in front of him. Riven had a feeling it was getting angry. "_Listen well, ancient darkness. You are evil, a calamity waiting to happen. Your presence in this world can upset the balance _he_ has worked so hard to establish. Do not destroy it._"

"Destroy what? This balance? Where ten year olds can own creatures capable of leveling mountains? Burning villages? _That's_ a disaster waiting to happen! It might have _already_ happened!"

"_You do not belong. We abhor the darkness. But yours is the worst of all. We will let you live, but know this. If you continue along this path, we will not be there to save you. You are an atrocious nightmare._"

"Good. I never asked anyone to. I never needed it. And what's with this darkness? I'm a fucking person. I'm not darkness." What kind of stupidity was this psychic spewing? Darkness? He was just a regular person, not an absence of light. Psychics!

"_Hmph, you know not what you are. Perhaps you may not be such a malign stain on this land if you contain yourself. Regardless, control it. Do not let it control you. The effects could spell catastrophe. You and the rest of your kind are not welcome here. Stay in the shadows, where your filth belongs_."

Riven lobbed a glob of spit at it.

The statue left the room and Will's eyes returned to normal. He blinked a few times before smiling. "You're awake!" Riven narrowed his eyes.

"Did you hear all of that?"

"Yeah. I don't get what it meant either. I was just a vessel. It couldn't speak to you telepathically like other psychics can."

"Why is that?"

"He said to ask your Kirlia."

Riven threw his hands up. "I can't even afford a translator. Guess I have to save up, that thing got me curious. Why are most psychics assholes? And why can't they ever talk straight and not in riddles?"

Will shrugged and looked at him strangely. "What was that part about the future? That part was really confusing."

Riven rolled his eyes. "That's a long story. I'll tell it to you some place else, away from all this… whatever this is." He looked around the room, thick walls made of carved stone. Water streamed down the sides of the walls and collected into a large pool in the center. It looked ancient, and largely untouched. _No one must have set foot in here for decades._ "What was that thing?"

"A Claydol. They're statues made in ancient times that came alive somehow. They've been guarding these ruins for a long time now. Hardly anyone finds them, they're hidden from above and no one is crazy enough to do it on foot. The Cacturne usually get to them first."

"Oh. This would be Steven's drea-"

Will stopped him before he could continue further. "Don't tell anyone though, they want it to be a secret."

Riven scoffed loudly, shaking some leftover dust out of his hair. "I won't. I don't want other people to get stuck listening to their baseless warnings of doom and peril."

Will nodded and told Riven to follow him. They left the water room and entered another room, one with stone carvings of people and three beings in the center. Riven's pokeballs were on a stone protrusion near the wall. He retrieved them in a hurry, checking to see if they were all there. His pokemon were safe. He sighed in relief. "What is this place?"

"Don't know. Some history room or something." Riven and Will traced the etchings with their hands, seeing people and pokemon bowing down to the three beings in the center. They looked like…dragons. They must have revered them as gods. The one in the center must have been the creator, Arceus. Riven stared at the picture with eyes full of coldness. _Some god_._ Useless prick._ The other two didn't look much better.

The two of them explored the ruins. They found nothing but empty rooms and more Claydols. They found a seemingly unassuming room when a blue light emanated brightly from Riven's bag, shining through the material. He took out a small blue sphere. It was pulsing brightly, causing the lines in the walls to flash blue as well. Suddenly, the entire ruins lit up in a blue light, the same color as the sphere. The Claydols throughout the temple were alarmed. What had the humans done?

The center of the room flashed once again and the blue lines turned red. The floor opened up and a spear erected from the middle. In it was a red sphere. Will reached out to touch it.

"Wait, Will!"

Before Riven could stop him, Will touched it and in that instant, red circuitry patterns spread up the boy's arm as a whirling inferno of flames arose around him. The blistering heat caused Riven to back away as screams erupted from the center of the burning cyclone. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room as Will continued to scream in complete agony from being seemingly burned alive. The flames grew in intensity as the shrieks did, encompassing the entirety of the chamber before slowly dissipating, leaving behind a wall of fire.

The screams stopped as Riven looked ahead, wide-eyed and in disbelief he'd just seen a kid get torched alive. The room still smelled like burnt flesh.

Riven stared at the floor, dejected. Then he heard a shuffle and looked up to see Will standing up, his body otherwise unharmed as he walked through the flames. His red eyes glowed slightly and red lines briefly flashed along his arms and body. Riven was immediately at his side, surprised to find that he was too hot to touch. Tears ran down his cheeks from the pain."Will? What was that?! Are you alright? I thought you got burned alive!"

"I-I did. It hurt so much…" He looked confused and dazed. Rubbed his eyes, wiping away hot tears. "I don't know. It felt like I got set on fire with gasoline and t-then…then I felt s-stronger. Warmer. It feels weird, it's like I got a fire in my chest." He placed a hand on his sternum and coughed a few times. It certainly did feel warmer. His forehead was fever hot but he felt completely fine. Better than fine, actually.

The Claydols freaked and surrounded them. _What did you do!_ Their voices boomed inside Will's head. They were furious. Riven cautiously reached for White Queen's pokeball.

"I just touched it!"

_Why! And how did you do that?_

"The blue sphere lit up!" Will pointed to the sphere in Riven's left hand. He gripped it tighter and snarled.

The statues turned to the sphere, floating instinctively backward. Then, they faced Will again. _You both must leave at once, you've caused too much here. Leave! Now!_

"But how?"

_There is a room in the back of the temple. Make your way there. It will transport you out of the desert. Do not come back, we will end your lives if you do._ Will nodded and led Riven out, making their way towards the end of the temple.

"Where are we going? What did they tell you?" Riven was lost, he had no idea what they had told Will. He could have been leading him to their combined deaths for all he knew. He trusted the psychics as far as he could throw them, which meant not at all.

"To the back of the temple. There's something that can get us out of here. They're beyond pissed. And I don't want to fight that many Claydol." Riven clenched his jaw and accepted it. It was the best shot they had at getting out of the desert. He didn't hesitate to take it.

The final room had an ancient looking contraption made of stone. Riven placed the blue sphere in the groove in the center and the contraption lit up, flashing bright blue. They moved all of the pillars in place after some effort and the interior of the room filled with a strange glow, Riven snatched the sphere just in case. Both boys looked around in wonder, before a bright flash lit up the room and they fell onto a rocky floor elsewhere. They stood up in confusion, spitting out dust and coughing. They appeared to be outside now.

"That was…different," Riven mentioned, dusting himself off while holding his head. It felt like some sort of teleport, but it was different somehow, in a way he couldn't explain. It just felt so strange.

"Yeah," Will agreed.

They turned back and saw the desert behind them. They looked at each other momentarily as their location registered in their sun-roasted minds, erupting into joyful laughter as they did. "We're out! YES!" Riven punted a pebble into the sky. Will jumped up and down, nearly crying in happiness. That was the strangest thing that had ever happened to them but they didn't care, they were glad just to be out of that desert. They were so caught up in celebrating that they didn't notice a truck roll up next to them.

"I don't fucking believe it. I don't believe! ARCEUS DAMNED!" The trucker that they had seen before their unfortunate trek through the desert was staring at disbelief in them. There were some trainers in the back, unsure why he had stopped. He got out of the driver seat and went to both of them. "I thought you two were dead! We went looking for you for days! That sandstorm didn't let us come back for you and when we did, you were gone!"

Both trainers looked dumbfounded and blinked furiously, trying to make sense of what he was saying. "We searched and searched but found nothing. The rescue teams thought you two died. They thought the cacturne got you. You both look like hell chewed you up and spit you out, how are you both still alive?"

Riven and Will both said at the same time, "That's…a long story."

The trucker was furious. He was shouting at Riven at the top of his lungs. "How could you be so stupid! You left the truck and thought you could just stake it out? How stupid are you?!" Abandoning the truck? Trying to survive on limited water and food in a desert full of Cacturne? What in their right minds could have convinced them that was a good idea?

"I didn't think you'd come back! There was a sandstorm and a fucking flood! The truck was GONE. It's buried under sand right now! What else was I going to do? Sit there and wait for hypothermia to kill us both? What about the Cacturne? Don't patronize me for improvising! We're alive and that's what matters! Get off my back!"

The trucker breathed deeply. "Why wouldn't we come back? We always do. We don't leave trainers on their own." Why did this boy think so little of them? Was he that cynical?

Riven's jaw clenched. When he had gotten stranded in the wilderness, no one had ever come back for him. He was always on his own. He didn't depend on anyone, because they never came for him. It was a rule. He thought they would do the same. "I'm used to being left to my own devices. I didn't know you would search for us. If I had known, I might have stayed. But I didn't, and I'm not sorry."

The man took off his hat and scratched his balding head. "Fine. But you don't have to worry about me. Worry about them." He pointed to a mess of reporters and news vans. One of the trainers had mentioned Will and Riven's story to their parents and the story spread like wildfire. Now, there were news crews outside of the trucker's cabin on the Lavaridge side of route 111.

Will peeked out of the blinds and jumped. He shuddered. "Reporters…those bloodsuckers." Riven raised a brow.

"What's so bad about them?"

"The better question is what's _good_ about them. They just ruin trainer's lives! And stalk famous people! That's why being famous blows!" Riven decided it was better to trust Will with this. He had more experience in this world. If he said reporters ruined lives, he wasn't eager to find out.

They stepped outside and were assaulted by questions and camera flashes. Riven stepped back inside. He looked horrified. The trucker burst out laughing. "What's wrong? Ye scared? Such a Skitty haha!"

"They're…they're crazy!"

The older man was peeling a potato. "Welcome to the life of a celebrity. Even though you two are less celebrities and more, I-can't-believe-it momentarily famous. Hardly anyone has survived in that desert for that long, on foot at least. Go face em boy! They'll forget about ye in a couple days. Then you'll be back to being ghosts. Nobody is gonna give two shits about ya." He pointed at the door, nearly shoving him out of it with his gaze. Riven swallowed and straightened his nerves.

He joined Will, who was answering some questions while trying not to get overwhelmed by the reporters. He turned around just to get a microphone shoved in his face.

"What are your thoughts on the ordeal and what were your chances of survival after the sandstorm?"

"What's your name?"

"What's your connection to the little boy? Are you-" That reporter was cut off by Will, who immediately silenced Riven with a hand wave.

"He's my brother. Nathan Ethne. I'm Will Ethne." Riven looked at him funny and Will shot him a glance that said _play-along-or-else_. He did and a _long_ period of answering questions followed. Riven was in his last interview.

"So, how did you escape the desert? You didn't just walk out here did you?"

Riven grinned. He picked up the attitude pretty quickly after some advice from Will. He hated doing this fake charisma thing but if it got the reporters off their backs, he had to. "Vibravas." He waved goodbye and left with his 'brother' back to the cabin. Once inside, Riven glared at Will. "So, I'm your brother now huh."

"You really want to tell them your real name?"

"Not really. So I'll let this one go."

"Great. Then we can get some sleep and head through the Fiery and Jagged Paths to Lavaridge. Good night." He jumped onto the bed and went lights out. He had done more interviews than Riven did. He certainly could see why he was so tired, the reporters were annoying and gave Riven headaches.

The older trainer's holo caster buzzed. He checked the caller identification, it was Samuel. He stepped outside to take the call. "Hello, Sam. What did you need?"

The old man's image appeared and he smiled. "I saw you on TV! That must have been tough. Surviving something like that. I'm glad you're okay kid."

"Hah. It'll take more than some sun and stalking cacti to kill me." They talked for an hour, about the ordeal and his plans after that. He said goodnight to the friendly old man and headed off to bed_._ He closed his eyes and within moments, he joined Will in restful sleep he hadn't gotten since Irene's. Riven hoped there would be no more things trying to kill him, but that was asking for way too much.

His sunburnt skin still stung like hell though.

* * *

A screen came on, showing a man in a uniform with his face blackened out. "Director, the blue light came from the desert. They may have found one."

"Who?"

"The two boys from earlier."

The director recalled the news report about two boys who survived a trek through the desert."I see, find them."

"Another thing."

"Yes?"

"The older one, it's him."

"Him who?"

"The one back from Petalburg, I recognize that grin. I couldn't possibly forget it."

"Is that so? Well then, beat the information out of them, then get rid of the older one." This way, he would achieve two objectives at the same time.

"Yes sir. Heading to Lavaridge soon. We will not disappoint you."

"Good. Or you'll end up like that _failure_. Bring me results."

"Yes, sir. Together as one."

"Together as one."

The screen shut off, leaving the director in silence. He adjusted his tie, he had a speech to make.


	22. Geysers and Springs

"We could have skipped the desert entirely! Route 112 is right there!" The irritated teenager stabbed a finger at the map, right on route 112.

"No, not really. That entrance to route 112 has been blocked off by a huge hole. A tyranitar went crazy there and caused a sinkhole. So now the trainers have to pass through the desert and through Fiery Path before getting to Lavaridge. Then go back through to head up to Fall'rbor. Terrible inconvenience. I ain't complaining though, I make a nice buck transporting kids to and fro. But you boys gave me one hell of a scare." The trucker, whose name was Bear, mentioned. He was filling his truck up with gas to go back to Mauville and transport some more trainers. "You guys should go, I'm locking this place up."

Riven groaned loudly. He realized he was complaining like a child, but he had just survived through days of hell in a desert. Couldn't they give him a break? Will simply shook his head and dragged him along outside. More walking. Riven certainly missed his bike right about now. His blisters probably had blisters at this point.

The next few days were full of battling, avoiding flamethrowers, dodging landslides and trying not to fall down onto sharp rocks. Riven had exhausted his stores of potions and had attempted to catch a slugma, but failed and it managed to slink away. Will laughed at him and kept boasting about his epic catch in the desert. Mt. Chimney had also been an interesting sight to see, and the cookies were tasty. Riven tried to take a picture but ended up tinkering with the holo caster before Will snatched it and did it for him. Will was very vocal about Riven's technological backwardness. He was like Ben, but about two times worse, with twice the insults.

The volcano was spewing out hot air and nearly everyone in the vicinity was pouring sweat, except Will. That was peculiar but Riven brushed it off. They stood over the railing for a few minutes before deciding that lava bubbles weren't all that interesting and headed down the jagged pass. There were plenty of hikers and backpackers, Riven half expected to see Ben there too. But he didn't. By the time they managed to climb down the mountain, they had scrapes and cuts on their knees and forearms from one too many falls. Riven had to get new clothes, his were ripped and in bad shape. Will wasn't doing too good in the clothing department either.

All of their pokemon managed to get some experience battling the hikers along the way though, which was good. They also had pocket money for a change in attire, which was sorely needed for resupplying. New bags of formula and potions were in dire demand for both of them. As they saw Lavaridge in the distance, Will opened up the travel guide. "It says they have a hot spring. It heals wounds and relieves stress." He gave Riven a judging glare. "You definitely need it, paranoia extraordinaire."

Riven smirked, pulling Will's hat downwards. "I still don't think it'll help. Besides, I'm kind of craving something first." Watching a spoink bounce around in front of a building was _not_ helping.

Will pulled his hat back up and gave him an annoyed glance. "And what is that?"

"I want a burger so much I can't stand it. Eating dried meat and pokemon formula for so long grates on the nerves." He wanted real food, not that dry excuse they had been surviving on for a while in the desert. They couldn't even gorge themselves either, since they had to ration it.

"Yeah, I hear you. Maybe they have a restaurant in town?"

"I guess we'll see."

The town wasn't all that large. The gym and the hospital were the biggest buildings in the town, with numerous smaller buildings surrounding them. A canal divided both sides of the town and lead into the hot spring area, behind the pokemon center. Many of the people there were trainers and old people. The travel guide said that most old people moved there to retire. It did seem like a tranquil place to retire and die. Well, maybe putting it like that was a little harsh, but it was true. It made sense why the hospital was so big. Riven cackled darkly. He explained the humor to Will, he wasn't pleased, calling him a sick bastard. Well, he tried.

As they approached the center, people were talking about some sort of rumor. They did draw stares, after their encounter with the media. But many of the town's residents and trainers were talking about a skarmory attack near Fallarbor. It had slashed three people to death before being brought down by two passing trainers. The rangers had taken it into custody and put it down already. The three victims were having a funeral in two days. It sounded like wild pokemon were getting increasingly hostile. After scyther and cacturne though, Riven wasn't even fazed. They just continued about their business.

They stepped through the automatic doors and left their pokemon with Nurse Joy. They were pretty beat up after taking many a rock throw to the face. Aine had been stone edged and knocked unconscious. Nez had gotten an unfortunate flame wheel and had a rather nasty burn, he was out cold too. Rika had gotten some experience and Will was able to teach her rock tomb. Now two of his pokemon had a move that could pulverize shiny new bikes. Riven felt for his poor GX135.

Will got his pokeballs back and took out the one with a fire symbol on it. "Maybe I should let Quil-"

"NO," Riven shouted loudly. "No. Not after Petalburg. We don't want to get kicked from this pokemon center too. Nez and Rika are fine, but Quil stays in his damn pokeball. That pyromania is hazardous." Will pouted, it didn't work on stone face Gray unfortunately. His little kid wiles had no effect. They entered the rental room and set their things down. Well, they didn't have many things but they left what they didn't need. It was still early out so they just left the center and explored town.

They found the clothing store and spent a total of one hour inside. Will and Riven spent more time observing a girl walking in and out of the fitting rooms with different clothes. "You think it's a girl thing?" Will speculated as the girl twirled around in front of the mirror, judging how good the skirt looked with the top.

"I'm not sure. Women are strange creatures. They're hard to figure out." Riven didn't understand women. Well, he didn't have much experience with them anyway. He'd only talked to about three in his time here. Amy, Irene, and Roxanne. He never talked to them for more than like five days so they were really unknown territory for him. The attitude though? White Queen gave him enough punishment to somewhat formulate an assumption.

"Oh, she's shaking her head." She went back into the fitting room, the girl had like five sets of skirts and tops on the bench. Will couldn't understand why the girl had so many outfits if she wasn't going to buy them all. Window shopping was so pointless."What's she going to try on next?" he sneered. The kid was having a much better time with this than Riven was.

Both boys were snickering pretty hard after she went in three more times, stopping short of laughter. They watched her for about thirty minutes. They had already bought all of their clothes within minutes of arriving. Fits and looks good? All right, great. But females were just outrageous. They couldn't decide what the hell they wanted. In fact, most of the store consisted of females and the unlucky boyfriends that got stuck with them. Male trainers usually left the store quickly.

Riven chose an outfit similar to his old one. This time he went with a white vest hoodie and a plain black shirt. He bought khaki pants to go with it. He stayed with the same shoes and gloves though. They weren't that beat up. Will replaced his red jacket with a black one that had a red stripe through the middle. He didn't replace his hat but he chose some black cargo shorts, his other shorts were beyond repair.

Leaving the boutique or whatever fancy name they called it, the two boys went over to a restaurant that had a big hamburger sign on it. Riven had brought out White Queen from her pokeball because she got pushy if he didn't for a while. She had given him hell on the way to the Fiery Path after not letting her out during the desert. That ice beam wasn't fun at all.

A trainer at the counter was ordering his meal. "I'll have a number three."

"For here or to go?"

"Here please." Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of Riven's absol and immediately turned back to the cashier. "On second thought, I'll uh, take that to go." Half of the restaurant emptied within the next two minutes after that.

Riven and Will looked around, missing something. Why did everyone just get up and leave? When Riven went up to order, the cashier kept staring at White Queen. "Hey, I want to order. Can you stop staring at her? She gets ice beam happy when people do that." The absol in question was playing around with a plastic soda covering with her paw. The teenager frowned, the threat had instantly lost its threatening factor.

"Oh, ummm…sorry. What would you like?" She looked nervous, like he was going to stab her. If he wanted to, he wouldn't have warned her. He wasn't a cold blooded murderer, he had _some_ morals.

"A number one for me and a number four for my friend here." It was faster ordering at the same time. Riven also ordered the glass poke cola bottle, since it seemed to bring out the flavor more. Will argued that it was a placebo effect but Riven insisted that it tasted better in glass. They bickered about the subject until the food arrived.

Rika stood silently next to Will. She didn't react much. In fact, she was about as close to a statue as a pokemon could get, and she wasn't even a rock type. She only opened her jaws when her trainer fed her. Otherwise, all she did was stare. It was a soul piercing stare too. Riven tried having a staring contest with her, which he lost miserably. He focused on other things."Will, when do you want to go challenge the gym leader?" That was their primary objective after all.

He was stuffing his face full of hamburger and fries. "Wha? Hord on. I'm…eating." He swallowed his mouthful after chewing rapidly. "Tomorrow I guess. We just got here. There's no need to rush." He fed Rika a handful of fries. She didn't show any signs of happiness or disdain. "Besides, I want to hang out in Lavaridge for a while. Hot springs you know." They were a miracle supposedly, he had to find out if the claims weren't just exaggerations specifically aimed at tourists.

"Alright, tomorrow sounds acceptable. Is she tough?" Riven honestly had no idea. He only heard that Flannery was beautiful. Mostly from the male trainers who turned into swooning messes whenever he asked about the gym leader. The female ones mostly made jealous comments in a very curt tone. Granted, his direct questioning without introductions intimidated them often. They didn't like him much, it only made sense that they tried to get him to leave as fast as possible.

"Well, she's a fire type leader. Rika should have no problem if I use her. She's pretty high leveled, being in the desert. Pretty big for a trapinch, so she might evolve soon." He put a hand on her jaws, Riven waited for her to open them and snap Will's thin arm in half. It didn't happen. Ah well, one could dream. "You might have some trouble. Aine won't be of much use, Mischief will only do normal damage and White Queen's moveset doesn't have any type advantages over any of Flannery's. You're gonna have a real battle on your hands." Will took another bite out of his burger.

"That's the fun part, is it not? Exploiting type advantages is easy but it doesn't seem very appealing. Use a water pokemon and sweep her team? No, the badge doesn't feel that great when you do that. I remember using Mischief in Brawly's gym. Didn't feel the same as earning Roxanne's badge." He still felt a sense of pride whenever he opened his badge case and saw it there.

"How _did_ you beat her? I didn't have much of a hard time thanks to Nez but you don't have any grass or water pokemon." Will knew that most fire starters had trouble with her, that's why he caught a grass pokemon early on.

Riven grinned smugly. "Through tactical decisions and a stroke of evolution. Aine evolved mid-fight and beat Roxanne's last pokemon into the wall...literally. I seriously gave up hoping that I'd win until she evolved and went crazy." The younger boy made an 'ow' face and remembered that torchic evolved into a part fighting type, his cyndaquil didn't. That's what he got for having a Johto starter instead of a Hoenn one. His focus was broken when White Queen froze a bunch of fries after burning her tongue with one.

Will watched her failure and teased, "Some tact haha!" White Queen bit him, drawing some blood. "Ow! Rika! Why didn't you stop her?"

"Pinch." She wasn't going to mess with an absol that knew ice beam. She wasn't stupid.

"Traitor." Rika stayed silent and motionless after that, White Queen went back to eating her fries and Riven was nearly done with his food. "Say, why does everyone give your absol the evil eye?"

"She's the disaster pokemon. Go figure. These people are probably a bit superstitious, being in close proximity to Forina." White Queen looked up at him."I guess whenever they see an absol come down here, it comes across as a major 'oh shit' symbol." She took offense to that and bit him as well. Although, Riven was quite used to it already.

"Explains why nearly everyone left then."

Riven saw a girl take a picture of her food. He made a face and pointed in her direction."That girl just took a picture of her food." It looked really out of place. Why was food so important that people took pictures of it?

Will glanced to the side and saw the girl tapping away at her phone. Not everyone had holo casters. Some people preferred cell phones still. Holo casters and phones were compatible so it was no problem. "Oh yeah, people do that."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Some social media thing."

"That's completely stupid. Eat the thing, don't stare at it."

"I agree."

"Whatever. You done?"

"Yeah. Let's go to the springs!" Riven felt like objecting but he humored the kid instead, the town didn't have much places of interest. He reasoned he could use some sort of reprieve after all that walking and battling as well. And it would probably get rid of the smell of ash and smoke in his hair.

* * *

Amy and Seab's pokemon were being treated for injuries in Fallarbor Town. They had stopped that wild skarmory from tearing more people apart. However, Seab's lucario had taken a nasty aerial ace to his left side, making a sickening gash. Jak got part of his wool sheared off during a passing the skarmory did with a steel wing and just managed to use thunder to bring it down. Veer and Seab's staravia hadn't done much to it, since it's typing and steel coating pretty much made physical attacks useless. Mila didn't have any moves that could seriously hurt it and it was significantly stronger than what was normally found in the area. Not only that, but skarmory were rare in Fallarbor. Usually there was a bunch of spinda around, not murderous steel birds that slashed people to pieces.

Amy's phone rang. It was Irene, her mom. "Hey mom." She was in the food court with Seab, so she could take calls. The pokemon center wasn't very full anyway, Fallarbor was pretty small, it wouldn't bother many people if she spoke on the phone. If it did, they could fuck off, she could talk on the phone if she damn well pleased. She was a big girl after all.

Her mom's voice boomed. "AMY! DID YOU SEE THE TV?" Amy moved the phone away from her ear, hoping her eardrum hadn't burst. "I've been trying to call you for a week!"

"Mom. Calm down. You nearly made my ear explode. What's got you so worked up?" There were no reporters in Fallarbor, so she couldn't have known she nearly died trying to take down that skarmory. She was probably calling her to tell her about some new artistic inspiration or another egg from the daycare her dad found. The blonde shook her head and took a sip from her soda.

Irene sounded excited and worried at the same time. "Your friend Gray came out on TV!" Amy spat her drink out forcefully, drenching Seab. He scowled in annoyance while wiping his face with a napkin. Did she just hear that correctly? Did she just mention _his_ name?

"HOW DO YOU KNOW HIM?" Now she was the one nearly screaming. How did she know about Gray? She hadn't told her about him. Unless…shit.

"He came over looking for you about three weeks ago. Nice boy, if a little awkward and stiff. I let him stay here for a night because of a thunderstorm. He asked about you." Yup, her fears were realized. Why had she told him she lived in Mauville? Fuck!

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU LET HIM IN?"

"Is it a problem? Is he your boyfriend or something? Why didn't you tell me? He denied it pretty thoroughly, but you're giving me doubts Amy."

"He's not my boyfriend mom! He's just someone I'd like to forget." Great, now it did sound like they had a thing. Amy waited for her mom's crass.

"One night stand? You _are_ eighteen dearest daughter. Teenagers do some crazy things. I hope you used protection! I don't want to be a grandma yet." There it was.

"NO!" One night stand with him? Arceus no. Sure, he was somewhat pleasant to look out, ignoring the scars and face of iron, but she would never think about doing something like that.

"You didn't? Oh my god."

"I meant no to the one night stand! I haven't let any guy touch me that way!

"Then what's the issue?"

Amy decided to come clean, it was no use trying to make up excuses without making herself look like some sort of slut. She sighed, "He's dangerous."

Irene wasn't convinced."Didn't seem like it. He was more like a lost growlithe puppy than an enraged gyarados to be honest." Gray and growlithe puppy didn't even belong in the same sentence. It was like comparing Hoenn and Unova. Stupid isolationists.

"Mom, you don't know. Just…just don't tell him where I am."

"Ok, but where are you?"

"Fallarbor. Uh...what was he on TV for?" She changed the subject quickly, not wanting to elaborate on her issues with him.

"He got stuck in a desert for longer than a week with another trainer. He got so dark. That desert sun must have baked them pretty bad. Both of them looked terrible." She hardly recognized him, he looked really red and sunburned, not his usual pale tone.

"He got stuck in the desert?" Amy didn't think he'd go and get himself into something like that. But she wasn't really surprised he wasn't dead.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because he's a survival nut, if anyone could have survived, it would be him." He _did_ say he spent most of his life in the wilds. He should have known a thing or two about desert survival.

"Oh! He also mentioned you tried to blackmail him." Amy choked. Gray had absolutely no sense of tact. Decent people didn't say those things! Well, she always had a feeling he was a savage.

"Erm…a bit?"

"That's my girl! Keep it up!" Her mom clicked and left Amy sitting in the diner fuming. Seab gave her a wary look. Amy was volatile at times, she cussed out a hiker on the jagged pass for hitting on her. Then she absolutely smashed a guy that tried to mug them on route 111. She was more than a little scary. But she was a good battler. They worked together to take down the skarmory. It was unfortunate that they weren't there to save the three victims though.

"Who are you avoiding?" Seab asked shyly. He was trying not to ignite her fuse. That poor hiker's…family jewels were, needless to say, no longer functional. It hurt him just to watch.

Amy dug into her food furiously before swallowing and sighing in defeat. "Gray. A guy I met near Oldale. I thought he was a quiet guy that was just an above average battler. I didn't know he was like some sort of special ops commando. I saw him kill three guys on TV without hesitation. I still see that video in my dreams."

Seab fit the pieces together and his eyes widened. "No way. Petalburg? THAT WAS HIM?" The guy in the video totally beat the living shit out of all of the guys. Six guys taken out by one man. This Gray was dangerous, that throat stomp was brutally effective enough proof of that.

"Yeah."

"Whoa. That was scary. That last part at the end though…it gave me goosebumps through the screen. That was terrifying." Seab was talking about the beating near the end of the clip. The man's face had been left like a piece of bloody meat that had been smashed one too many times. He remembered flinching and looking away from the screen in the pokemon center in Rustboro. All of the trainers in the center gasped at that very moment. Nurse Joy had to turn the TV off.

Amy poked some lettuce with her fork. "Yeah, it was." She paused for a moment, trying to mentally track the movements of a trainer on the gym circuit. "He's probably at Lavaridge now. It takes some time to get through the jagged and fiery paths. So, they should be about a week or two from coming here then heading back down to Petalburg to battle Norman. Unless they get sidetracked. We should leave before then."

"You really don't want to see him again do you?"

Amy looked unsure of herself. "I don't know. I wouldn't know how to face him. It's just…he killed people, Seab. You don't let something like that go lightly."

The Sinnohan stared out the window, avoiding her gaze."I guess not."

Amy stabbed her fork through her salad like a spear."If I do see him again, I'm going to chew him up." She ate viciously. He said nothing and went back to his burrito.

"You do that. I'll just watch…" Seab was worried about Ren, his lucario. That gash was terrible and he almost bled out on the floor. He was in rapid recovery right now. He wouldn't be battle ready for nearly a week. Seab sighed, he needed another pokemon. Comet was good but he needed something else. A pokemon around here would have to do.

"You're worried about Ren, aren't you?"

"Yeah…he was my starter. If something happened to him, I think I'd break. I've had him since he was a riolu. We grew up together. He's my best friend." Amy smiled weakly, she knew she couldn't really reassure him. His lucario was in bad shape right now. He wasn't in critical condition since they had gotten to him pretty quick but he would have a nasty scar. Scars. That reminded her of Gray. Now she understood why he was so beat up. He was like a soldier or something. But eighteen and trained? There was no way. He didn't make any fucking sense. "I need another pokemon." Seab's comment broke her train of thought and refocused it somewhere else.

"Which one did you have in mind?"

"I'm not sure. But I need one that isn't weak to flying types or fire. You saw how hard Comet fought with Flannery."

Amy remembered that fight. It had been tough. Ren wasn't effective at all and got knocked out pretty fast. Comet had to clutch_. It seems like Seab's pokemon are experts at doing that_. Amy got an idea. "You can catch a dragon!" Dragons were very strong and had excellent type coverage and resistances.

Seab's jaw dropped. "Sorry, WHAT?" He wanted to make sure he heard right. Seab laughed and thought he misheard.

"A dragon!" Amy smiled wholeheartedly.

No, he heard correctly. Red flags sprang up in his mind. He waved his hands and shook his head. "Oh no. I hear they're difficult to train." On top of that, he wasn't looking forward to dragon fire burns.

"Nonsense. Mila here is nearly dragon, and look at her." Amy pointed up to where Mila was firmly perched on top of her head, snoozing. Her wings twitched occasionally.

Seab frowned. "But I don't think I want a swablu." The cotton bird was the antithesis of menacing. Dragons were supposed to be awesome and deadly. Swablu and altaria just…weren't. He knew they could be pretty powerful but...no.

"Well, I hear there's bagon in Meteor Falls. That means if you evolve them, they'll turn into a salamence,"Amy said that in a salesmen like way. But it actually managed to make Seab feel even worse. He _heard_ about salamence. Extremely aggressive and deemed too dangerous to approach. Only idiots tried to catch fully grown wild salamence. That's why they went after the baby bagon instead. But mothers were fiercely protective and many trainers often got roasted trying to snag a baby. The regional officials had specifically warned trainers _not_ to go near there. Meteor Falls was one huge, enormous, preposterous _no_.

Seab tried the logical approach. "I don't think that's a good idea. Especially with neither of us having an ice pokemon. And you'd have to evolve Mila first if you want her to take on a salamence." Mila heard her name, salamence, and take on. She freaked out.

"SWAB! SWABLU-BLU!" She flapped her wings rapidly and frantically, demonstrating her disapproval. Salamence were intimidating and strong. She wasn't ready to die yet, she had so much to live for!

Amy had to hold the cotton fluff ball in place so her claws wouldn't shred her scalp apart. "Okay, Mila. You're not going to fight any salamence just yet. But when you evolve you'll be a fierce dragon too!" She stroked the swablu's soft cottony wings while cooing at her. That appeased her enough to prevent her from digging her claws into Amy's skull.

Seab coughed, grabbing Amy's attention. "I'm going to go see how Ren's doing." He stood up and left. The trainer looked really worried about his pokemon. Amy wondered what she would do if one of her pokemon got hurt like that. Would she kill like Gray? She didn't think she could.

* * *

"I'm going to kill something," Riven growled.

Will and Riven were at the gym entrance. The receptionist at the doors couldn't stop laughing at them both. This was their third day at the gym and they had spent an hour trying to get through the stupid geysers and holes, completely drenched and pissed off. "I hate this place!" Both of them yelled. Three days and they had yet to get to Flannery. Both of them had beaten numerous gym trainers along the way, but couldn't seem to figure out how to get to the gym leader. They quit the past two days out of pure frustration.

Hence why they were sitting at the entrance, brooding. Once again. "Why do they have to design gyms like this? Wattson's was at least straightforward, if a bit painful. Brawly's was just dark, that was no problem. I walked around all the gym trainers," Riven grumbled, death glaring the receptionist down. His mocking laughter started to irritate him.

"I had some trouble with that. I couldn't even see, I kept crashing into walls," Will muttered.

Riven snorted. "I can see well in the dark."

"That's good, since you would probably fail at making a flashlight work anyway." The older trainer hissed at Will, little boy was going to get murdered soon. "Let's try again," Will said, picking himself up and getting rid of some dust on his new shorts.

"Fine." They stood up, going over to the nearest geyser before shooting up a floor. "I really hate these geysers." Will huffed and fell through a hole, Riven followed him. At this point, they were just randomly picking holes and geysers. After nearly forty minutes of dropping through holes and getting launched up by uncomfortably hot water, the two trainers arrived in a room they hadn't been in before. A girl was standing at the end, fiery red hair tied behind her head.

Riven whispered, "Is that the gym leader?" Will nodded.

"Why are we whispering?"

"I don't know." The older trainer kept staring, almost in a trance.

Will looked at Flannery then back at Gray, noting that he wasn't giving her a regular stare. He grinned from ear to ear, knowing what was going on.

"You're checking her goods out, aren't you." It was so obvious. He was analyzing her like most guys did when they saw something they liked.

Riven snapped out of it and gave Will a piercing leer. "No." The boy was right of course, but Riven didn't want to admit it. He wanted to keep what dignity he had left.

"Liar."

"Argh. Fine. She's attractive." Riven turned a shade of pink. It went away quickly though, he had self control, unlike Ben. He was a horndog that nearly slobbered back in Slateport when he saw girls in their "swimsuits".

"Mhmm. Half of Hoenn is obsessed with her. The other half is obsessed with Winona."

Riven blinked.

"You're hopeless. Winona is the sixth gym leader in Fortree City," Will explained, a little exasperated with his traveling partner's cluelessness. He couldn't even work a toaster, now he had to explain fan clubs to him too? It was ridiculous.

Flannery saw the two boys discussing something and called them over. "You two going to challenge me? I have to go pack soon!" Both of them nearly ran up to the ring.

"Pack for what?" The older one said.

"Gym leader meeting in Lilycove. You two are my last challengers before I close the gym up. So give me a good battle okay?" The redhead smiled and put her hands on her hips.

Riven was thinking something else when Will shoved him. "Yeah, we want to challenge. Your gym is a nightmare by the way." Both trainers were soaked and irritated, they wanted to get this over with.

Flannery laughed. "You haven't seen anything yet. Just try going through Tate and Liza's gym without punching a wall. Or Juan's. You'll get bruises for sure. So, double battle then? It's faster." Riven brightened, he loved double battles. Will smiled viciously.

"Ok! Two on two. You each get two pokemon. Pick wisely. Ref! Get a move on!" The referee ran to the side of the ring and held up two flags. He did the rundown of the rules and announced both parties and so and so.

Flannery, Riven, and Will released their pokemon. Flannery was using a camerupt and a magcargo. Will was using Rika first, and Riven sent out Mischief. The gym leader looked surprised. "You're not using water pokemon?"

They looked at each other strangely. "No. Do we have to?" It seemed like she wanted them to. Exploiting type advantages against specialized trainers was a bit of a dick move in retrospect. The gym leaders had to take it all the time, it must suck. No wonder most of them had some sort of trump card or a "surprise bitch" move in their arsenal.

"No, it's just…everyone uses them against me. It's rare not to see trainers without a water pokemon steamrolling my team." She smiled weakly.

"What's the fun in that?" Riven mocked, flashing a grin that was all teeth. Will couldn't help but join in.

Flannery grinned back. "I guess you're right. Magcargo, light screen! Camerupt, lava plume!" She used the distraction to attack, she wasn't going to show any restraint it seemed.

An inferno of flames advanced towards Rika and Mischief. If they got hit with that, they would probably get one downright _nasty _burn. Luckily, the pokemon thought quickly. Rika disappeared into the ground and Mischief was already gone. The wall of flames washed over the spot where the two pokemon had been standing, scorching the ground. No pokemon were present. Flannery scratched her head. "Huh?"

Rika dug up under the Magcargo and shot out of the ground, hitting it square in the face. The light screen couldn't do anything to block the attack and the fire type was sent flying to the side. Flannery's camerupt turned and bellowed flames but Rika was already back underground. It was about to use earthquake when Mischief materialized right next to it and blasted it with a confusion. The light screen weakened the force of the attack and only staggered the fire pokemon. Mischief teleported back, joining Rika on the challenger side. They were only getting started.

A long battle and several burns later, Will and Riven walked out of the gym holding their heat badges. Flannery congratulated them both on the battle. She asked them to help her clean up the gym, since it had taken quite the beating during the battle. Will kept teasing Riven about checking Flannery out. Whenever she bent down, Riven just stared. She didn't seem to notice, focusing more on cleaning the gym since she was on a tight schedule. It wasn't his fault he kept sneaking glances. He blamed it on being a teenager.

After helping her clean up, they healed their teams and decided to go get some celebratory food at the usual restaurant. There were some trainers there too and this time Riven's absol wasn't there to scare them away. He kept her in her pokeball this time. The people in Lavaridge were far too superstitious. They learned about the terror of the absol from an old lady near the hot springs. Apparently, the last time an absol came down to Lavaridge, the volcano erupted, destroyed a forest and cut off passage to route 112.

The two victors sat down to eat. "That was exciting," Riven said, shoving some fries into his mouth.

Will smirked mischievously. "Which part? The battle or Flannery bending down in front of you? Maybe both! You practically took a mental picture of her boobs haha!" Riven flashed red and flicked him on the head.

"I meant the battle, devil spawn."

Will rubbed his forehead. "Ok, closet pervert." His smug grin became a more prideful one. "Rika was the star of that match for the first half." She was that much closer to becoming a vibrava. Then, he would train her until she became a flygon. That would be amazing.

Riven ignored the snide comment. "Mischief was the support. If it wasn't for him teleporting Rika out of the way, that solarbeam would have knocked her out." The attack was surprising, coming from a fire pokemon, a fiery horse, no less. Rika wasn't nearly fast enough to dodge it.

"Ok, I'll give you that. But man…I never knew how fierce your absol was." Those razor winds weren't called razor for nothing. And White Queen was no slouch with them. One of them cleaved through some of the stands. Flannery wasn't pleased with that.

Riven chuckled. "Told you. She loves battling, and doesn't hold back. And has a tendency to make dramatic finishers."

"That sucker punch on her rapidash was dirty though."

"We won didn't we?" Dirty or not, it was still valid. Flannery did give him an evil eye for it though. White Queen _was_ a dark type, fighting dirty was what she did. What did they expect, a knight in shining armor with an honor code of gold?

"Can't argue with that," Will agreed, drinking some of his soda. "So, what next?"

Riven rested his chin on his fist. "I don't know about you, but I'm heading to Forina after this. I need to get a dawn stone for my kirlia to evolve. And I think I'll do some lengthy training there." Climbing waterfalls was something he hadn't done in a while. He also had to regain some of the mass he had lost from too many days of minimal food, his body was getting a lot leaner.

"I don't really have anywhere else to be." Will didn't have concrete plan about what he was going to do. He was running through the gym circuit but he knew he needed training to face Norman. They said he was a step much higher above the bottom four gym leaders and he didn't hesitate to beat trainers into the ground. Most of the beginner gym leaders had to seriously pull punches to take it easy on the newbies. He'd heard of Norman's crime busts, he was pretty badass. Best part? He was a normal type specialist, that made it twice as awesome. "I guess I'll come with you. I need to train too. And I heard Forina has some pretty strong pokemon. Maybe I can get a fourth and evolve Rika. Hopefully Quil too. Typhlosions. Are. Freaking. Awesome."

Riven smirked. "Oh, getting attached to your 'brother', how sweet." Will threw some fries at him.

"Asshole."

The smirk faded. "It's fine. I can take you along. Besides, I can teach you how to live off the land. You're going to need it." Will scoffed and went back to his food. The older trainer poked Will in the chest after some minutes of silence and chewing. That strange happening in the desert concerned him. It made little sense, the little boy should have been a pile of ashes. "You still feel a fire in there?" Will stopped eating and placed a hand on the center of his chest.

"Yeah, a bit. It's less hot now but it's still there. Remember Fiery Path?"

"I was baking in there. It was so humid it was unbearable. It's unforgettable, why do you ask?"

"I wasn't even sweating," Will said, in a manner that implied a deeper meaning.

"Really? My shirt was drenched."

"It felt good for me."

Riven was puzzled. It was like ninety degrees in there with tons of humidity, how could he not sweat? He did in the desert. What was different? "You were able to sweat in the desert, what's with this sudden tolerance of heat?"

"I think that orb did something to me. When I see fire, I get happy. That's never happened before." It kind of worried him, he was turning into his quilava. He thought he was going to start torching buildings to the ground soon too, and laughing like a maniac after doing it.

"You sure Quil's behavior isn't contagious?"

"I seriously hope not."

Riven and Will chuckled before the former's holo caster lit up. He looked at the ID and frowned. "Hold on, I need to take this."

"Whose it from?"

"Steven Stone, an annoyance. Nobody of importance really."

"What? Are you freaking serious?!" Will freaked, he couldn't believe it. "You have the former champion on dial?! That's insane! Why would he add you? You're a nobody!" Riven's upper lip rose slightly, a slight snarl.

"Thank you for pointing that out. And he was a champion? I didn't know that. I smashed his face into a table when we first met." Will's jaw dropped and Riven answered the call on non-holo mode. "What do you want, Stone?"

"I saw your segment on TV. You got lucky."

Riven snorted. "I have no luck. What did you call me for? Really." He knew that the busy body wouldn't be calling him for a mundane reason like that. He didn't like running in circles like those claydols. That conversation was basically incomprehensible, all riddles and no answers.

Steven cut to the chase. That was the good thing about Riven, no formalities or pleasantries. Just straight to the point, all business."Your stone. It's man-made, but doesn't seem to serve any kind of purpose." Honestly, despite its intriguing composition and structure, it was effectively useless.

"Good. Because I have one for you that does."

That certainly got his attention. Steven didn't expect such a nonchalant reaction. Especially not a claim of having another one. If it was an evolutionary stone or some run of the mill stone, he was going to have his aggron have a nice _chat_ with the kid. Steven hesitated, but took the bait anyway. "What is it?"

"Blue sphere. Found it in Dewford. Didn't think much of it, but after what happened in the desert, let's just say it does a lot more than glow. One last note, don't touch it without gloves. There might be…side effects." Riven didn't feel like discussing what kind of side effects, especially ones like Will's. The abnormal body temperature and sudden pyrophilia were off-putting. Human quilava was scary in its own right.

"I'll teleport to you right away, where are you? Lavaridge?" Steven was holding his metagross's pokeball. It could jump anywhere in the region, especially a place as familiar as that. Although, Flannery was an embarrassing topic for him, mostly because of Wallace's stupidity.

"Yes, and no."

"What?"

"My friend here told me that you're a former champion. Unless you want to get swarmed by fans, I suggest you do it later. I'm in the middle of a restaurant, e_njoying my food_." Riven knew for a fact that Steven would not appreciate that. The guy was a shut-in, he hated attention.

"Ok fine. I'll call back in thirty minutes. If you don't pick up, I'm going to teleport there anyway."

"Fine. Oh and bring my stone. I want it back."

"Alright." Steven hung up and Riven sighed. Will was begging him for information.

Riven shut him up with a finger."He just called about a stone that I had him analyze a while ago. I'm giving him the blue sphere." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "You know, the desert one." Will understood and nodded. He looked ecstatic, badly wanting to meet the famous champion.

Minutes passed and everything was quiet when three men in black uniforms came in. They looked around the restaurant, searching for someone. Will saw them and noticed their strange behavior. They were looking at the trainers' faces. As a matter of fact, only the boys. As they approached, Will whispered to Riven, "There's some guys in a black uniform heading this way. They're looking for someone, but only the guys, not the girls. Look dangerous too." Riven instantly got paranoid again. His body tensed and he focused his hearing behind him.

"Not him. Black hair. No, not this one. Keep looking_. Has a little boy with him, they're __brothers_."

Riven exhaled slowly, he knew this wasn't going to end well.


	23. Brutality

**Warning: Things are going to get nasty.**

Flannery hummed a tune while packing her things, neatly folding her clothes into a suitcase. She would be staying in Lilycove for a week, going by the five day meeting rule. Every day for five days, the gym leaders would meet in the Lilycove Civic Center with the champion and the elite four on topics concerning regional stability. Flannery usually slept through most of the meetings, as did Brawly. Sidney tried to make it _seem_ like he gave a crap but she caught him nodding off at times too. She was a young gym leader, making her opinion smaller compared to the more experienced leaders like Norman, Juan, or Wattson. Winona also played a large part in the discussions, along with the psychic twins. They seemed to enjoy the atmosphere, Flannery didn't really care. The redhead didn't feel like going in the slightest, but she had to because of her obligations as gym leader.

She sighed thinking about the hours long debates and boring topics they usually discussed there. Dull stuff like crime in their jurisdiction areas, kidnappings, illegal pokemon smuggling, and the recently added topic of unstable trainers. Sinnoh had been a wreck for the entire pokemon world, they still hadn't forgotten about it. The region had barely stabilized but there was a long way to go before things would return to normal. This time though, she knew why they were organizing another gym leader meeting, and it wasn't because of Sinnoh's problems. It was Petalburg, and this one was much closer to home. Everyone had a scare when they discovered that Norman had been shot, but thankfully he was taken to safety. No one found out who that security guard was, or where he had gone. Lavaridge never seemed to have those kinds of problems, being the second smallest gym location in Hoenn, behind Dewford town. It was no wonder why Brawly was so relaxed.

Her torkoal was next to her, being used as a stand to place her clothes so she could fold them neatly. A torchic came running into the room, stopping at her feet to rub it's cheeks on her jeans. It was Cherry, her newest addition. She had just hatched and Flannery couldn't stop pinching her warm fuzzy cheeks. The little chick chirped and jumped on her bed, rolling around with glee. Maybe when she grew some, Flannery could use Cherry in her gym matches. Having a fighting type would surprise some of those pesky weakness exploiters from trying to sweep her teams with water pokemon. Forgetting about battling, she focused on packing. She was nearly done when she heard some banging on the gym door.

Flannery rolled her eyes in annoyance."What do these silly trainers not understand about the gym being closed? Sheesh, it's like trying to talk to brick walls." She took the elevator down to the bottom floor and walked up to the doors. Unlocking them, they opened to a little boy, frantic and out of breath.

She recognized the little boy, he was a resident that lived near the hot springs. He wasn't old enough to be a trainer, so why was he knocking on the gym? "What's up Thomas? Why do you look so out of it?" He looked like someone was trying to kill him. It better not have been those bullies again. If it was, she was going to make them _stop_. This bullying dilemma had been going on for too long; the poor boy was developing trauma.

The child took a few deep breaths, trying to formulate words. After he sufficiently recovered enough to say a word without pausing for air, he said something. What he said caused Flannery to break out into a cold sweat. "Trainers, pokemon...being attacked in the middle of town...Some are dead."

_No. No. Not here._

She didn't respond. Instead, she sprinted back to the elevator up to her room. Nearly kicking the door down, she came into the room, red eyes full of dread. Her torkoal and torchic were surprised. Flannery gathered her pokeballs and returned her torkoal. She turned to Cherry and said, "Stay here. Don't go anywhere. I'll be back. I hope." Flannery left the room and went back down to the lobby as fast as she could.

She wasted no time in letting out her rapidash. Quickly climbing on, the rapidash huffed curiously, kicking sparks with his hooves. "Dash, we need to get to the center of town right now." Her pokemon understood and shot off, leaving a trail of flames on the ground.

_I hope I can get there in time._

* * *

Minutes earlier, the three men steadily approached the back of the establishment, peering at the faces of every black haired trainer in the restaurant. Riven took Will's soda and uncovered the lid. He emptied his own glass soda bottle into Will's cup and placed both containers in front of him. He told Will to stay calm with a flick of the eyes. The little boy listened and pretended to continue eating.

Black boots came closer. Riven heard them check behind their seats and could almost feel their gaze rest on his head. He was the last black haired male trainer in the restaurant. His nerves were on overcharge now, he had to mentally restrain himself from jumping the guys. The men caught sight of Will and whispered in a low voice, "I think this is him." Riven tensed, ready to fight.

The three men stopped in front of them and the one in the middle stared at Riven. "Hey, friend." The black haired trainer didn't look at him and sipped the soda, playing it cool. "I said hey. It's rude not to reply back."

Riven gave them a glare full of hostility. "Do I have to?"

"Whoa, calm down. We just want to be friends. You know, trainer stuff." His grin was far from friendly. Riven was not convinced, they were trying to lure him with fake friendliness. He examined their clothing, all identical and fully black. If there was one fashion rule trainers lived by, it was being unique.

"Trainers don't wear uniforms."

"We like to match."

He suppressed a scoff. Riven knew these guys were armed, and attempting to go for a subtle attack or kill. "If that's the case, what is it you want?" The best plan was to keep them occupied.

"We just want a friendly battle outside, nothin' serious." What did these guys think would happen? Trainers didn't look inside restaurants for battles. Whoever told these guys this was a good idea was an idiot.

"Battling in a public area is illegal." The guidebook specifically said that any who did so would be severely punished and fined. As the men thought of something even more stupid to say, Riven kept watching their hands, looking for weapons. The two behind the one in the middle looked edgy, pouring sweat in an otherwise cool room. They all had that cocky grin plastered on their faces, which didn't help their case.

"So? You don't look like a guy that cares for rules. Lavaridge has no police, just a dumb broad for a gym leader. Sure is hot though." The two behind him nodded and licked their lips.

"Don't talk about her like that." It was disgusting, coming from someone like him. Riven felt like punching his face in for insulting Flannery. She was likeable, nice, and a proficient battler as well; she was not a dumb broad. His knife was starting to feel very friendly.

"Oh, sorry. We know most of you trainers like the gym leaders." Mistake.

Narrowing his eyes, Riven pounced."I thought you were trainers. "

He realized his error and quickly corrected himself. "We are."

"Then how many badges do you have?"

The trio looked unsure of themselves and the guy's smirk fell. He was getting annoyed. This was exactly the thing Riven wanted. Uneasiness makes for slips, and slips mean openings.

"A lot."

"How many?"

"Got six," the middle one replied. He pointed to the two guys behind him. "We all got six."

He was such a bad liar, he could have made an effort to make it convincing, he didn't."Really? Show me the balance badge. I'd like to see how it looks before I go to Petalburg to battle Norman." Riven held tightly onto both the soda cup and the glass bottle.

The man hesitated before agreeing slowly. He was going to make his move. He looked down momentarily, reaching for what Riven presumed was a pistol. "You're no trainers." The man paused and was about to look up when the older boy viciously smashed the bottle against his temple, shattering the glass container and dropping the guy instantly.

Before the other two could react, Riven swung the uncovered cup horizontally, splashing soda into the face of the two guys behind them. As they were stunned, the teenager took advantage and swiftly kneed the one closest to him in the mid section before smashing his face into the table. The third tried to throw a right but Riven slipped to the side and pushed him to the ground. Before he was able to get up, the trainer beat him with a chair until he stopped moving. A girl screamed as she saw blood on the floor.

Riven grabbed Will's arm, who looked more than a little spooked. He was still processing what just happened. "Come on, we need to get the hell out." As soon as they were about to leave, a girl in her mid teens and a boy ran ahead of them.

The doors to the restaurant slid open as a jet of intense black flames engulfed the two trainers and hit the front of the restaurant, scorching the register and the counter. The girl and boy screamed briefly before falling to the floor, severely burned and no longer alive. Riven held Will back, staring wide eyed at the two corpses. He saw his friends burning again. Memories flashed in his mind. Something inside clicked and his mind went blank. Everything was enveloped in a haze, voices became nothing but empty noise. He saw a threat to innocent lives, and he _was_ going to _eliminate_ it.

"Come on out!" The voice came from outside, no doubt from the very men who turned those two unfortunate trainers into blackened corpses.

Will was horrified and tried to hold back Riven with what little strength his thin arms could muster, but it was no use. "Gray, stop! Don't go out there!" He cried.

But Riven's eyes were cold and his face held no hint of emotion. A blue eye looked back at him and Riven shook off Will's hand. He walked out of the restaurant and chucked pokeballs outwards while analyzing the situation outside.

Three men stood on the other side of the town square, a houndoom beside the one in the middle. The other two had a fearow perched on the roof of a store and a seviper that dripped purple venom from it's long red fangs. They were surprised by the trainer's sudden response. "What the fuck? Is he going to fight?"

Mischief materialized and instantly noticed his trainer's feelings. He noticed because there weren't much at all. He picked up complete calm and a very slight feeling of something else. His trainer's face and stance promised murder. As White Queen came out, her horn tingled furiously, shit was about to hit the fan. Aine appeared soon after, grasping the situation in a couple of moments and losing all cheerfulness. It must have been those fighter instincts that she developed when she evolved. She was able to recognize what a fight for sport and what a fight to the death were. The amount of tension in the air told her it was the second one. She quickly jumped on a roof.

The one in between the other two with spiky black hair spoke up, revealing a slasher smile, flashing sharp canines like a wild mightyena."That's how you want to play? Fine. We'll kill your pokemon, then we'll beat the information we want out of you and I'll personally smash your fucking brains out after." He held his hand out. "Kill the pokemon, leave the human alive, but barely."

The fearow shot into the sky while the seviper and houndoom advanced forward to intercept the human trainer and his pokemon. Riven's pokemon responded equally as their trainer ran in a full sprint towards the other three humans on the opposite side of them. The criminals weren't expecting a trainer to get so close and personal, usually the trainers just stood behind their pokemon and barked orders. The trainer dodged acid shots and flamethrowers, having plenty of experience beforehand.

"He's insane! Get him!" The houndoom was the closest to him and jumped, trying to knock Riven down. Unable to dodge, he didn't slow down. He was only focused on ending the three in front of him.

White Queen collided with the houndoom before it was able to pounce on her trainer, biting and snapping at the neck. The dog used its horns as a ram and headbutted the absol in the ribcage, causing her to recoil back. It inhaled oxygen and felt fire coming up from his center before the absol recovered and slashed him in the snout with her horn. It blinked furiously, howling in pain from the slash and losing the flame it had been building up. She slashed at it again, more so to keep him occupied than anything else. He was driven to a wall of a nearby shop and was about to receive a stab to the neck when the seviper slammed into Haona and sent her to the ground. The snake opened its mouth, revealing massive fangs before sinking them into the absol's leg, injecting deadly poison.

"Ahh!" Haona cried in pain as the snake pulled its fangs out; it reered its head back to finish the job when it hissed and fell to the floor, writhing. The absol looked across the square and saw Bib's eyes glowing blue. He was using psychic to control the poison in the snake's body. The seviper cried out as the psychic built pressure inside the organ containing the venom.

"STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" It hissed. Then screamed when the sac ruptured, spilling venom onto its organs, causing them to get broken down by the poison's toxins. It twitched uncontrollably and eventually stopped completely, slowing down as it died. The injured absol looked away and stood up shakily, trying not to put too much weight on the bitten leg.

She panicked, the houndoom was gone. Haona looked around and saw it jump out from behind the kirlia, its jaws clamping down on the psychic's left shoulder, making Bib screech in agony. The dog shook its head, tearing more tissues in the shoulder as thick red blood ran down the white pokemon's body. "Baron!" she screamed, kicking up some winds. She had only one shot at this, or he was dead. She waited for the houndoom to expose his neck and let loose a razor sharp gust of wind. It blasted forward, howling like a tornado. "Get off of him!"_  
_

The kirlia was on the verge of blacking out when the houndoom's neck exploded, sending a spray of blood outwards, coating the psychic's body in crimson. The jaws immediately relaxed and the mutt fell to the floor, limp and missing part of its neck. The spectators cried in horror and chaos followed; panicked people ran inside the stores and away from the scene, appalled by the blood. Haona limped weakly over to the injured psychic and helped him lean on her. The poison in her leg would slow her down considerably, she wouldn't be able to move fast enough if an attacker approached them.

"You a-alright, Baron?"

He grinned weakly, holding his left shoulder with his right hand. "You haven't called me that in a long time, Haona. What's the sudden change? Not getting sentimental are you?"

"You nearly died, idiot."

"You're not exactly a spitting image of health yourself."

"I'll manage. But you need help, your shoulder looks terrible and you're barely even conscious as it is. The darkness is making it worse." Blackened spots of flesh where the houndoom's crunch had connected were all over the kirlia's shoulder. The spots were spreading, dark attacks often did that to psychic flesh. They caused considerable pain, which made it difficult for the psychics to focus.

Bib winced. "Yeah, it's pretty bad. Where's our trainer?"

They looked towards the northwestern end of the square and saw their trainer fighting the three men with his fists. He blocked punches and kicks before grabbing one guy's leg, using his right heel to kick in the attacker's right knee, forcing the bone out of the skin and tearing ligaments and muscle. Then, he locked his head with his right arm, twisting it outwards. Riven's muscles flexed and he pulled upwards, snapping the man's neck like a twig. He moved on to the second man and delivered a barrage of rights and lefts before kicking him in the chest and sending him to the floor. The man pulled out a pokeball and threw it behind Riven. Before the pokemon materialized, Riven mercilessly crushed the man's windpipe with a stomp, just like the one in Petalburg. The teenager was then whirled around and received a dizzying strike to the face, disorienting him. His vision blackened for a moment.

"Choke." A machoke stood behind him and grabbed him by the shoulders, effortlessly throwing him into a nearby shop window. The glass shattered and their trainer rolled inside helplessly. The machoke went to go fetch him. Haona and Bib felt like helping Riven but were cut off by a fearow cry, seeing the large bird dive-bomb towards them, wings glowing with a metallic sheen. It was coming in for a beheading. Bib's teleport couldn't teleport a dark type, and the pain of his injury interfered with his ability to focus clearly. They couldn't get away and their movement was impaired due to their injuries. Haona shot an ice beam but the bird easily evaded it. As the fearow swooped in closer, a fireball collided with the bird, sending it crashing into the floor. The ground shook slightly as rocks trapped it in place. Bib used his good arm to release a thunderbolt, shocking the bird unconscious.

Nez and Quil ran up to assist them, followed by Will, their trainer. The quilava was at Haona's side and the nuzleaf was next to Bib. "You would have gotten decapitated if we hadn't intervened," the quilava mentioned. He knew it wasn't the time to be joking but it helped boost their moods, something the absol and the kirlia sorely needed.

The absol laughed. "Don't get… ahead of y-yourself, pyromaniac."" She let out a pained gasp as the poison made the bite burn.

Nez inspected the purple bite marks and grimaced. "You're poisoned. You can't fight like this. I'll see if our trainer can help." He turned to Will and made some hand gestures. The boy nodded grimly, applying an antidote to the absol and a super potion for both her and Bib. A medicine of that strength wouldn't heal them completely but it was enough to keep them going for a little longer. More pokemon were released from their pokeballs; an ursaring, another houndoom, a crawdaunt, a rhydon and an electabuzz.

Quil's flames flared brightly, showing aggression. "Great. Now there's more of them." Rika emerged from the ground next to them. Another pokemon on their side would help, but it wouldn't make much of a difference; all of the enemy's were evolved and much stronger than any of them. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Will saw the pokemon emerge and he knew he had to think quickly. Gray had told him that winning battles wasn't all strength and power, but tactics too. "Nez, Rika, Quil, and White Queen, cover each other while protecting Mischief!" He looked down at the kirlia. "Use thunderbolt, it takes less focus to use than your psychic attacks but don't overdo it okay?" The psychic nodded and yellow sparks danced around his right arm. Will wasn't White Queen or Mischief's trainer but they listened anyway, the situation was too critical to nit-pick something like that.

The five pokemon fought the others off, protecting one another and complementing their weaknesses. A water pulse shot towards Quil, who was busy clashing flames with the houndoom. Haona's ice beam met the water pulse, sending shards of ice in multiple directions. Rika smashed the ground, trapping the houndoom with rocks. "Try getting out of that, dirty mutt." Then the rocks slid off with a ground smash from the rhydon. "Oh, shit." It punched the ground and lifted a piece of earth, then chucked it at them. Quil and Bib combined their attacks and blasted the rock throw into bits, showering the area with dirt and dust.

The ursaring started to charge up a yellow beam in its mouth. Even if they combined their attacks, a hyper beam would vaporize them. In the confusion, Aine jumped out from the roof of a building and attacked the ursaring with a double kick to the face, following up with a flurry of kicks to the much larger pokemon's legs, making it stumble. The interrupted hyper beam went awry and destroyed a store near the pokemon center. However, the large bear grabbed a hold of the combusken and slammed her into the floor, hearing only a jarring crack as she hit the ground. Aine whimpered in pain before releasing a massive jet of fire into the ursaring's face before it could step on her. She didn't relent until the smell of burnt flesh and fur permeated the air. She tried to stand up but couldn't, her leg was broken and caused her unbearable pain whenever she put weight on it. She was immobilized, unable escape or fight back effectively. Without mobility, she was as good as dead.

The problem was that she was still _near_ the enemy. The crawdaunt doused her with a water gun and the electabuzz released a point blank thunder, shocking the fire type. The water only made things worse. The electricity coursed through her body and prevented her from screaming, she only twitched as the electabuzz continued it's assault. She fell to the ground, still being shocked as she remained on the floor.

Haona noticed and shouted,"They're going to kill her!" She shot an ice beam, only for it to be nullified by a flamethrower.

Quil and Nez saw the combusken being electrocuted to death and cursed, they couldn't do anything from here. The electabuzz finally stopped when Rika dug up under the electric type and hit it with a dig. Bib fought through the pain and used the opening to teleport Aine away from the fight. He reappeared next to the pokemon center, where he passed out from exhaustion, the shoulder injury was too much. He had exerted his body far beyond its threshold. Nurse Joy came out and took both of them in.

"Chansey, take both of them to the emergency medical rooms, NOW!" The two pink pokemon loaded both the kirlia and combusken on a stretcher and wheeled them inside. Nurse Joy went back inside and held her hands out, "No one is to leave the center until this is resolved, understood?" Trainers nodded and began murmuring amongst themselves. Joy went to the counter to lock the doors but two boys managed to slip past, they were two of the more experienced and older trainers. "Wait!"

Only Haona, Nez, Rika, and Quil remained. Then, the other man walked over to the unconscious one on the floor that Riven had knocked out and released all of _his_ pokemon. A gengar, ninjask, weavile, magneton, and crobat appeared. Now they were in a dire situation. They were outnumbered and injured. They fought to the best of their ability but they were outnumbered and stood little chance of winning. White Queen could barely walk, and Nez had taken a fire fang to his side. Rika had been hit with an icy wind, slowing her down significantly. Quil was the only one who wasn't very hurt, suffering only a few cuts and bruises. They were going to lose or die. That is until two other trainers jumped in and decided to help them. They released their teams, enough to match the number of pokemon on the other side.

"Now it's fair," Quil said, seeing a medicam charging an aura sphere. A swampert stomped on the floor and shot a hydro pump, joined by a swellow's air cutter. A duskclops fired shadow balls, blocking incoming ice shards.

Explosions echoed through Lavaridge.

* * *

"What is he doing?"

Steven paced around his room. He had called Riven twice and there was no answer. That was odd, he was usually punctual in answering the phone. The teenager didn't sound particularly spiteful(even if his usual demeanor was heavily sarcastic and rude), so he had no reason to avoid talking to him. Calling two more times, Steven heard the ring all the way until the end and gave up trying to call. His metagross didn't have a lock on Riven, which meant that he would have to teleport to Lavaridge at a general location and find him from there. Before doing that, Steven decided to wait five more minutes. If he received no call back, he would teleport directly there. A little swarming wouldn't kill.

Five minutes passed and there was no call back. Steven had a sinking feeling that something was up. _Riven sounded completely fine in the call, what kind of emergency would there be? I can't help but feel something is wrong. I can't wait. I'm going now._ He summoned his metagross and watched as the large blue psychic levitated into the air.

_Yes, Steven?_

"Teleport to Lavaridge please. I have some business to attend there."

_Understood. Hop on._

Steven climbed aboard the metagross and a pink light enveloped them both. Teleporting a long distance was always strange, and really made Steven nauseous. They arrived in the small town and Steven noticed that there wasn't anyone around in the stores. The emptiness struck him as something out of the ordinary. Lavaridge always had people outside, it was a tourist attraction. Looking upwards into the sky, Steven saw flares of fire, bolts of lightning and ice beams, followed by explosions. _Pokemon battles aren't allowed in public areas. Are they insane? And that's not just one on one…has to be at least a triple. No, this is more than a triple battle. _Then he heard the screams.

The gravity of the situation registered within Steven's brain and he turned to his metagross."We need to-"

_I know,_ the metagross telepathically said. Steven nodded and climbed on again. The large blue psychic flew quickly over to the center square.

What Steven saw next could best be described as a death brawl. There were pokemon ferociously attacking each other in the square, with trainers commanding them to cover each other. There were scorch marks, ice, and blackened lightning impacts in the shops everywhere. A hyper beam destroyed part of a shop and a rock throw smashed various windows into bits. There were dead pokemon on the floor and two dead men in black. The only one still standing was a built black haired male with short spiky hair, who was also shouting orders.

Steven hadn't brought along his team, clearly not expecting something like this. He needed to do something. "Meta, separate as much of the pokemon as you can!" The metagross's eyes glowed a pale blue and it psychically held back several pokemon, coiling metal bars from the debris around their bodies, holding them in place. It wasn't enough to restrain all of them, but it would slow them down. As strong as his metagross was, it couldn't focus on keeping them all held down. Steven didn't know who was friend or foe. The battle continued on, causing even more damage and mayhem.

* * *

Riven groaned in pain as he lay on the glass littered floor. The impact with the window had broken the glass and his back felt like it was bludgeoned repeatedly with a mallet. He felt pain whenever he took deep breaths, indicating bruised if not cracked ribs. The adrenaline lessened the pain somewhat but it still hurt to move. The machoke would look for him soon. There was no way he could go toe to toe with it and win. Its thick muscle made his strikes useless, and it was much stronger than him. It made that man in Petalburg a weakling in comparison. One punch nearly knocked him unconscious and probably left one nasty bruise on his face. He needed to surprise it, so he decided to play linoone.

The machoke walked in through the window, its weight crunching the glass beneath. Riven judged the sound of the glass to measure where the machoke was. When the sound was at his feet, he held his breath and felt two fingers on his neck. The pokemon was checking for a pulse. This was the time to strike. Riven's eyes shot open and drew his knife from his pocket, driving it into the machoke's neck, pushing it in as far as possible. Blood spurted onto Riven's face, staining his clothes and face. The young man dragged the knife inwards to the left, tearing through the jugular vein and carotid arteries. Crimson shot out of the machoke's neck, staining the wall across from them and further coating Riven in blood.

"Ma-choke. Maaaa" It fell onto the floor, still leaking blood. Riven stood up and walked slowly out of the window, limping painfully with knife in hand. The final piece of trash stood a few feet away, eyes widening at the sight of Riven's face and blood splattered clothes.

"Machoke…how the fuck did you do that?" He couldn't believe that this guy had killed a machoke with just his hands. He was more dangerous than any little trainer, that much was certain. "I'll give you one last chance, tell me what happened in the desert." No reply came from Riven, who approached him with a slow gait. "Know what? I don't care. The only reason I came here was to kill you. That director can go fuck himself. You're mine."

Drawing a knife, he lunged at Riven, who dodged under him and slashed him in the leg before backing up, holding his ribs in pain. The assassin flinched and turned around, releasing a guttural growl at Riven. He pointed at Riven's knife. "Oh, so you have one of those too. Why don't you show me what you got then?" He lunged at him again. Adrenaline rushed into Riven's bloodstream again, lessening the pain of his ribs. Every moment felt like agony, but he endured it nonetheless. The two of them exchanged slashes and blows, trying to look for openings. The man in black managed to get a good look at the kid's face, he was smiling.

Meanwhile, the pokemon battle around the two men raged on. White Queen and Quil were fighting off a rhydon. Quil's flames were ineffective against the rock type's protective hide and Haona's ice beam was the only thing that was able to damage it significantly. But it was immensely strong. It slapped Haona with its tail, sending her crashing into a wall.

The quilava stood in between the absol and the rhydon."Haona, are you ok?"

Her red eyes were pained but fierce. She was about to do something incredibly stupid. "Quil, go! Help Nez, he's in trouble. I'll be fine! You can't do anything here, go protect your teammate!" She didn't want him getting killed too.

"But if i leave you here you'll die."

"Go!" She growled. The quilava hesitantly agreed and scampered off, shooting flames to intercept a flamethrower from burning his teammate. Haona yelped in pain and tried to pick herself up but her legs failed her. She remained on the floor, staring at the rhydon in fear as it turned to her. It formed a sinister smile and a green elongated horn extended outward. A mega horn would kill her instantly at this point. She closed her eyes, waiting for death to come.

As it reared back to gore her, a powerful green beam blasted a hole through the rydon's center, dropping it instantly. Haona sighed in relief and watched as a flaming horse approached some distance away with a human on top. It was the gym leader they faced earlier. She thanked whatever legendaries had blessed her that day.

Steven instinctively fell to the floor as the solarbeam blew past him. He picked himself up and turned behind him, seeing Flannery approaching rapidly on her rapidash. It came to a halt next to him. Flannery stepped down, taking in the sight of the battle and gasped. There was blood and debris everywhere. "What the hell is going on here Steven?!" A battle in the middle of the square? Why?

"I don't know. I came here to pick up a stone from a contact and suddenly I'm in the middle of a warzone! I didn't bring my pokemon with me, Meta tried to restrain as many as he could but there's just too many for him alone. Flannery, we need to get them to stop fighting or there will be more casualties. I'm going to call the authorities to send some officials in, meanwhile you need to try your best to control the situation." Steven looked at the rhydon and said, "Nice shot by the way, with the solarbeam. And at high speed too, impressive."

Flannery nodded tensely. "Dash recognized that absol. It belongs to a trainer I fought earlier. He must have seen her about to get killed and used solarbeam to stop the rhydon. He has scary precision with it." She wasn't comfortable about having to use a fully powered lethal solarbeam, but gym leaders couldn't take chances, not after recent events. Getting back onto her rapidash, the gym leader left Steven's side and went to go control the situation.

Steven took out his personal phone and dialed Wallace. He picked up a few rings later.

"Ah, Stevey! What brings you to your magnificent cham-"

Steven's response cut through Wallace's playfulness like a hot knife."Lavaridge. Now." Explosions and fire could be heard in the background, unbelievably loud, it truly did sound like a war zone.

Wallace picked up the severity in Steven's voice and his playful nature vanished completely. "Steven, I hear explosions in the background. What. Is. Going. On?"

"You need to get over here _now_. Something serious is going on and Flannery is trying her best to handle it. I didn't bring my pokemon with me. Bring some regional officials and grab psychics. We need to take care of the situation before it gets any worse."

"Steven, tell me what's going on!"

"There's no time. Go get them, and make it fast." Steven hung up and could only watch as the pokemon continued to battle.

Some distance away, he saw two men fighting each other, holding knives in their hands. They were bleeding in several places. The champion's eyes widened as he realized who was fighting. It was Riven. There was a coldness in his face that he had never seen before, it was chilling to see on someone so young. Both men fought like savages, rolling on the floor while biting and slashing at each other with teeth and knives. He hoped help would get there soon.

The battle was beginning to wind down as the rest of the trainers managed to knock out several of the opposing pokemon. Although, some of those pokemon hadn't been so lucky. The gengar took a night slash from the absol and fell onto the ground, leaking ectoplasm, which pooled onto the ground. It wasn't getting back up, ever. The ninjask had also fallen, having been incinerated by Quil's flamethrower. The trainer side was in considerably far better shape, having more control due to the guidance of three trainers, as opposed to none on the enemy side.

Flannery's rapidash stopped in the center of the square where she released her camerupt, magcargo, ninetales, torkoal and arcanine. She shouted fiercely, angry beyond belief. "I am the Lavaridge gym leader and I order you to STOP!" She raised a hand and her pokemon released jets of flame that separated the pokemon with walls of fire, preventing them from getting any closer. Even the crawdaunt was hesitant. Her pokemon stood directly in between the two opposing sides, growling and glaring at them through the flickering flames. "One more step and my pokemon will not hesitate to turn you into a pile of ash." The redhead was not playing around.

Just then, several men and psychics appeared next to Steven, along with Wallace.

"Restrain them." The psychics began to restrain enemy and allied pokemon. The ones who knew hypnosis put some of them to sleep. The trainers recalled most of their pokemon after they saw the officials intervene.

Wallace pointed to some of the officials. "Erik, take some men and check the rest of the town, see if there isn't anymore criminals." The official gestured the others to follow him and they dispersed around the town, trying to calm down the residents and assess damages. The psychics stayed behind to handle the pokemon situation. Seeing the men arrive, Flannery returned her pokemon and joined the two champions.

"Wait, what about them?" Flannery pointed to the two men scuffling on the floor.

The two separated and stood up, only to clash again. The black clad man elbowed the trainer in the ribs to make him flinch in pain. Then, he kicked Riven in the fingers, dropping the knife in pain. Throwing his own knife on the ground, the older man picked the teenager up by the shirt and began punching him in the face. He could have used the knife to kill Riven but it would have been too quick a death for him. He wanted to savor killing the boy.

"You. You son of a bitch. It's your fault he's dead. You beat him into the wall until you disfigured his face and gave him permanent brain damage. He was my fucking brother!" He placed his hands over the trainer's neck and tightened his grip. Trying his best to fight against the other man's grip, Riven tried to break the hold but couldn't, his right hand didn't help him. If he didn't do something, he was going to pass out.

"Stop them! Anyone!" Wallace commanded, speaking to the psychics.

A hypno noticed the two men and attempted to use psychic to stop them. It stopped the older man from choking the teenager, but did nothing to hamper Riven. The psychic bouncing off the trainer bewildered the hypno, who momentarily dropped the attack. Suddenly free, Riven kneed his attacker in the stomach and bent down to pick up the knife on the floor. At that moment, the authorities began to run over to them, trying to stop any of the two from doing anything more drastic. Psychic attacks didn't seem to affect the younger male. Steven froze as he saw the black haired trainer pick up the knife. His face was devoid of any mercy or hesitation and his hands weren't shaking in the slightest. The intent to kill was clear.

Steven shouted for him to stop but it was too late. Riven shoved the blade into the man's chest and twisted it slowly. He snarled in an almost feral tone,"Now you can join your brother." He pulled out the knife, flipped it in reverse and plunged it into the side of the man's skull. As the body dropped, Riven bared bloodstained teeth at the man's lifeless corpse, drowning out the muffled shouting around him. He simply stood there, watching the man's corpse until an official's manectric paralyzed him with a thunder wave and then shocked him.

Before he fell unconscious, he felt the cold metal of handcuffs against his skin.


	24. No Good Guys

Steven's head was throbbing, the cause of which was entirely obvious.

He had stayed in the hospital for a while with Wallace and Flannery but left abruptly outside after seething members of the regional council stormed into the waiting area and initiated a storm of complaints and rants. Wallace and the chair of the council exchanged scalding comments, arguing very loudly about the extent of damage outside and who was going to _pay_ for it.

Steven decided to let Wallace handle it and walked away towards the center of town, heading for the pokemon center, where he was going to pick up Riven's team. Upon actually seeing the place, he had to pause and note just how bad it actually looked. As one of the officials put it, it looked like someone unleashed a herd of rampaging Tauros through the area, and set off multiple crates of dynamite while simultaneously smashing windows with a large baseball bat. Pretty accurate summation actually.

Broken pieces of debris and wood were scattered everywhere, windows were shattered, and glass littered the floor beneath them. One shop window in particular had dried blood all over the window sill and even on the glass shards both inside and outside. The interiors of some stores were charred and damaged goods from stray attacks were spilled all over the floor. Shopkeepers and employees ranted and cried, demanding explanations from the officials that were sent to calm them down. Blood remained on the floor, but the bodies were absent. Not to mention the ground had several blackened craters and kicked up dirt everywhere; the result of missed thunderbolts, flame bursts, and hyper beams.

Luckily, the center was only a few minutes away from the hospital. The only reason for going there was because of the insistence of Meta, who wanted to speak with the trainer's Kirlia about psychic matters involving a certain issue with said trainer's _mental_ state. Steven would question him later, he didn't feel like doing much at the moment honestly, he just wanted to rest and forget about this. Stepping through the automatic doors, both Nurse Joy and the other trainers in the center gasped. Steven didn't care, he only asked how Riven's pokemon were doing, ignoring the gazes of all the other trainers.

Nurse Joy removed the pokeballs from the machine behind her, albeit a bit nervously. It wasn't everyday that a legendary trainer such as Steven Stone stopped in little old Lavaridge."T-they're doing fine mostly. The Combusken won't be battle ready for a month, her leg is broken. And the Kirlia also won't be able to battle until his shoulder fully heals. Two weeks at most, it was badly torn and mangled, it might scar over but evolution should fix it." Nurse Joy examined the former champion up and down, dubiously. "You're taking them back to their trainer, right Mr. Stone?"

Steven clenched his jaw. "Yes, I am." Nurse Joy minimized the three pokeballs and handed them to him, which he then fit into Riven's pokeball belt. He stepped outside the center and opened the Kirlia's ball. "Meta, he's all yours." Steven eyed the suddenly intimidated Kirlia- who appeared to be horrified- then turned to his Metagross. "When you're done, teleport to me and bring him with you. I'm going to go talk to Wallace, need to find out what he and the council chair talked about." The larger psychic's eyes flashed blue, indicating he understood. Steven rubbed his face and power-walked back in the direction of the hospital.

This was going to suck more than just a little.

* * *

Riven awoke to a room that smelled like disinfectant and was colored much too white for his liking. The constant beeping of machines made his head pound something fierce. He tried to sit up, only to groan when his sides stung sharply. "Hospital. Again." He figured a couple broken ribs weren't too bad until he realized he couldn't close his right hand. He lifted it out from under his blanket to see it covered in a mitt, which meant broken wrist and fingers. The string of curses and angry grunts woke up Will, who was snoozing in the chair across from Riven's bed.

"You're finally awake, dumbass," he said, rubbing sleepiness out of his eyes.

Riven stared back at him, lost. "Will. Why are you here? And how long have I been out? Where are my pokemon? Tell me!" He tried grabbing Will but the mitt just made it look quite ridiculous, he frowned when he couldn't even grab the hem of his shirt. The effect fell flat really quickly.

Will slapped the mitt away. "Calm down, your pokemon are ok. Steven went to go get them. He'll be back soon, he's talking to the champion right now. _The_ champion. Can you believe that? Wallace! Actually, lots of big fishes came here. There was a bunch of screaming and now there's officials literally _everywhere._" As Will said that, men marched past the door, manectric following them closely behind. A Zangoose with deadly looking claws passed by, making Riven glad he wasn't at the receiving end of those. "As for how long you've been out, only a couple hours. It's not that bad actually, and the chips downstairs are-"

"Whoa, slow down. Why are you here anyway? It's night time now, shouldn't you be in the center?" The kid started shifting his eyes around the room at the mention of pokemon center. Riven grinned wryly. "I _know_ that look."

"What look?" Will tried his best to don a neutral expression but was much worse at it than Riven, who was a master of the iron mask of death glares. After all, there was a _reason_ people challenged Will and not his traveling partner, despite being around the same level.

"That one." He pointed the ridiculous mitt at Will's face, which was currently a mix of _oh-shit_ and _I-screwed-up-badly_. "That was my face when Nurse Joy manhandled me back in Dewford for falling through a cave and trying to play it off. She shook me until I spilled it, then dumped rubbing alcohol all over my arms. What did you _do_?"

Will's face flushed and matched the color of his eyes. "N-nothing! Nothing much…" Riven was smirking while raising a brow, waiting for the kid to spill the beans. "Ok, maybe I did something. Well, not me but you know…"

"The infamous Quilava struck again didn't he." He should've known. When in doubt, blame the pyromaniac, it never _didn't_ work. Fool proof scapegoat. Those were always fun.

Will slumped into his chair in defeat. "He tried to show off to Rika." It was a seemingly _harmless_ display of fire, barring the fact that the very same _harmless_ lick of flame kept going, hit the carpet and well…it didn't exactly agree with it. Neither did everything else in the room, apparently.

Riven made an explosion noise with his mouth, lifting his arms, mimicking rising smoke. He snickered but quickly learned why it was a bad idea. "Ah, ribs. Laughing. Bad." As the snickers settled down, he asked, "What did he set on fire _this_ time?"

"The carpet, then the beds. Smoke detectors went off and Nurse Joy came running in. She nearly shouted me into the floor until a Chansey slapped Quil and chased me out." The kid took off his hat and scratched his head in embarrassment.

The older trainer started into hysterical laughter, which proved to be torture for his ribs. "Stop making me laugh, you're destroying my ribs here," he said, holding his sides.

"It's not my fault you find other people's bad luck hilarious, even though yours is probably the worst."

"I guess not, but the irony is the best part." Riven looked up at the white ceiling, counting the little square patterns. One was a random triangle. It made his eye twitch, whoever did that deserved to burn. He tore his sight away from the little abomination, it would drive him insane if he looked at it any longer. "So you got kicked from the center and are leeching off my hospital stay?"

"Is there another way to say that I pretended to be your brother again so I could sleep in here?"

The little bastard."Keep lying like that and it's going to bite you in the ass," Riven warned.

"Says the one who gives fake names to everyone."

Riven sputtered and couldn't think of a retort, so he spouted random gibberish under his breath instead.

The little boy grinned devilishly, leaning back on his chair. "But the seats aren't comfortable, they make my back ache."

"This bed isn't comfortable either." Well, at least it wasn't a park bench. That had made his back ache for days, sometimes it still did. _Not eager to try that again_. The floor was more comfortable than that bench.

"You can get up already, but you might as well stay, since it's dark out. And I know you don't want to stay here any longer, no one does. Hospitals suck, you're either sick, hurt, dying or dead."

"Yeah."

They talked about a few pointless things before Riven decided to ask about the more…serious matters. "Will, what happened, you know…after?" The older teen was certainly curious, the last thing he felt was being handcuffed, yet he wasn't. He couldn't help but wonder _why_. Not that being handcuffed appealed to him in any sort of way but still, it made a guy wonder.

"Officials came in and locked the place down, cuffed you then threw you in the hospital once the doctors found out you had broken ribs. Right now though, most of the trainers are still stuck in the center. They haven't notified the media yet either. And I hope they don't, all they do is just cause more problems. This made the big guys freak, that's pretty serious if you ask me," Will explained.

Riven's face returned to its normal expression as he thought about what Will said. "What about us?" The officials had to say _something_ about the trainers involved.

"I don't know. They didn't throw you in jail so I think you might be good. As for the rest of us, I guess we'll see?"

Two hours later, the door opened and Steven entered, along with Riven's pokemon. White Queen went up to him and bit his mitt, a sign of affection perhaps. He scratched her head and she closed her eyes, obviously enjoying the attention. "Spoiled girl." Then he looked down at his Kirlia. He had a bandage wrapped over his left shoulder but otherwise was still his grinning little self. Although, when he saw Aine limp into the room, he nearly freaked. "Aine! What happened to you? How did…"

"Her leg is broken. She'll be fine in a month," Steven answered, oddly cold. What bit him in the ass? Riven returned them all after receiving his belt from him. He glanced to the side where Will was pretty much frothing at the mouth.

Will was a nervous wreck, he couldn't form words in front of the former champion. Steven was his damn idol, since before he was a trainer and now the boy was shaking like a leaf, unable to say anything. But Steven paid no attention to him, only staring at Riven in what seemed like contempt. He tossed a small black stone to him, who caught it with his left hand.

"Where's the stone?"

"Which one?"

"The blue one you talked about."

"Bag." Riven pointed to the trainer bag on a table in the corner of the room.

Steven put on his gloves and walked over to the bag, picking up the sphere and placing it in a pouch in his own. He didn't leave, however, staying firmly in place. Riven noticed the venomous look Steven was giving him. "What do you want to tell me, Stone? You've been staring at me like that since you came in."

Steven turned to Will, eyes softening for the boy. "Can you step out? I need to speak with him in private." The little boy nodded and was about to step out when Riven held him back with his mitt.

"He stays here. If it's about what happened, I want him to listen too. Don't pretend he wasn't involved." People always treated children like they shouldn't hear what they were talking about. His parents did it all the time, it pissed him off. Because of that very reason, he had no idea what the hell was happening to him, no one ever told him _anything_. This was not going to happen to Will too.

"Fine. But he won't like it," Steven replied. His eyes narrowed, leveling a _vicious_ glare at Riven. "You. Are. Unbelievably. _Fucking_. Stupid."

"Why is that?" Riven questioned, unable to see why what he did was stupid.

Steven's voice rose in anger, "Why? You attacked three men out on the street in a public area and started a god damned brawl in the middle of town!" He threw his hands up in the air. "Not only that but do you have _any conceivable idea_ how much property damage that little fiasco caused? Hundreds of thousands! Four destroyed shops, six pulverized homes, and eleven other damaged buildings, not including goods!"

"You're getting upset over some structural damage?" It seemed like something so trivial. Things got destroyed. So what? Just build it again. Buildings could be replaced, lives not so much.

"Yes! Do you have to pay for repairs? No! Trainers never do! That's why we _specifically_ banned pokemon battles in public squares and plazas! Every single time one of you irresponsible idiots destroys a building, the League has to pay it back because trainers _can't_ and _won't! _There's rules_!"_

Riven's brow furrowed._"_Why do you care? You're not part of the League, you're the CEO of a company. You have no obligation to care about the government's problems." Steven was in no position to lecture him, he wasn't an official.

"But I was a champion once! I know what it's like. And having the council breathing down your neck is _never_ a pleasant experience. Wallace is knee deep in problems with them as it is, if this got out to the public, his approval rating would plummet. All because one trainer decided he would take the law into his own hands! It's a _huge_ problem."

Riven shot a glare of his own at him. "What did you want me to do? Stay there and let them come kill me? Oh, because that certainly works out for everyone right? Forget about trainers dying! But heavens forbid some buildings get destroyed!" He spat furiously.

"You could have called someone for help!"

"Call _who_? Flannery? There are no police forces in Lavaridge. If I did call her, then they'd kill her! Then when the officials finally do come and rescue me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself because I ran like a bitch! She's one girl, how could I sacrifice her life for mine? I don't want people to die for me, Steven."

This got Steven even more enraged. "Because you're _so_ afraid of people dying, is that it? YOU KILLED THREE MEN WITHOUT BLINKING!" He roared, recalling the sight of the bodies being carried off by the officials. "What the hell were _you_ thinking?! That you'd kill three men and things will be nice and peachy again? There are rules, Riven. You follow them. That's how society works. You better get used to it, jail isn't a nice experience for _anyone_."

Riven released a low snarl. "Look, I took care of the problem. I was _there, _the officials were_ not_. If I didn't, they would have killed more people, innocent people Steven. I did what I had to do to minimize casualties and eliminate the enemy." _You don't bargain with criminals. You get rid of them._

"Don't talk like a soldier because _you're not_, you're a trainer!"

_If only you knew,_ Riven thought, fiercely holding back a wry smirk. The irony of the situation nearly made him burst into hysteric laughter.

"Trainers aren't supposed to kill people damn it! That's the very reason why Sinnoh is such a god damned mess right now! Because a trainer went insane and threw the region into chaos!" The fervor of support for him was _still _incredibly strong, both in Sinnoh and from recent reports, Unova as well. They had been agitating officials everywhere and instilling paranoia in more regions than just those two. He didn't want to think about the incident in Mossdeep.

"I don't give a flying shit what happens in other regions, that's their problem. Besides, the criminals deserved it. Or did you forget about the two trainers who got turned into human firewood? Did they deserve to die? Lives cut short by walking pieces of fecal matter? No. I wasn't going to let them get away with it, I made them _pay_." His ribs prevented him from getting up and driving his mitt into the blue haired asshole's face. _You're lucky I can't smash your face into a table this time, _Riven thought darkly. _I've seen too many die in front of me, I don't want to see more._

Will was surprised they weren't beating each other's faces in yet. They looked about ready to. Doctors were standing outside the door, trying to see what the commotion was about. Some officials had also gathered around the door, he motioned for them to go away.

"Two wrongs don't make a right. In fact, all you did was make things worse. By involving your friend and two other trainers, you could have had all of your trainers licenses revoked. Then the League would confiscate all of your pokemon, possibly even put them down. Would you like that?"

"What."...That wouldn't be just.

"What would your friend do if because of you, they took his Quilava and banned him from training? Or that other boy's Swampert? A pokemon he's been traveling with for more than five years? His best friend? Oh, but you didn't think about that did you? Of course not."

His fists clenched, nearly cutting off circulation. "As for your pokemon, where do I start? You just left them to fight while you took your 'justice'. If it weren't for Will or the two other trainers there, your entire team would be dead! Do you love your pokemon? Then take care of them! Your Combusken nearly died being electrocuted and your Kirlia almost bled to death. Your Absol was about to get megahorned by a Rhydon had Flannery's Rapidash not saved her. It's good that you fight with your pokemon, but it isn't ok to abandon them. EVER! You fight as a team, that's what being a trainer is about."

Riven remembered Aine's limp and his anger evaporated away like water. A massive wave of guilt slapped him in the face.

"You were fortunate you had at least four badges and had the right to use lethal force, otherwise you'd have had all of your licenses revoked _immediately_." As Steven said that, he swept his gaze over to Will, who was still shaking like a leaf in the wind. "But with the amount of destruction caused, Wallace-_the champion_\- had to go out of his way to calm the council down and treat this as a _trainer issue_, that way every trainer involved doesn't get tossed into jail for destruction of property. Believe me when I tell you that the council has no qualms about throwing trainers in jail, they _love_ doing it. The fact that the dead men were part of a terrorist organization certainly helped your case too, you narrowly escaped with your licenses intact," Steven hissed. "But make no mistake. Next time, if there is a next time, Wallace isn't pulling any favors. The collateral damage that you and the rest of those trainers caused is going to take hundreds of thousands in tax payer money to repair. They _won't_ be happy about that. It might possibly take weeks if not months to fully smoothen all the ruffled feathers you inadvertently dragged through a political sandstorm along with you. The League has enough problems as of now. _Don't. Add. More_."

Will backed up, even if he wasn't the champion anymore, Steven was still intimidating. He knew about his pokemons' power, they fought the magmas and aquas when they still had control of the region.

Riven was about to speak but Steven continued, tone capable of slicing through steel. "If this happens again, before you do anything _stupid_, think about the damage you can cause to others. If it's just you, do whatever the hell you want, but if someone else is involved, _think_." He left for the door. "If I find anything interesting, I'll notify you. And if I were you, I'd get out of Lavaridge, in case they come back for a round two." The door slammed shut with a loud thud, sending vibrations along the walls.

Riven lay motionless in his bed, thinking about the world. A tear of frustration leaked out of his eye, silent and angry.

Will noticed a droplet travel down Riven's cheek. "You alright?"

"…No." Nearly a growl, not quite human. After a verbal thrashing like that, who would be 'alright'?

Will didn't know what to say. What Steven said…wouldn't be easy for anyone to swallow. Much less after finding out that they were the reason their pokemon nearly died. "Hey, I know what he said was harsh but no one else is blaming you for what you did. They were bad guys right? You did it because you wanted to save lives. You're a good guy."

Riven looked back at the little boy, whose red eyes were so big and wide. Innocence. He smiled lightly and pulled the boy's hat down, shielding his eyes. "There are no good guys," he said sullenly.

A glint of crimson flashed.

_And I'd never be one of them_._ Not here, not anywhere._

* * *

The following week, the gym leaders had convened in Lilycove, unanimously agreeing to skip the introductions and proceedings in order to get down to matters of dire importance. Every single one of the gym leaders was in an uproar after hearing what happened in Lavaridge. The sight of a very shaken Flannery didn't help. Wallace had difficulty controlling the order of the room as gym leaders argued over what to do.

"Everyone. Calm. Down. Right. NOW!" Wallace yelled, slamming both fists down on the round table they were all currently sitting at, unusual aggression startling the others. The bickering stopped and the noise died down as people returned to their seats. "Now that everyone is quiet, we will talk about this like civilized people, not savages who yell and argue like fools. We are not the council, we are better than this. And as such, we will begin the first order of business. Anyone who wishes to speak will raise a hand and will be allowed to speak _uninterrupted_ until done," Wallace decreed, trying his best to prevent the discussion from being ruined by unruly behavior.

Winona was the first to raise a hand. Wallace nodded and acknowledged her. "I want to know what everyone else here wants to know. What happened in Lavaridge?" The other gym leaders exchanged nods of agreement.

"I can answer that," said a familiar voice as a figure walked into the room.

Everyone in the room turned to see who it was and saw the former champion walk in. Glacia's eyebrows climbed up to her hairline. "Wallace, he's not a gym leader you know that's not allo-"

"I do. And I will allow it if I please. He was a champion before and knows how this works. Steven also has more information about what happened than any of us and Flannery is a little too shaken at the moment. He's the reason we even got word of this, and prevented anything worse from happening." Steven sat beside him and was given the approval to speak.

Steven looked around the table, everyone was paying attention- usually, there would be people sleeping or bored out of their wits. Not this time. He moistened his lips and cleared his throat. "I'm going to tell you the general gist of it." He waited a moment. "What occurred in Lavaridge was a small scale skirmish that quickly devolved into a ruthless deathmatch between trainers and six men of unknown affiliation. Three of those men and several of their pokemon were killed. And substantial damage was done to the surrounding area, an incredible amount, judging by damage estimates. The council is furious, as you all know."

Brawly stood up. "But how did this happen man? Why Lavaridge and poor Flan? It doesn't have anything to harass, it's just like Dewford. It doesn't make any sense dude!" He punched the table, then breathed heavily, trying to keep his cool. Wallace mouthed for him to cool it, spreading his hands downward. The muscular surfer sat back down.

Steven held up a hand. "I know. Part of the reason this got so out of hand was the lack of any official presence in the area. If I hadn't stumbled into the town on business, who knows what would have happened. Flannery couldn't take them by herself. They had fully evolved pokemon, and many of them. Some of which were water, ground, and rock types."

Tate intervened. "Steven, we've _tried_ placing officials in Lavaridge and Dewford, but the council keeps vetoing the bills. We've been trying really hard but nothing gets through, it happens every single time. We just end up at square one every time we attempt it." Every gym leader huffed in response. They knew it was only a matter of time before places like Lavaridge, Dewford or any of the smaller towns got hit.

"Yes, that's true. From what Wallace has told me, gridlock has been the status quo within the regional government for a few months now. However, Lavaridge has been filled with officials, so things like that shouldn't occur again. For a while at least." It was no reassurance but it would help lessen the worry and hopefully provide some comfort for Flannery.

"But _why _did it happen? What would criminals gain from attacking random trainers in a small town like that?" Juan asked. Wallace's former mentor paid very fine attention to detail due to being an established coordinator, and things just didn't add up."Were they just thieves? Or?"

"They wore identical black clothes, and used ambush tactics, definitely not run of the mill scum," Wallace said, fully aware of what he was implying.

Everyone sucked in a breath, except for Norman, face grave. "Are you saying that we might have another team on our hands?" Roxanne inquired in disbelief. Half the room had the exact same expression.

"There's a high possibility," Steven mentioned. "After the Aquas and Magmas, it's understandable how much we _don't_ want that part of history to repeat itself. They almost succeeded, had Brendan not convinced Rayquaza to help." Even then, it took a legendary whose wild behavior was known to all. It was a gamble to go to the sky pillar and seek its help, the boy risked a lot to save Hoenn, something everyone was grateful for. But the point was that the darkest hour had come for the region, and all seemed lost- until a green dragon descended from the sky and stopped the fighting. "We can't turn to the legendaries to solve our problems," Steven concluded. "Or children."

Norman stood up, leaning on his cane. Everyone grew silent. "What was it they attacked?" He had lost considerable weight after his hospital stay and would depend on that cane for quite some time until he fully recovered. The cane still made the other leaders uncomfortable.

"You remember the two who came out on television a week or so ago? The ones who survived the desert?" Steven reminded.

Everyone agreed, they had all seen the two boys, both of whom were sunburned and rough from the desert trek. "Yeah man, they looked like they got rolled around in a sand pit and left out to dry in the sun," Brawly described.

"But why attack two trainers randomly like that? Publicity? Making a statement by assaulting two people who appeared on television? What would they accomplish, this is highly erratic and very confusing."

Wattson scratched his beard. "No, Juan. I think it may be something else." Winona asked him to elaborate. "Well, around the same time they escaped the desert, some blue lights were seen hundreds of feet into the sky from Mauville. I was coming back from lunch when I saw them. They were coming from deep within the desert, I know that much."

"They were involved with those strange lights is what you're saying," Roxanne deduced.

"Maybe, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure riding Vibravas out of the desert makes for a good myth but a poor truth. They got out _somehow_. No pokemon can make those lights, and there isn't anything out there but Cacturne and sand." The jolly old man's infectious laugh was wholly absent today.

"Or so we think." Norman sat back down, tapping his cane lightly against the table. "There may be something hidden out there. Something they found in the desert that the supposed 'team' wanted information on. Badly. I think the Petalburg incident and this one are very much related." The room was deathly silent. Even Brawly and Wattson, the most rowdy of the gym leaders, were speechless. A cold chill ran down their spines.

"What makes you say that, Norman?" Wallace asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"When they attacked my daughter, the guard who saved her told her to keep the prize jewel safe. He didn't mention why. Two weeks later, someone broke into our house, left a large sum of money and a note. It said, 'we took the jewel, sorry for inconvenience'. I suspect that was what they were after. But it wasn't the same guys who tried to kill her. Third party perhaps."

"So you think they found something of the sort? Like some kind of artifact?"The desert was highly untouched, due to its treacherous landscape and sudden onset of sandstorms, either natural or as a result of wild Flygon. Maybe there were other ruins in the desert, apart from Regirock's tomb. They'd have to search later.

Steven froze as bits and pieces came together, remembering Riven's vague words. _Didn't think much of it but after what happened in the _desert_, let's just say it does a lot more than glow._ The blue sphere. The one he had given him. It was back in the lab- he had to examine it more closely than he imagined, it could hold secrets to something much more powerful. But he said he found it in Dewford, not the desert, so it couldn't be that. Could it?

Sidney took a chance to speak, the elite four mainly sat back in most of the meetings but this time he couldn't. "Who are these guys? Even if the boys did find something in the desert, the grunts can't possibly know it now. They all got captured or killed. They messed with the wrong trainers, which means, they'll probably switch tactics rather than try it again if they possess half a brain. Else they're a bunch of idiots." He turned to Steven, "They didn't get a psychic lock on them did they? If they did, we need to get a psychic to break it quick."

_Not on Riven at least_, Steven thought. His Metagross had spoken to him about some peculiarities about the boy, notably the resistance to psychic influence. He heard some people naturally resisted psy-locks, but he never actually thought it would be true. "The men had no psychic pokemon, and all of the others were apprehended. It isn't possible."

"That doesn't mean there weren't others," said Drake, the strongest of the elite four. "I assume these men aren't like the other teams. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion. They're organized and far from stupid."

Steven nodded. "Yes. I touched upon this with Professor Birch following the Petalburg news report. These men are much more ruthless than the Magmas and Aquas on an _individual scale_. They latter tended to use scare tactics and theft to get what they wanted. These guys though…much worse."

Brawly was confused. "But didn't the other teams get taken down by a single kid? Shouldn't be super hard to mop these guys up then."

"Yes, but that's the problem. The other teams didn't specifically resort to killing trainers. These men are much more pragmatic than the others, and that's what's frightening. Think about it. If a gun killed said trainer- which it could easily do- would the Magmas and Aquas have failed? Team Plasma? Team Galactic? Team Flare? They target trainers because they don't want their plans getting ruined, they aren't interested in battles or worthy opponents. Also, they aren't uniformed for convenience, they had no special type of clothing. Many people wear black. It's hard to fight the enemy when you don't know who they are."

Steven's point was very solid. The other teams had many chances to kill the innocent young trainers, but they didn't. Because they didn't _want_ to. The teams had gathered men and women under a philosophy. Suddenly, the reason why one child was able to do so much made a painful amount of sense. They fought young idealists that had never killed anyone in their lives, very much just newly recruited trainers. People like them.

Team Plasma was a perfect example. Their leader was a complete and total bastard but their grunts weren't as fanatical as him. Their initial philosophy was still being followed by a non violent Team Plasma group in Unova. At their best they were people who fought for ethical complaints inherent in the trainer environment. At their worst, they were...well, monsters. The higher up the totem pole, the more messed up things got.

"Do we have a name, at least?" Winona asked, worry evident in her features.

"Singularity," Norman said, drawing the attention of every person in the room. "That's what they're called."

"How do you know that?" Liza questioned. He wasn't in with them was he? Couldn't be, Norman was much too uptight for that.

"Because some time after the incident, men from that very organization broke into the Office of Contests and Events, killed three people and brutally assaulted Malcomn Van. They called themselves 'The Singularity'. The police told me about it after I recovered. The men they captured had _colorful_ criminal pasts, including but not limited to poaching, murder, and assault. Some of their ledgers gushed enough red to paint entire walls with," he revealed, confirming the group's fears.

Winona swallowed. "If these men are as dangerous as you make them out to be, what can we do?"

Flannery's hopeless look made Wallace's next words hit even harder. "Nothing yet. We don't know what they want or where they operate. The best you can do is protect your areas. The officials have to take care of the rest. I'll order some men to be dispatched to protect the towns that don't have high populations, I don't care if I have to start punching council members to do it. I _will_ get the security we need."

Winona wasn't convinced. "Wallace, the officials are being swamped with reports of wild pokemon attacks everywhere. Many rangers have been killed, we can't depend on them, especially not with the stronger pokemon. The most recent attack was in Fallarbor, a Skarmory. Apparently two trainers stopped it but not without it managing to murder three people." Steven winced at the mention of a Skarmory.

"I know, I've been quelling angry pokemon more than I've been battling challengers. We had to put down that Tyranitar near route 112 and several Ariados near Fortree. We're busy enough as it is with these random wild pokemon attacks and disasters." The regular appearances and sightings of the rare mountain Absols was very disconcerting. Seeing just one was enough to set a person on edge. Fortree had seen _five_ of them in the last six months, all followed by vicious pokemon attacks, freak lightning storms, and floods. Coincidence? Highly unlikely.

There was also the trainer rampages. The officials killed two trainers who claimed to be 'true trainers' and started attacking people in Mossdeep a few months ago. Both were highly experienced trainers with eight badges; electric types were called in to subdue them immediately. They wasted no time in using lethal charge beams to take them out. It pained Wallace because he knew that such a hasty order wouldn't come without repercussions, and boy did the trainer support groups have a field day with that. They neglected to comment on why deadly force was authorized, not wanting the region to think that Sinnoh's problems had spread. Mass hysteria was preferable _never_.

Wallace's migraine seemed progressively worse now, he clapped two hands together after finally getting fed up. "Well, that concludes today's discussion. You know what time to meet up again tomorrow, we'll continue this then, I'm sure all of you have a whopping headache and just want to relax. I certainly do, now shoo." The gym leaders stood up to leave. Winona and Flannery left first, the former no doubt trying to talk to the redhead, who looked out of it the entire meeting. Brawly, Wattson and Sidney bickered about something while Tat and Liza walked alongside each other, speaking to Juan. The remaining three elite four members and Roxanne gave Wallace a nod and took their leave as well. The room emptied quickly until only Steven and Wallace remained seated.

"Frustrating, isn't it?" The champion muttered, placing a hand on Steven's shoulder.

Steel blue eyes met exhausted sea-green."You're not talking about me, are you?"

Wallace sighed wearily, looking down at the floor. "No, I'm not." These were troubled times indeed, but he couldn't quit now. "It's just so much to take in. I don't know how I'm supposed to handle it. I try to act cheery while my brain is tearing itself to pieces, Steven. I can't take much more of this, the government's inability to do anything at the moment without tripping over itself is making the region worse. I just hope we can get a break until some of this gets sorted out." He reclined on the chair, closing his eyes for a moment.

"This is the League's responsibility. I'll try my best to help you, I don't want more Magmas or Aquas running around in Hoenn again. No one does. We just have to see how this plays out. I don't expect a magical trainer to appear and save the day. I want to do something this time and prevent another disaster."

Wallace nodded ruefully. "Same here. You going to return tomorrow?"

Steven shook his head. "No. I need to go to a cave near Littleroot, there's something there that should prove to be very interesting. And I also need to examine a stone one of my err...contacts gave me."

The champion snorted, what did he expect? "You and your rocks. Sure, have fun with your weird hobby while I die slowly in here. Some hardcore _I-got-your-back_ going on there."

"Sorry," Steven apologized, feeling a little guilty for bailing on his friend.

Wallace shook his head, smiling. "Don't worry about it. I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining here. You're not part of the League anyway, remember? You aren't forced to be here." He stood up, waved a hand and walked out the door. "Good luck cave exploring, Stevey! I'm going to go take a nice long nap!" Wallace's voice echoed in.

The door closed, leaving the stone collector alone. Steven stood up and summoned his metagross. The blue psychic materialized and anchored himself on the ground, giving his trainer a quizzical stare. "Meta, take me to Devon. I need to gather some things, then we head to Littleroot. We need to see that cave."

A pink flash and he was gone.


	25. Rest and Good Byes

**This took longer than usual. I had some college related business to deal with.**

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the battle in Lavaridge. The current state of affairs was calm for the moment, at least when there weren't any construction workers around. Jackhammers, machamps, and bulldozers polluted the normally quiet town with extremely loud noise during the early hours of the morning, and all throughout the afternoon. Quite a few older residents complained about the sound, saying it hurt their sensitive ears, it was to be expected though, there were a lot of old people. Luckily, the hot springs remained open, which was good news for both the residents and newer trainers. They were unusually crowded, more so than normal, due to the amount of stress and nerves people had developed due to the entire dilemma two weeks prior.

Will and Riven decided to wait in Lavaridge until the latter's ribs healed and his pokemon were sufficiently battle ready, there was no benefit to going out in the wild with two injured pokemon and a trainer that couldn't breathe heavily without flinching in pain. He discovered how far he could run when White Queen stole his shoe while sleeping in the grass. Hint? Not that far. Wheezing on the floor and having everyone in the immediate vicinity circle around him was slightly uncomfortable too. He also had to go out and buy another change of clothes since he couldn't run around with a white blood splattered hoodie. That wouldn't make people nervous at all.

The springs were a nice change of pace though, Will had a fun time going there every day to relax after some battles on route 112. Riven had even let White Queen and Mischief join in on the fun. Of course, he and Aine had to sit out, casts went bad when wet. Both of them were absolute devils, splashing other people with water and pulling towels down from unsuspecting girls. Riven had to stop letting them out in there because he kept getting blamed for his pokemons' shenanigans, which unfortunately was too late because his face had probably already molded the shape of a handprint onto his right cheek already. Slaps hurt, and girls slapped _hard_.

However, he got to see White Queen embarrassed for the very first time, and what a wondrous sight it was. A mightyena used attract on her and she practically swooned. It made Riven collapse, holding his sides in laughter, crying with a mix of laughter and pain. His reaction must have been effective because she snapped out of it, ice beamed the mightyena and stubbornly demanded to be returned. She made it a point to stay in her pokeball for the entire day after that, biting her trainer's leg whenever he summoned her. Apparently her pride took a hit and needed some time to return to its former glory and status.

The next few days, Aine and the rest of Will's team spent large amounts of time talking to other pokemon in the center. On what? Nobody really knew.

Nurse Joy made it her personal duty to keep a watchful eye on Will and told him to control his quilava or he was getting kicked, _again_. That torched room was quite a scare, she held up an accusing finger at him to make sure he understood. Nodding furiously, he accepted and scurried off to a group of trainers, eagerly exchanging battle tips and showing off badges.

The center was rather lively again and the town was getting rebuilt, very unlike the gloom of last week. Everything seemed fine, at least for most people. Riven remained in the corner, staring at the floor, looking completely indifferent. He looked far away and in dream land for most of the time, it took a couple of snaps of the fingers to actually get him to notice something(hitting him was a bad idea, Will learned that punching a jumpy guy that's good at fighting _might_ just result in a very powerful punch to the face). Will _tried_ to have him make friends, but it only made things worse, his attempts at friendly banter usually came across as perceived death threats. Instead, Riven decided to stay back and hang out alone, that way nobody thought he was out to kill them, and quite frankly, that was good enough for him. He didn't like associating with people much, they gave him headaches. Some of the younger trainers never wanted to shut up.

Will honestly didn't know what to do. Riven felt so distant since Steven talked to him, smiling less and laughing a lot less too. Truth be told, it wasn't really much different than normal, he never really did it much to begin with. But it was noticeable, and annoying. He thought he should find out the conventional way.

"You ok?" He asked, sitting down across from Riven in the lobby. Even his pokemon had accompanied him(insurance purposes, obviously). Rika made an effort to nudge him, which was a good sign considering she didn't do much other than stand there and occasionally chime in. Quil sat down on the floor next to the trapinch, asking the same question with a quick "lav".

"I'm fine," Riven replied, patting Rika's jaws, fighting his body's impulse to keep his hand as far away from those jaws as possible. His expression didn't change though. No smile, just that serious face that seemed more like a carving than a real human face.

Will was going crazy. "Alright, that's it." Riven looked up, confused. "We're going to the ice cream shop, you look terrible and you need to cheer up, right now. Ok? I know you have a sweet tooth, so don't give me a lame excuse." His friend blinked a few times, before nodding once in confirmation. However, the pokemon seemed more excited about the ice cream than Riven was. Quil's fire flared in happiness, singing a table and startling some nearby trainers. Will dragged the older boy outside before Nurse Joy hunted him down for burning something again.

The ice cream shop was much less crowded than the center but the store was still chock full of trainers, since old people couldn't eat ice cream. Bad for their health and all. Will started up random conversations with Riven, but quickly found out that he had no idea what most of anything was. He didn't even know what video games were. He spent thirty minutes explaining to him the basics of gaming. An older male, teenager, needed to be lectured on gaming 101, it was like, IMPOSSIBLE.

"Let me get this straight. These RPG games are basically just you going around and killing things?" Riven held his hands outward, then scratched his head. Video games were confusing. There were so many genres and types, his brain felt like falling off.

"Yeah! Then you level up and stuff and craft your own armor. You can even fight other players." Will excitedly listed all of the things a player could do on the actual game and even started talking about how good some games were and such. His eyes brightened as he went off on his tangent, oblivious to the complete disinterest in the older trainer's face.

"Sounds pointless," Riven said, licking the ice cream again. The little boy's video game jargon was completely lost on him, not that he cared much about it anyway. "I didn't play much games really. Never got the chance, times were…different then."

Colossal understatement there.

Will took a bite out of rainbow flavored ice cream, making Riven cringe. "Whatever, it's because you grew up in a cave."

Riven frowned. "I did not." Was it just him or did his pokemon just snicker at him? Yes, they did. Mischief was trying to hide it, but his smug little smirk betrayed him.

Will rolled his eyes, giving some ice cream to Quil. He had been at his feet, tugging on his shorts with eyes that said_, please feed me_. "Wild, jungle, forest, space. What's the difference?" He shrugged and tapped his foot impatiently.

Riven grumbled something under his breath before part of his ice cream chipped off, floated in the air and descended into the mouth of his kirlia, who was enjoying his own ice cream while snagging some of his trainer's in the process. "Thief. Eat your own ice cream, leave mine alone. You and White Queen forced me to spend money on your own bowls. And the largest size! Keep this up and my money will be gone before we even leave Lavaridge. We can't exactly battle with two thirds of the team out of commission." White Queen huffed and stuck her tongue out at him. Her blue face was covered in smidges of her ice cream. Quil grinned mischievously, went over and licked them off. The absol was completely stunned before puffing her cheeks in anger and forming a blue ball of energy that refroze the melting ice cream in her bowl.

"Ab…sooool," she growled, charging up the beam. Quil simply blew out a light ember that was so weak it only tickled her face, mostly as a teasing sign of affection. This only served to get the absol progressively angrier. Will's quilava spent the next five minutes dodging angry ice beams and razor winds outside while blowing her embers. At least it made Riven crack a smile, which was an improvement.

Will saw the display and laughed to himself before going back on topic. "I used to play games all the time. Up until Quil blew my console up, at least. It was the fourth one he fried so my mom decided that she wasn't going to buy me anymore. It sucked but I got to play with him and the other kids more," Will remembered, watching his quilava stick his tongue out at the absol just to spite her.

"Playing with other kids must have been nice…" A bittersweet smile came across Riven's lips, but was gone as soon as it had appeared. "He was a cyndaquil then, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you have another region's starter? Johto was it?" He was a Hoenn trainer, a different region's starter was weird.

"Well, my brother Connor is a breeder. He works in Johto, near Goldenrod City. Before I was able to become a trainer, he sent over an egg to my mom in Slateport. It was for my ninth birthday. It was Quil's egg. The first thing he did when he hatched was hiccup flames. He lit my sleeves on fire," Will explained, rubbing his forearms, he remembered the scene like it had happened yesterday.

"Even as a baby, he was still causing trouble?" He was glad Aine wasn't a pyromaniac, despite setting that table in the Slateport bazaar on fire.

"Oh yeah, he set a dying oak tree on fire three weeks after that. Rolled around in the ashes and came home covered in soot. It was pretty funny until mom made me scrub the floors after he ran all over the place." The quilava was still being chased outside, having a blast. "Oh, speaking of which, do you know what day it is?"

"Tuesday."

Will rolled his eyes. "I know what day of the week it is."

"Then why did you ask me?" Stupid questions were always welcome, really.

The kid's face met the desk. Riven held back a chuckle. "Tomorrow is an important day!" Will exclaimed, red mark on his forehead. "For tomorrow it's my birthday!" He held his hands out, waiting for Riven to give him congratulations or something of the sort.

"Great. Death welcomes you sooner," he deadpanned.

"You're so negative."

"Really? And here I thought I was made of sunshine and rainbows. Didn't see that one coming," Riven replied sarcastically, frowning after realizing Aine had devoured his ice cream too. He sighed heavily, he wanted that too. The chicken only stared back at him and gave a happy cry, cream still on her beak. "What are you planning to do then? We can't leave Lavaridge yet, not until next Wednesday, when they take Aine's cast off."

Will flipped out his phone, and read a text message he had received. "Well, I need to call my brother tomorrow, he said he had something for me. Going to use the video phones in the center and see what he's got." White Queen and Quil returned to the store. The fire type had a paw print of dust on his face and a dazed expression, she must have nailed him a good one. She gave an irritated hmph and went back to her bowl of ice cream. "Did you learn your lesson Quil?"

The quilava stared at him briefly before grinning widely again. His trainer sighed and shook his head. "It's your funeral." Quil went back over to the absol and licked her again, and the chase resumed. This time though, Riven paid no attention and just stared at his empty bowl in a deeply thoughtful state. "Ugh, what are you thinking about now?"

"The desert," he responded curtly.

"What about it? It's just a bunch of sand, heat, and freaky cactus pokemon." If he saw a cacturne again, he'd make sure to burn it. Those things were creepy. To think that such a cute pokemon like cacnea would involve turn into that. Damn, evolution was scary sometimes.

"Not that. It's _how_ we got out that bothers me," Riven added. It certainly had been bugging him but the strangeness of their escape hadn't fully sunken in until recently.

Will finished his ice cream and slouched into the chair. "Umm, it was that machine thing right? The one you put that one blue crystal thing into?"

"Yes."

"Hmmm, that was weird. But who cares, we're out." It wasn't important anymore, they were out of the desert and didn't have to drink pee either. Will would never take the taste of clean water for granted anymore. He'd been drinking a lot of water since then, he guessed it was because by losing something is how someone finds out just how important it really is.

"It was really peculiar though, I can't help but wonder why it _conveniently_ placed us out on the Lavaridge side of the desert. It was very unlikely, and it didn't look like a teleport. There's usually a pink flash but there was none of that there." There was also the fact that after he placed the sphere in the slot to use the machine, it stopped glowing. That must be important somehow. Maybe Steven would find out. "Also, you should be a pile of ash. Why _aren't_ you?"

Will stayed slouched in his chair and thought hard about what happened. But he couldn't think of anything spectacularly sensible to explain why that fire pillar didn't incinerate him. He shrugged. "I don't know. What I do know is that it_ hurt_. Like I was actually getting burned alive. Then it stopped all of a sudden and I felt better. It was a really good feeling too, my skin was tingly and everything, pretty cool."

Riven stared at him sourly. "Pretty cool? I damn near got a heart attack because of you. I thought I just watched a little kid get incinerated by a _room_. You're lucky you're alive-" Will was about to say something snappy, the readily forming grin on his face said it all. Riven didn't let him. "-because if I wasted all that time, effort, and water saving you just so you could kick the bucket like that, I'd find you when I'm dead and kill you again."

"And here I thought you were going to say something heartfelt about how you finally learned to care about anyone other than yourself," the younger trainer muttered, obviously disappointed.

"I think I'd rather stab myself and save some dignity," Riven said flatly.

"Jerk," Will bit out, depressed or not, his traveling partner's snippy attitude certainly didn't go away. He wasn't going to try and cheer him up again, he can stay gloomy. As if he cared anyway.

"Right," he replied, pointing outside the store window. "By the way, I think Quil might need some help." White Queen was currently smashing the quilava's face into the ground with seething fury. He would think about the desert later, right now his brain hurt and wanted to take his mind off of it.

"Oh crap!" Will quickly recalled the unconscious fire type before the absol stuffed his face into the ground anymore and accidentally killed him. He laughed nervously as a rather pissed, horned pokemon approached him, radiating a killing feeling. Then a red beam hit her in the face and sucked her into a pokeball.

"She's going to hurt me for that later. It won't be pretty."

Riven was standing at the door of the shop holding out a pokeball, minimizing it and placing it on his belt. He called the other pokemon out from inside the store and their entire party was outside now. "Tell Quil to watch himself, she's going to be supremely peeved when I let her out again. Might want to watch _your_ behind too, that ice beam is terrible and I'm sure having a frostbitten ass must be the most delightful feeling in the world." Having Quil defrost it might be a bit of a bad idea too, it was best to avoid such a situation. Second degree burns on the backside must not do one good in the toilet.

Will gripped his chest in relief. "Your absol is crazy!" It seemed like she was going to bisect him with her megahorn. Looked pissed enough to do it too.

"Tell me something I don't know," Riven smirked and clapped the kid on the back. "Come on, let's look around the town for a bit, find something interesting to do, then go back to the center."

Oh, they found something interesting all right.

When they were walking around the town thirty minutes earlier, they had come across a rather 'sketchy' individual (the term was courtesy of Will), that handed them a magazine of sorts after seeing Riven's kirlia. See, this man looked at the pokemon in a really creepy way while handing them the thing, it rubbed both trainers the wrong way on more ways than one. Then the guy just took off.

Riven looked at it curiously. The title read, "A Gardevoir's Touch". Didn't sound all that bad. He flipped open the book, which resembled a comic rather than a book in the conventional sense. It had pictures and writing in bubbles. Reading the first few lines of dialogue, he noticed that the pokemon in the pictures was called a gardevoir and looked like Mischief but evolved. It had a_ very_ human figure and spoke to the man in the pictures in a strangely provocative way.

Flipping another page over, he looked confused as the pokemon sat on the man's lap. Riven's face went from confused to extremely disturbed as he turned to the next page. What was that pokemon…doing? Horrified, he dared flip open a few more pages. Glancing at Mischief, who looked utterly clueless, Riven fought the urge to empty the contents of his stomach into the nearest bathroom stall. He handed the magazine to Will, struggling to keep his dessert from coming up through his mouth. "Will, have Quil burn this. Now. It must _never_ see the light of day again. Kill it with fire, for the love of everything sacred and holy, just _do_ it."

Will held the magazine, examining it with close scrutiny. It was a rather unassuming cover. "Why?"

"I-I just… I don't want to see that abomination _ever_ again." Riven shivered, turned on his heel and went over to a water fountain.

Will was intrigued, what was bad enough to make Riven cringe like that? He was currently rubbing his face with water from a water fountain, really, really hard. Couldn't be _that_ bad right? He flipped open a page towards the middle, stared at it for a full minute, flipped through some more pages and closed it slowly. Turning to his starter, he said, "Quil. I want you to make the biggest fireball you can make just to be sure that not even a single bit of this makes it out. I might need to use acid just to clean out what I just saw." He handed the wretched thing to his quilava, who gleefully bounded off to go burn it to a crisp.

Both trainers stormed into the pokemon center, scaring Joy. Riven went up to the desk, eyes red from extensive scrubbing. "I need all the rubbing alcohol you have, as well as all the hand sanitizer, aroma perfume, scented aerosol cans, and bleach. _Especially_ the bleach."

* * *

One night of no sleep thanks to a certain magazine, Riven and Will zombied their way into the dining area and nearly fell asleep on their pancakes. The younger trainer was too tired to even remember that it was his birthday today and went back to the room to get some more sleep. He returned in the afternoon to find Riven curled up on a couch in the center's main room, out like a light. He obviously didn't care that those weren't meant for sleeping.

Throwing Rika's pokeball at his head, Will woke up the older guy, who groaned and held his head. "Did you have to do that?" He complained, stretching lightly to avoid abusing his ribs. They were still tender but healing fairly quickly, he'd be fine in a couple days at this rate. Then maybe he could run more than twenty feet without having to stop.

"Yeah, I did. If I nudged you awake, you'd punch me."

"Point taken." He yawned loudly, staring lazily at the little boy. "Weren't you going use the video phones or whatever?"

Will's eyes widened. Riven was right."Shit!"

Nurse Joy scowled. "Watch your language, young man." She was already in a sour mood after having to clean up the ashy mess his quilava dragged into the center.

"Sorry, Nurse Joy!" He pulled on Riven's arm while checking his phone. "Gah! Five missed messages! Let's go!"

"Alright, alright. I'm coming, hold your rapidashes."

Will dragged Riven to the video phone room and excitedly dialed the number of his brother's store. Riven noticed that the other trainers were calling home or speaking with their parents about their adventures, smiling and laughing. A pit formed in his stomach, but quickly smashed it with mental steel. He focused his attention back on Will's video phone screen.

The ring was heard several times before the other person picked up and an image appeared on screen. It was a man in his twenties, with the same characteristic red eyes but shorter dark brown hair spiked up towards the tip. He was definitely Will's brother.

"Hey, squirt!" He welcomed, smiling widely.

Will reddened. "Don't call me that! I got taller!"

"Really? Prove it to me." The younger boy pouted, still red. "Haha, you're still a squirt to me , Will. Always going to be one, doesn't matter how big you get." He gave a thumbs up and laughed, not unlike Wattson's jolly laugh. "I tried calling you five times. Why didn't you pick up?"

"I, uh- fell asleep."

"Still asleep at ten in the morning?" Bad little trainer. They were supposed to be early birds.

"Couldn't sleep, I saw something disgusting last night." His brother raised an eyebrow. "Some creepy dude gave me a magazine. It was-"

"One of _those_ magazines?"

"Ugh…yeah."

"You poor bastard. What was it about?"

"Don't remind me." He held up his hand to his mouth. "Erk… I think I want to throw up again."

His brother let out another laugh. As it died down, his face became concerned. "Hey, I heard that you got into a bad situation a while back. Is that true?"

"You didn't see the TV?" He _did_ come out on TV, he should have seen it.

"Johto, remember? We don't see Hoenn news coverage, usually. Not small stuff like that at least."

"Small?! I nearly died!"

"That you did."

"Argh. Did mom tell you?" It only made sense, she was quite the worrier.

"Yeah, she went nuts over the phone. She said she saw you on TV-nice job with that by the way. Might give you some publicity!" His brother was very cheerful, much more so than Will, who was quickly becoming a bit more cynical. Riven had convinced himself some time ago that he had nothing to do with the little boy's growing cynicism. Mostly.

"Bad publicity you mean."

"Publicity nonetheless." He examined Will's face. "You did get darker though. That desert must have been rough. How did my little squirt of a brother make it through without a water pokemon? Either you got lucky or…I don't know. You're never prepared."

"Someone else was," he replied, shoving Riven's side lightly. He groaned, Will had just shoved an elbow near his ribs.

"Ah, is that your traveling partner?" Will's brother asked, observing the taller trainer with a squint. "Kind of tall."

Will nodded. "Yup, that's him. His name is Gr-" Riven nudged him, silently telling him that he wanted to introduce himself.

"Riven," he said, waving lightly. He had to duck just to come into view, Will was pretty short. He stood up to full height again after a second, giving Will's brother very little time to analyze him. Then sat down a few chairs away, a quick retreat.

"Riven. Hmm, that's an odd name." Connor looked at Will. "He's an older guy right? I thought they didn't travel with little kids. Find them annoying or something." That was usually why older trainers didn't like to hang out with the more inexperienced ones.

Will smiled smugly. "Yeah, that's usually true. Buuuuut, he's actually the same level as me. Even though he's eighteen. " Maybe that's why they were traveling together, same level and all. Actually, Will didn't know why Riven started out so late in the first place. He never asked. Now he was starting to wonder too.

"Same level? I thought he'd be more experienced, you know, since most trainers usually start when they're ten." He shrugged. "Well, I guess everyone has their reasons. I guess he was the one that helped you through the desert?" More or less stuck in the desert with his little brother, because knowing Will, he didn't have a clue about the wilderness most trainers had to face at _some_ point. This guy must have known something about it.

"Yeah, he was _really_ prepared. I think if it wasn't for him, I'd be dead." Will wouldn't ever admit it in front of Riven though, who was currently stroking Rika's jaws a few feet away. "To be honest, he's too paranoid, thinks everything is trying to kill him." Wasn't too far off from the truth, actually.

"I'd say that paranoia saved my baby brother. Tell him I said thanks." He paused to remove a togepi that had jumped in front of the screen. "Ah, that was Jean. Crazy little guy. That reminds me, you coming over here? Mom is coming in three weeks, and Lucia just got back from her little adventure in Unova, you haven't seen her in three years; I think she deserves to see how much her baby brother has taken after her."

Lucia was back! Will's awesome trainer sister. She started off in Hoenn but went to Unova three years ago after wanting to try "something new". He wanted to see her again, not only because she had been gone for a while, but because she was an amazing trainer. "Yeah, sure!"

"Alright! Meet up with mom in Slateport, Lucia is going to be there. Dad is going to be here with me, so don't sweat it." He was about to click when he paused and smashed his palm against his head. "I almost forgot about your present! You must be so excited for it!"

Will nearly thought his brother would forget."Yeah! What is it?" Will was seriously expecting some badass pokemon, or cool gadget of sorts. His eyes flashed in excitement and eagerness to see his totally awesome gift. He was picturing a tyranitar, or a dragonair, or maybe a gengar! Perhaps a hitmonlee or something cool like that?

"It's an egg!" Will's face fell. "Oh, but don't you worry. It's a special pokemon that's rare in Hoenn, and a really prized one at that. I'll send it now." He smiled and typed on a computer below him.

"Wait, Connor I don't-"

"OK! It's waiting for you in the lobby, with Nurse Joy. Raise it well, William! See ya here in three weeks, hee!" He gave another grin and the screen shut off, leaving Will in silence and disbelief.

Riven and Rika walked over to the surprise stricken boy and both wondered why he looked so out of it. "What did he give you?" Will silently dragged him to the main lobby.

The older trainer stared at his little friend's "gift". A brown egg. That's what his brother gave him. "Carrying that around in the wild might be problematic," he assumed, figuring that it would be far too convenient to have a pokeball suck it in. He'd have to carry it, and running from wild pokemon while holding an egg would be pretty difficult.

Will swallowed nervously. "About that…"

He sounded unsure about heading into the wild, after the desert fiasco, Riven could understand any second doubts. He raised a curious brow. "About what?"

"…Going with you to Forina," he replied, a look of guilt coming across his face. He hadn't thought about Riven when he told his brother he was coming. It was such an asshole move to back out of something like that.

"You're not going?"

"I-I can't. My sister just got back from another region and my family is meeting with my brother in Johto. I already promised them I'd go, I'm sorry." He looked down at the ground, refusing to look the older trainer in the eye. Instead, he got his hat pulled down all the way, an annoying habit of Riven's whenever he teased him.

The older trainer huffed lightly. "Silly kid, it's fine. I don't dictate your life. You should be with your family, they care about you, I'd say that's more important than being with a grump like me. Plus, you're growing cynical, that isn't good for a kid like you. Stay happy, it will keep you sane. That way you won't become me."

_Hopefully never like me._

Will readjusted his hat. "But you'll die, knowing your luck with wild pokemon."

Riven scoffed. "Please, I'll be fine. I'm used to things trying to murder me. And, it will be good practice for Aine and Mischief. They've been falling behind on it lately." He let out his pokemon out of their pokeballs. They looked around, slightly confused. "Will's leaving, say good bye to him. And be nice, that means you White Queen."

"Sol," she grumbled, still unhappy about Quil.

"Kir-lia," Mischief saluted.

"COMBUSKEN!" Aine cried and ursaring hugged the little boy, letting him go before he turned blue in the face.

Will recovered and fumbled for his pokeballs, letting out all of his pokemon. "Gah, she hugs hard… Guys, say bye to Riven and his pokemon, we're going back to Slateport and we have to leave today. We've been through a lot but it's time to go." His pokemon understood and gladly exchanged good byes, even Quil was respectful. He managed to have a civil interaction with White Queen, for once. "Maybe, we'll see each other in a couple months. Or in a couple years, I don't know."

Riven gave a small smile. "Maybe, but honestly, I didn't think you'd stick with me for this long."

"Why is that?"

"You saw what I did." He looked down at his hands, not wanting to explicitly say it, with trainers and Nurse Joy in the background. Few sane people would stick around after watching someone else drive a knife through a skull.

Will was silent for a moment. "I know you don't think you're a good guy, but I still do. And sometimes, good people have to do bad things. I can understand that, even if I don't like it." Wise words for a kid.

But, it wasn't as if the guys he killed were innocent anyway. That didn't make it any better though, it was killing nonetheless. Steven's words rang in his mind, as heavy as boulders. "You sure you're not older than thirteen?"

"Nope, I'm thirteen. And I still haven't grown an inch since I was eleven." He held a hand behind his head sheepishly. "Anyway, good luck in Forina. I hope I see Mischief as a gallade next time. If I see a gardevoir, I think I'll puke." That made Riven snort loudly. "See you later, weird eyes. I hope you learned how to use that holo caster, you're pretty retarded with it. Stay in touch," he said, pointing to his phone.

Riven crossed his hands and smirked."Likewise, walking disaster area. Have fun."

The boy waved and exited the doors, pokemon shuffling along with him. Quil managed a good bye ember to White Queen, which landed on her nose. She sneezed.

And just like that, Riven was on his own again. Will's goodbye wasn't as much of a kick to the gut as Amy's had been, but it felt slightly depressing anyway. He sighed, another one gone.

He ruffled Aine's head feathers."I guess that's just the way life here goes…" She held up a paw and cried loudly in agreement. He stared at her and shook his head. "You know what? I'm not going to talk to myself on this journey. I'm getting a translator after we beat some more trainers into the dust . Soon as those wounds heal and these casts come off, we're going to hang out at route 112 for a while. You guys need the training, you've been slacking for two weeks."

He grinned and bribed Mischief with a candy bar to levitate him up to the roof by standing on a box. Returning his pokemon and letting them back out on the roof, they remained on top, staring at the darkening sky above.

Riven had a long journey ahead of him, and a week to kill. Sleeping outside wouldn't be so bad, he missed the night air. Breathing in deeply, he relaxed his body and cleared his mind. He knew there wouldn't be another rest like this, and wanted to make sure to enjoy it while it lasted, in case fate had more surprises in store.

It never let him down before.


	26. Reflection

Waiting for unsuspecting trainers near the exit of the Jagged Path was ingeniously diabolical. The trainers that came through the place were already exhausted from battling through the path, so usually, their pokemon were either hurt or the trainer was out of potions. Basically, they were easy pickings for Riven and his team. He was called a douchebag more than ten times in one day alone, but he had already earned about a couple thousand, with more on the way.

"I don't think I should be doing this," Riven muttered to himself, counting bills in his hand. "What do you think, White Queen?"

"Sol," she replied shortly, grooming herself. She didn't seem to care. As usual. She was making herself look presentable again after taking out a flying type specialist on her own an hour prior.

"Some help you are."

"Absol–sol."

He pocketed the money into his wallet."I should feel bad about this, but I don't. Easy money is great, who can complain about that? Well, apart from the trainers I'm smashing into the ground, of course." He chuckled smugly as another trainer came out of the path. Riven locked eyes with him, bringing up the fiercest glare he could(didn't have to try all that hard, his regular face was intimidating enough), and challenged. "Hey, you there. Battle."

The boy, in his mid teens, groaned loudly in protest. "Dude, my pokemon are exhausted! Can't you just let this one go and let me heal them first? Then we can get on with our battle."

"No. Right here, right now."

"You're camping the exit!" The teen realized. "Dick move man, dick move." The teenager was obviously onto whatever he was doing- which wasn't technically illegal- but it was a very cheap tactic nonetheless. The trainer sighed and threw a pokeball outwards, releasing a Breloom. It smiled and hopped around, eager to battle.

If Riven could smirk inside his head, he would be, as widely as possible. A pokeball shot out, releasing a very enthusiastic Combusken. The Breloom frowned, as did its trainer. "You know what? You're not just a dick, you're an asshole too."

This time, Riven couldn't help but smirk evilly. "Flamethrower." Aine opened her mouth, spewing red hot flames.

Nurse Joy was surprised there were so many trainers coming in to heal their pokemon. Many of them were complaining about an older trainer camped outside the exit to the jagged path. Medium length black hair with a speck of white, white vest hoodie and a permanent scowl, kind of scruffy looking too. Joy knew exactly who they were talking about. Ironically, he stepped inside the center a minute later, with the usual blank expression.

"Hey Nurse-" Riven stopped as he noticed the sheer amount of death glares he was currently being bombarded with. "What's with them?" He asked as he pointed to the pissed off trainers in the lobby. The amount of salt evident in their stares could practically repel demons.

Nurse Joy tapped her foot and put her hands on her hips. "Maybe they're angry because a certain someone was taking advantage of their exhaustion and ambushed them into battle when their pokemon were already very tired." She shook her head in disapproval.

"Did they say what he errrrrr, looked like?" Riven weakly asked, angry Joys were scary Joys. Her sister in Dewford proved that.

Joy gave him a _look_ that had kitchen duty for the next few days of rent _all over it_. Kitchen duty sucked, Riven absolutely despised it, especially when it came to washing dishes. He surrended quickly.

"Alright, I won't do it anymore. Just not dish washing, please no dish washing," he pleaded. He had gotten a nasty case of back pain the last time that mountain of dishes stood before him.

Her glare lifted and her expression softened. "Ok, I'll spare you this time. Why were you over there anyway?" Trainers did camp on routes but mostly out in the open, never near the exit of the Fiery or Jagged Paths.

"I needed money to buy a translator and some supplies before heading out. And my pokemon had been recovering from injuries recently so they fell behind on training. Had to get them up to speed, so to speak."

"Fine, but don't do it again. Grumpy trainers are handfuls, young man."

"Got it. Can you heal my team then?" He gave her a forced smile.

She sighed lightly and held out the tray. "You know the routine." She took the three pokeballs and inserted them into the grooves on the healing machine, and flipped a switch to turn it on.

Meanwhile Riven was waiting, he thought it was time for some directions. "Nurse Joy, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes?"

"How do I get to Forina from here?" He had no idea, and since he didn't have his pokeNav anymore, using that was out of the question.

The murmuring around him died down as he said Forina, like it was some sort of taboo of sorts. The silence was creepy for a pokemon center, it was _never_ quiet. Nurse Joy eyed him with slight incredulousness. "Why do you want to go there?"

"I need to find a dawn stone for my kirlia."

"I suppose that's a valid reason but are you sure? There isn't an official route for it, and the pokemon aren't really friendly. They're also quite strong, not to mention the distance is tremendous for someone on foot." Forina and the path there was essentially wild, trainers seldom went, there really wasn't anything there. Except for… "Wait, did you say dawn stone? As in the _dawn caves_?"

Riven held a hand up before she asked the next question he had received numerous times before. "Yes, those caves and no I don't have a flying pokemon." He was seriously getting tired of answering that question.

About half of the center's jaws hung wide open. Some trainers looked at him like he was a crazy lunatic hell-bent on killing himself.

"You're going to climb the spires?!" Joy's eyes widened and the machine made a clicking sound, indicating that the pokemon were ready to go.

He shrugged. "Can't avoid it."

Joy blinked a few times and handed him back the pokeballs. "Ok... If you want to do that, I won't stop you. But if you die, no one is going to search for you." He nodded firmly. Nurse Joy closed her eyes in thought. "You'll want to take the northwestern exit out of Lavaridge and continue along the plains, then cross the valleys and cliffs. On foot, you'll get there in about two months… maybe."

Riven cringed at the mention of plains, then cringed further when he heard it would be a two month trek. Two months of walking? His feet would probably come off before then. "Is there any way to get there faster? Like car or something?" A bike was also out of the question, the bike shop was the shop that unfortunately had been completely blown to shit by a hyper beam during the scuffle.

The nurse held a finger in the air, coming to a realization. "Of course! There's a person that lives near the end of the plains, goes by the name of Gale. It's possible that he can give you a ride over the valleys, but you'll have to walk through the plains first. I'm not sure if he charges though, not many people go there, but it's worth a shot."

"Ah, thanks Joy."

He left the center to the partially destroyed electronic store. A smiling clerk stood at the front, long hair coming down past his chest, listening to some catchy music in the background. Riven walked over to the clerk and placed his order.

The translator was as expensive as he had presumed. It took most of his money, but he had some left over- good thing too, he needed to buy some rope and general stuff like potions and antidotes. The device itself was fairly simplistic, just a thin model with headphones attached to it, not very much different from the ones teenagers used to listen to music. Of course, Riven had trouble finding the on switch and kept playing with the sound settings-after twenty minutes of frustrated toggling-, mostly picking up static and other unintelligible garble. The clerk had laughed at him and adjusted it accordingly.

Why did the simplest forms of technology utterly baffle him? He had no idea. Even vending machines hated him. He actually wouldn't be surprised if the headset broke within a couple of days. In fact, he expected it to happen. Technology and him just didn't mix, like, ever. If he ever tried to drive a car, as useful as they were, it would probably refuse to turn on, or drive in reverse while trying to go forward. Then he'd crash and get permanent brain damage. Or lose a leg, whatever. He quickly dismissed that idea.

Two hours of gathering supplies later, he set off to the northwest.

* * *

Nurse Joy wasn't pulling his leg in the slightest. The plains seemed to go on forever, hills of green extending as far as the eye could see. Mt. Chimney could also be seen in the distance, with a few snow capped mountains farther away, barely visible. The huge expanse of land was daunting to say the least, Forina probably wasn't even remotely close at this point.

"More plains…" Riven complained, growing hungry after a long period of walking.

He sat down on the grass, feeling a gentle breeze on his face. He wiped some sweat from his brow and fixated his gaze upwards, towards the sky. It was a beautiful blue with white puffy clouds drifting slowly along, a calming sight to anyone who wasn't him. The tranquility made him uncomfortable. Three pokeballs were lazily thrown a few feet away, opening upon contact with the ground.

Three flashes of light appeared and his pokemon came out, taking in the scenery around them. It didn't take long before they began chatting amongst themselves, clearly ignoring their trainer. As Riven watched them chat, he decided to test the translator, mostly because he was curious how the device would make his pokemon sound. He fumbled with it and placed it on his ears.

"_I like vanilla better_," a surprisingly teenaged girl's voice came through, right as Aine had said something to Mischief.

A young male voice came from behind her. "_I actually prefer chocolate, more rich in flavor_. _But I guess vanilla is good too. Rainbow isn't as bad as Nez made it out to be either, I'll get it next time_." So that was the voice Mischief had. It sounded teenaged too, fitting for a secondary evolution.

He looked for his Absol, who was currently staring at the plains ahead in mild disinterest. He decided to test something. "Hey! White Queen! Your fur is filthy!" Hopefully the bait would work.

She whipped around, red eyes narrowing in irritation. She slowly walked over to the group. "_My fur is not filthy, you stupid trainer. I make a point of flawlessly grooming it so that it _isn't_ dirty, something everyone but _you_ seems to acknowledge. Hmph!_"

Her voice was a little more grown than Aine's and sounded less teenager and more young adult. But the sass in her voice was no less diminished, the voice the translator gave her was what he had more or less imagined her to sound like. Prissy, upper class twit.

"_And what is with that stupid thing you're wearing? It makes you look even more ridiculous. Humans are strange."_

"_It looks like the ones the other humans use_," Mischief replied, eyeing the headset as well.

Aine scratched her head. "_But our trainer can't even work a television_."

"_That's certainly true_. _He might be a little slow_," Mischief remarked, deliberately slowing his words down on that last part.

Riven frowned deeply. "I am not slow."

White Queen scoffed. "_It took you thirty minutes to_-" She paused and her eyes widened. "_You understood what Bib said?"_ She looked stunned. Turning to the Kirlia, she said, "_I think we should be expecting flying grumpigs anytime soon."_

The psychic placed two hands on his head and spread them outwards in opposing directions, as if mind blown."_If I die anytime soon, I'm going to check if hell is frozen_."

Aine didn't join in on the teasing and instead jumped for joy. "_Yay! You can understand us_!" She glomped Riven and hugged him tightly, who felt like his ribs were going to shatter again. _"I thought you would never understand us! Because if you didn't, I'd have to talk with them all the time, and they never want to talk about anything interesting! The only thing Bib talks about is cute mates! And the only thing she ever talks about is how pointless humans are! I want to talk about battling!"_ She unknowingly tightened her bone crushing hug. Her trainer was losing color in his face.

"Aine, I'd like… to keep… my ribs from snapping and piercing… a lung thank… you," Riven wheezed, struggling to get out of her grasp.

"_Oh. Sorry_." She let him go and awkwardly stepped back with a nervous giggle. Hearing a voice instead of the usual and very obnoxious COMBUSKEN would take some getting used to. Riven didn't know how much of a chatterbox Aine could be, praying it wasn't too bad, but judging from that exchange a few seconds ago, those prayers wouldn't do him any good.

"_Now that you can understand us, there are some things I'd like to make clear. And no, you do not have a choice in the matter_," White Queen announced, watching her trainer close his mouth after attempting a response. "_My name is Haona. Not White Queen, even if it does have a fantastic ring to it. Got it? Call me Haona and I won't call you stupid trainer from now on, understood?" _She formed a glowing blue orb in her mouth for extra emphasis. "_UNDERSTOOD_?"

Riven hesitantly nodded.

This time Mischief was the one to speak. "_And my name is Baron, by the way. Not Mischief_." Thankfully, he didn't threaten him like White Queen did.

"_It's Bib_," Haona said disapprovingly, letting go of the ice beam.

Riven shifted eyes between them both, not sure whether to listen to the pushy Absol or Kirlia. "Umm, who should I listen to?" He was afraid to cross White Queen, she was terrifying.

"_Me_," they both replied.

"Wonderful," Riven sardonically remarked. The Absol glared at him, a trace of icy cold forming around her lips. He backed away slightly.

"_Call him Bib." _

"_No. Call me Baron."_

"_Why? Me and Aine already call you Bib."_

"_That's because you're used to it! He's my trainer, it's different! And why did you even give me that name in the first place?"_

"_I think it's cute. And fitting."_

For a Ralts, perhaps. For a Gallade? No way. Baron buried his head in his hands. _"Don't listen to them. Call me Baron... At least out of respect?"_ He smiled in attempt to make himself more appealing.

"Ok, Bib." Riven's sneer made the Kirlia shrug in defeat. He poked the small pokemon on the head, near the horn. "I'm messing with you. I don't like nicknames either. Besides, if I called a Gallade Bib, _no one_ would take me _or _you seriously." He quickly changed the subject before the Absol gave him frostbite."Anyway, you three hungry?" He was already digging into his pack to take out the formula.

"_I'm tired of the formula_," Haona complained.

Both the Baron and Aine agreed. Riven wasn't expecting that, too much human food was definitely spoiling them, he had to stop that. "Then what do you suppose we eat?" He questioned, if they didn't want pokefood then what the hell did they want? Hopefully not trainer.

Haona licked her lips. "_I want some meat, like the stantler you killed once! That was amazing._" Some days, she could still taste it.

"Sure, because something with great tasting meat will just _happen_ to walk right on by out here in the plains," Riven replied sarcastically.

Aine held out a clawed paw and pointed north. Sure enough, an entire tauros herd was currently making its way along the plains a few hundred feet ahead of them over a large hill.

Riven looked at the herd for a second, went back to his pokemon and instantly did a double take. He didn't so much as retort, and bolted upright, nearly salivating at the thought of some tauros steak. "Taurossssss," he said, much more joyous than normal. He instinctively pulled out his knife, twirling it with his fingers expertly, all the while wearing a smile typically seen on psychopaths about to commit murder.

"_You're happy, that's creepy_," Haona noted, backing away a little.

"_I think terrifying is a more fitting description,"_ Baron added.

"_It's worse when he's waving that knife around._" Aine also backed away, that knife was twirling dangerously in her direction.

Riven got an idea and faced his Absol, still playing with the razor sharp piece of metal.

"_Oh, I don't like that look_," she said, swallowing nervously.

"We're going after one," he mentioned, cackling sadistically. He wanted some steak, and wasn't going to stop until he got one.

* * *

Ok, so going after a single Tauros in an entire herd wasn't one of his brightest ideas. Possibly one of his worst, actually. Clearly evident after White Queen slashed one down and the _entire _herd turned 180 degrees around, absolutely furious.

Riven nearly needed a change of pants, seeing a huge charging mass of bull pokemon thunder across the plains, directly towards _him_. Following an adrenaline fueled sprint and a threat of castration from White Queen for being so brainless, he and his pokemon evaded the herd and set up camp near the dead animal. Taking out his knife, Riven began to go to work.

The meat was as good as he expected it to be. Riven hadn't had tauros steak in a long time and missed its rich flavor, savoring every bite. White Queen ate the most out of all of them, which was fine, considering she was the one who did the most work. She tore through her food and looked thoroughly sated after eating more than enough for a creature of her size. Aine and Baron ate much less, but enjoyed it anyway, pokefood became dull and tiring, having to eat it every single day.

Once everyone was full and content, his pokemon decided it was best to rest now, while they were still digesting, and head out tomorrow. Riven had no reason to say otherwise, so he agreed.

The sun had gone down and night time had befallen the windswept plains, a crescent moon floating high above, surrounded by glittering stars and a beautiful view of the galaxy. There were no real predators around, so none of them were particularly worried about something tricky coming in the dead of night and slicing their throats open. Although sentries weren't needed, Riven sat alone atop a high hill some distance away from the camp, both eyes transfixed on the dark outlines of hills ahead.

He had been unable to sleep, the sight of the plains had made him dream about Nimva again, just like in Mauville. Insomnia made him decide that it was best to do some reflection and spare his mind the horrors of that battle, the young man falling into deep contemplation about what his next goal was.

_I'm close to Forina. Close to fulfilling my original goal. But after I evolve Baron, what then? Do I continue on the circuit? Get eight badges? And after that?_ _I just don't know what to do… I haven't found so much as a clue as to what sent me here, or how. Not even how far in the future I am, or what happened to the clans, the war. Nothing. _He clenched a fist. Months of time spent here in this world and he hadn't learned anything new about his predicament. It seemed like a hopeless case, to dwell on the past. But he couldn't help it, it was all he knew.

_I know I should move on. But onto what? What is there for me to do? What is my place here? My purpose?_

Confusion ate away at him, feeling torn between two worlds, not quite fitting in both. On one hand, the old world was a horrible place, filled with death and destruction, but it was familiar, and most of all, he didn't feel like something so out of place. But on the other, this world was the one he and his companions always talked about, where people and pokemon lived in peace and harmony, not murdering one another for pointless power struggles or conflicts bred of generations of old hate.

This world was beautiful and peaceful, but Riven felt empty and useless. Like a crumbling building, a rusted sword, an abandoned mine. The ex-soldier had no purpose; he was just a living, breathing corpse that wandered the earth in search for something to do, something to look forward to. He cared little for champions or small metal badges, he only did it because Birch had given him a task, one that gave him an excuse to move and travel. It was better than working small menial jobs like others were.

Part of the reason that civilian life was ill suited for him was because of its normalcy. It felt alien, like something that shouldn't exist. The people here carried about their lives carefree and without worries, something unseen in his own time. The constant fear of death permeated every second of every day in his time, keeping him on his toes just to stay alive. But here… Everything was so normal, and to him, it felt wrong.

He couldn't talk to people and was incapable of doing anything that didn't involve violence or battle. All he knew how to do was fight, that was what he had been trained for from the age of four, not wash dishes or deliver food. Training gave him something to fight. It kept his mind off of the unnatural normalcy, being more in tune with him; with the dangers, the struggles, and the battles. Particularly the battles.

Riven sighed and rubbed his eyes, lack of sleep beginning to take a toll on his body. Concluding his thoughts before they made him feel far worse, the weary young man stood up and made his way back to camp.

Baron opened an eye, the conflicted feelings from his trainer pouring in as he passed him. Melancholy, joy, pride, sadness, pain, and anger came to him in a convoluted mess. His trainer was confused, that was certain. He showed none of it on that blank face of his, but he couldn't hide it forever. One day, it was going to come out. Forcefully, and violently, like an eruption. Baron hoped he would never have to see that.

As he thought of the inhuman hate he had felt in the forest near Littleroot, the psychic prayed that the claydols' warning was just that, a warning, nothing more.


	27. Flying Lessons

Riven walked along the plains after morning, alongside his pokemon under the morning sun, sweating a river due to the unusually hot weather and lack of any shade whatsoever. Haona and Aine bounded ahead, glad to stretch their legs and run around to their hearts' content, something they couldn't do much in a city or town. Baron preferred to stay alongside Riven, since he couldn't really run that fast and could do something in case said trainer got attacked by a wild pokemon. However, not many pokemon were around, except for that stray Tauros herd and a few wild Ponyta here and there. Riven had attempted to catch one of the fiery horses, most likely because it would save him from a grueling walk, but found no luck as it chose to run away instead of stand and fight.

The black haired trainer adjusted the heavy backpack, it had been aching his shoulders for a while now and his back was damp with sweat. "Where is this Gale? We've been walking for like a day and a half. If I have to walk more than this, I'm going tear my hair off." Riven stopped for a moment, using his right arm to shade his eyes. He squinted and tried to see further ahead, nothing but more grass covered hills. He exhaled deeply, an exasperated breath- having no transportation really sucked. A bike would be invaluable at this moment.

At mid-day, the sun was at its highest point in the sky, heat from its rays bombarding the trainer as he made his way along the hills. Tripping over his foot, Riven caught his footing before subjecting himself to a pain roll down the hill. The trainer wiped his brow to prevent sweat from dripping into his eyes and drank from his water bottle. He briefly stared up at the bright ball of fire in the sky and groaned.

_Some cloud cover would be nice. There isn't shade for miles. Just my luck. _Riven kicked a patch of grass forcefully, uprooting it and sending a bit of dirt flying along with it. Capping the bottle, he placed it back on his backpack and a feeling of immense irritation came over him. He was _not_ going to yell, even if he was rather cranky at the moment.

Riven ruffled his damp hair, shot a finger in the air and treaded up another hill. Slowly climbing up(backpack was heavy), he reached the top and rested his hands on his knees, panting. He took out a small cloth and wiped his face with it. Baron looked over the hill and his mood lifted, if that was indeed what it appeared to be, then maybe they wouldn't have to walk for much longer. If it was, then his trainer could stop bitching about how tired his feet were or how much his back ached. He hit Riven on the leg with a small fist and pointed to the small building in the distance with his other hand.

Riven's head shot up, and squinted to see a small house in the direction his Kirlia was pointing in. "Finally!" Gale could give them a ride in a car or a truck and his feet wouldn't have to kill him for much longer. It took a couple minutes to get over there, the house's image gradually getting larger. It was a cabin, basically. Not really a house at all. It was probably only fit for a small family at most. Of course, Riven didn't really expect a huge estate to be out on the plains , but still, it still looked out of place. Coming up to the front door, he used the metal ring on the door to knock.

Two knocks. Nothing.

Three knocks. Nothing.

Continuous knocking. Nothing.

Riven cursed and threw his hands up. "How quaint. Gale isn't here. Assuming this _is_ where the son of a bitch lives. What now? Do I wait? Argh!" He sat down on the porch, running a hand down his face. He watched as White Queen cried out further ahead with Aine, effectively getting his attention. She was telling him to go see something. He joined the Absol and Combusken on the hill and saw a Pidgeot in the distance with a smaller figure alongside it.

_That's either Gale or someone else._

The tired young man was able to make out the figure's features as he got closer. It wasn't Gale, because the figure was obviously female. Long dark brown hair, pale complexion, average height and too thin for a man's frame. Riven's backpack clambered along with him as he jogged up to her. At least he could get some directions from her. "Hey, you there. Girl."

She turned around, slightly perplexed. She pointed to herself in question. "Of course you, there isn't another girl here for miles is there?" The girl crossed her arms, she probably didn't like that tone. But he was finding this Gale, making friends was not a priority. It hardly mattered that she was a female either, he only wanted information, there was no need to play the nice guy.

"What do you want?" The brunette asked.

"Directions."

She eyed him, skeptical of the guy's intentions. Early twenties, medium length jet black hair-with a strange white splotch-and a noticeable scowl. She stared him up and down, analyzing him. A belt with three pokeballs on it caught her eye. The fact that a trainer had come here was interesting. Trainers hardly ever did, mostly because there wasn't much of interest. "What do you want to know?" She asked hesitantly, still wary of him.

The older boy took off the backpack, letting it slump to the ground with a heavy thud. He moved his shoulders about in circles, trying to ease the shoulder ache that stupid backpack had caused him. "I was looking for a Gale. Supposed to be around here. I've been walking the plains for about two days and my feet are killing me. You have any idea where he is?" He twisted and cracked his back. The brunette winced.

She blinked. "Gale?"

"Yeah, that's right. I was told he was around here. I saw the house so I figured he must live there, but no one answered when I knocked. And I knocked _very_ loudly," he explained. The knocks were probably loud enough to wake up a sleeping Snorlax really. There was no way a sleeping person _wouldn't_ be able to hear them.

"Oh." She twiddled her thumbs.

"Know where he is?"

She nodded nervously. He was giving her a glare that said tell-me-or-die, making it hard for her to respond. Her Pidgeot saw her discomfort and screeched loudly, threatening to use gust. "No! No! It's okay, calm down," she reassured, running a hand through its feathers. When she turned around, she saw that the trainer had three pokemon alongside him, suspiciously eyeing her Pidgeot. "Sorry about that, he's just a little jumpy. He didn't mean any harm," she explained. That Absol's horn didn't look particularly friendly.

The trainer's eyes narrowed. That was when she noticed that his eyes didn't quite match. One was brown and the other was a deep blue. Peculiar. He waved a hand, "it's fine. I don't blame him, I'm fairly jumpy myself. Anyway, back to what I asked before. Gale?"

Very direct. She gave a small chuckle and reddened. "Actually… I'm Gale," she said.

Riven looked like someone had slapped him with a board. "Uh… What?" He thought Gale was a man. It was hard _not_ to think he was a man, considering Gale was usually a boy's name. His urge to punch the imaginary image of Gale in his mind lessened considerably.

Gale giggled. It amused her when people reacted like that, since they always expected a guy and not a girl, their expressions were priceless. "Yep, I'm Gale. Unorthodox name for a girl but my dad had terrible taste in names," she said. "But I'm sure you don't care about that. Why were you looking for me?" Some scenarios ran through her head. She hadn't pissed off any bad people, so he wasn't going to hurt her right?

Riven composed himself, face returning back to its normal seriousness. "I was told you could give me a ride. I can pay if you like." He opened up his wallet and took out a couple of bills. Gale looked at the bills before waving her hands, turning his offer down.

They went back to the cabin and spoke for sometime after he had used her shower to get rid of the sweat from the two days of walking. She was glad that he wasn't some sort of hitman, despite having that serious face and a glare potent enough to set healthy trees on fire. He didn't talk all that much either, only responding in short sentences or even one word answers. They were currently eating some Tauros stew, which the hungry boy lapped up like a ravenous Poochyena. "So, ummm, where do you want me to take you?"

Still eating, the trainer-whose name she didn't know yet- responded, not even bothering to look up. "Forina."

Gale wasn't surprised. Usually, the only regular people that gathered in this area were those that went for the millennium festival. Trainers almost never bothered with Forina, but when one _did_ appear in the plains, that was usually their destination. "I figured as much," she smiled. "I can take you there, but it will be a three days ride at a moderate pace."

The trainer looked up at her this time."That's good. Do you have enough gas?" Getting stranded in the middle of a valley or on bare cliffs with dangerous pokemon about was the furthest thing from his to-do list. The desert was an excellent example of how fast things could go to shit.

Gale raised an eyebrow, then broke out giggling.

"What?" Riven couldn't figure out what made his question so hilarious.

She was still trying to contain her laughter. "No, it-it's just… Haha! You think I drive a car?"

"Well, yes. By ride, I thought Nurse Joy meant a car." It was a fairly logical assumption. Riven fought his hardest not to redden in embarrassment, he needed to maintain his dignity after all.

"Nope. By car it would take even longer, and you'd have to go pretty fast too. The road is way too bumpy and the cliffs are dangerous. I wouldn't recommend it." People had steered right off the cliffs before. They sure wouldn't be trying that again.

"So then how are you going to give me a ride?" Riven looked utterly clueless. The fact she had a Pidgeot out with her sometime ago went completely over his head. The obvious escaped him from time to time.

Gale grinned, hazel eyes full of mischievous glee. "Why flying of course!" She could tell he was a first timer. By way of his reaction( lost color in the face and swallowed nervously) she just _had_ to mess with him.

"Wait, huh? Flying? As in, ride enormous birds hundreds of feet in the air with no harness or saddle of sorts?" He looked genuinely skeptical, and a little hesitant, paranoia rising to dangerously high levels. "Is that, I don't know? Safe?" She smiled sweetly, making Riven more uncomfortable with the idea than he already was. This was going to suck, and his stomach agreed.

* * *

"HOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY SSSSSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!" Riven screamed at the top of his lungs, wind howling in his face as the Pidgeot he was riding on dive bombed in the direction of the ground at breakneck speeds. He tightened his grip on the bird's plumage, now a white knuckled, iron vicegrip. "I'M GOING TO DIE!" Riven closed his eyes, waiting to become a colorful splat on the ground below.

The infuriating laugh of a certain girl over the howling wind reached Riven's ears, he cursed under his breath and hoped his death was instant. But before the Pidgeot hit the ground, it turned its body and soared straight ahead, avoiding the ground by thirty or so feet. Gale gave it an order and it began losing speed, finally landing. Riven let go and threw himself on the ground, thanking the ground for existing.

"Ground. Sweet , sweet ground. I'm glad you're here. I don't want to do that again, please no. Please, no." He was face down in the grass, stuck like an Octillery to its prey.

Gale put her hands on her hips and broke out into hysterical laughter. "Oh, come on! It wasn't...that...bad!" She was holding her sides, feeling like they were going to explode, she hadn't laughed like that in a while. His reaction to the little maneuver was hilarious, which was compounded by his normally serious expression.

He shot an incendiary glare at her. "Are you insane? THAT WAS MY FIRST TIME FLYING! Why would you do something like that?" He was giving her equally amused Pidgeot a _very_ wide berth. He was practically spitting venom. "If that was a joke, it was _despicable_."

Gale stopped laughing. "I was trying to make you conquer your fear of flight. You know, like how Swellows shove their Taillows off the nest so their instincts can take over?" Her father always told her that the best way to conquer fear was to face it. He probably should have mentioned that wasn't the best way to go about it with everyone. But alas, the damage was done.

"I am _not_ a bird," he spat, having no feathers and _especially_ no wings. People and pokemon were two _very_ different things.

"I can see that," she replied, noting the position of the sun in the sky. "Crap. I know you won't like it but we need to head off now. No tricks this time. Promise." She held out a hand and gave a comforting smile, like Joy's whenever she greeted trainers in the center.

Riven, however, remained glued to the floor. "Hold on, just let me…appreciate the ground a little more. Just a little break, need to…recover my courage." The mortified young man was sprawled out on the ground, rubbing his face and hands on the grass in case he never saw them again.

Gale shook her head and grinned in disbelief. His seriousness was starting to ebb away, the guy started to appear a little more friendly in her eyes. It took him twenty minutes to finally gather his courage to even _get on_ the bird again. When they began to take off, he kept his eyes shut as they ascended. Gale watched him, whose face was buried deeply in the Pidgeot's feathers; it looked like he was praying to whatever deity he worshipped to help him.

As they flew at a moderate pace, she called out to him, voice louder than normal because of the rushing wind. "Hey! You can open your eyes now! I won't tell him to dive anymore. I'm sorry about that. It was in poor taste." Gale's apology was sincere, but it wouldn't change a damn thing. "You'll like what you see, honest."

Riven scoffed. _Poor taste? The girl has a sadistic sense of humor, she's freaking insane! I am NEVER getting a flying pokemon. I'll keep my feet permanently on the floor, thank you._ He reluctantly opened his eyes, putting on his desert goggles to keep the wind from irritating them.

Gale was right though, the view was fantastic. They were high above the clouds, a puffy sea of white below them, reflecting the golden rays of the sun. It was a majestic sight, breathtaking yet bewildering. Riven remembered how Samuel described flying, a wonderful feeling of freedom, grace, and beauty. It was true, despite the fact that it was also absolutely terrifying that his flyer could potentially send him spiraling down to his untimely demise via gravity with a single order. He had to trust her, for now.

Gale smiled warmly, seeing the trainer's look of awe as he saw the clouds below. "Amazing, isn't it?" She patted her Swellow's head, who seemed rather pleased with the attention. The feeling of freedom never got old, just flying through the air was sufficient payment for her. If she got to help people while doing it, it was all the better.

"It's quite something. I think I _kind of_ understand the craze for bird pokemon now, this is pretty impressive." Riven had to admit it, it felt pretty great. It almost took his mind off the ordeal Gale had put him through, _almost_. The birds descended, making Riven anxious. He sighed in relief as they leveled out amongst the clouds.

"Touch it," the girl said, running a hand through the wispy clouds. He did, gaping in awe as he ran a hand through them as well. "Change your mind about flying yet?" A trainer having a fear of flying was certainly going to be problematic, they usually relied on birds or winged pokemon to get around.

He looked at her, pursing his lips. "A bit. I mean, I'm still scared shitless after that stunt you pulled but it isn't so bad when you're not divebombing at over one hundred miles per hour straight down." Gale scratched her cheek, feeling a little guilty about his newly formed flying anxiety. "The view sure is nice but when we descended just now I felt like I was going to have a panic attack. I'm still not investing in a flying type though, which isn't your fault in the _slightest_, by the way." She noticed he was holding on pretty tight, and frowned.

"Sorry. I just thought it would make you more comfortable with flying. You know how guys love an adrenaline rush and all, I thought you'd enjoy it. Guess not." She looked down, continuing to pet her Swellow's head.

"It's fine, I guess. Just...don't do that again. If you do, I can't guarantee you that my bowels _won't_ empty themselves forcefully," he mentioned dryly. He had to fight it the first time, or else his pants would ruined by now. And most likely smell something fierce.

"That's gross."

"Well it's true."

She scrunched her face. "Why are men so crude? You're going to make me lose my breakfast."

He rolled his eyes behind the goggles. _Damn near lost mine._

Gale waited a few minutes, listening to the wind blow past her ears. She still hadn't learned something crucial, his name. Calling him trainer or guy got awkward quick. "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

She fidgeted a bit on her bird, she didn't want to come across as a desperate girl, even though that wasn't her intention at all. "I-I never got your name. If that's too much to ask." She cursed mentally, he probably thought she was flirting. The guy wasn't bad looking, just scruffy, which seemed to be a universally common trait among male trainers. Most of them never even bothered to comb their hair.

However, his expression didn't so much as move an inch. It seemed like she worried for nothing, that was good news."Riven."

"Hi, Riven. Wow, that's weird." The name sounded strange. She thought it would be something generic like Bob or Dylan. Actually, he looked like more of a John.

"What is?"

"Your name," she explained.

"So is Gale on a girl," he retorted.

"Touche."

"Touche?"

"It's a way of saying you have a point. Never heard of it?" Nearly everyone knew what that meant. That or he was literal to the point of ridiculousness. Certainly would explain quite a bit.

"No," he confirmed.

She cocked her head. "Did you grow up under a-"

"I DID NOT GROW UP UNDER A GEODUDE. DO NOT EVEN UTTER THAT SENTENCE," Riven shouted, earning a wing smack from the Pidgeot. His shout had made the Pidgeot's ear canal ring. The human's iron grip on his feathers was starting to irk him considerably too.

Gale held up her hands, giggling. "Okay, okay! Lighten up a little, will ya?" He was so serious, it made it difficult for her to talk with him.

Riven stared at the girl, uncomfortably so. "Forgive me for being so peeved. After all, I'm only the victim of a cruel practical joke that very well could have repercussions on my psyche for the rest of my life. Here's a smile." His remark was laced with acid, sincerely demonstrating discomfort. His "smile" was instead a very deep scowl. Gale decided to stay quiet.

Eventually, they touched down in the valley area and found a nice cave in which to sleep for the night. Pokemon were faster than cars, but they were still living, breathing beings, and they needed to rest as well. Neither of them wanted the birds to overwork themselves and fall asleep mid-flight. They set up camp to get some rest.

After two hours of restlessness, Gale turned on her side. She watched the back of Riven's head as he lay on the floor, a messy mop of black hair.

"What?" he asked, surprisingly aware that she was watching him.

Gale squeaked, being discovered. "How did you know I was looking at you?"

"When you laid down, you were facing away from me. I heard you turn. Not that hard to figure out that you're currently facing me. Also, it's hard to sleep when you feel someone is burning holes into your skull with their eyes."

"And here I thought you had eyes in the back of your head."

Riven weighed the pros and cons of that in his mind. "That would suck, actually. My hair would get in the way."

"It's a bit long. You should cut it before you start to look like Mankeyzan_."_

"Let's just pretend that I know what you're talking about." The reference was clearly lost on him.

"Really? You've never seen Mankeyzan?"

"Never heard of it until now."

"You are a deprived child, you know that?" Gale couldn't believe he had never seen a single kid's movie. Mankeyzan was a classic. Now it made sense why he was so sour.

"You've no idea," he responded cryptically. "You should go to sleep. Insomnia isn't good for you."

"Someone's being a hypocrite. You can't really sleep, no matter how hard you try, can you? And don't ask me how I know. If you were still awake to hear my shuffling, then you're an insomniac too."

The boy stayed quiet. Her reasoning was solid, there was no point in denying the truth. He sighed deeply. "I guess you got me."

She smiled smugly. She could play detective too. There was one thing she was slightly interested in, though. "Riven, what's your plan to get the Dawn stone? If you don't mind… I'm just really wondering… how exactly your plan is going to work. Those are tall spires."

This time, Riven couldn't help but chuckle. "You really want to know?"

"Well, I suppose it isn't necessary for me to know but I'm still curious," she admitted. "It's not like everyday a trainer decides to tackle the caves without a flying pokemon. Things can get interesting."

"I'm one hundred percent sure you're going to call me a lunatic though."

"Entertainment is good," she said with a light smile.

"It's like this..."

* * *

The next two days were spent in the same fashion as the first. Fly for a while, then land and sleep. Gale and Riven exchanged few words the following two nights, mostly because Riven had gotten nightmares every night, at one point accidentally attacking Gale as she tried to wake him. He apologized and told her that the nightmares were common; she didn't have to worry, he'd be fine. The rest of the journey was spent in neutral silence. Riven enjoyed the quiet and simply enjoyed the trip, it was kind of like riding a bus, which was very calming, in a way.

They landed on the outskirts of Forina on the third day, tall spires rising above hundreds of feet, the rocky sky-scrapers of mother nature herself. Thick forest covered the ground below, drawing suspicion from Riven. Stepping off the Pidgeot, whose name was Emile, he surveyed the area with a sweep of the eyes. Gale stood behind him, a little skeptical about his "plan" to get into the caves. It was extremely risky and very, highly, stupid. Genius in a mad scientist sort of way, as in, crazy enough to work, or stupid enough to fail fantastically.

"Hey, Riven."

"Yes?"

"You know your plan is absolutely absurd right?"

"It makes about as much sense as time travel does," he joked. It was ironic really, for being such a person wrapped up in the idea of safety and logical thought, he was proposing a ludicrous plan that had slim to no chance of succeeding. He was an idiot for trying but it's not like he hadn't done things like this in the past. Granted it _did_ nearly get him killed multiple times but he had cheated death so many times that the effect of his batshit crazy schemes hardly fazed him. Riven wasn't afraid of death, but he didn't actually want to die, he'd prefer to avoid that if necessary.

Gale let out a frustrated huff. "Men." She crossed her arms as the trainer continued scouting the area. "Or you know, I can let you borrow Emile to take you up there and back down so you don't have to end up a human pancake on the way down?" She had thrown the bait, now it was up to him to see if he would take it. Emile was not amused though. He protested loudly, then Gale gave him a _look_. He piped down.

Riven turned on his heel to face her. Gale's willingness to help him was unnatural. She gave him a ride for free and asked for nothing in return and now she wanted to help him get a dawn stone? Something was up here. "Why are you so eager to help me?" His eyes were incredibly narrow, drawing the darkest conclusions to her motives.

She looked slightly offended. "Fine. If you don't want me to help you, I won't. Trainers are so stubborn, no wonder everyone thinks you're all stupid." Everyone who wasn't a trainer universally agreed that most trainers were unbelievably naive, hot tempered, and of course, stupid. Hence, the notorious stigma that all trainers were brainless, blundering fools with utter disregard for common sense. Sad part was, most of them were. Many of them being _males_.

Riven noticed that he just figuratively shoved his foot into his mouth. Time to rephrase. This was a good opportunity, his logic told him not to be an idiot and waste it. Tactful was good, he could do that. Briefly. "My mistake, I'm just a little...apprehensive. Most people charge for these things." People were ambitious, greedy bastards. Most of the time. There were exceptions, very _few_ exceptions.

Gale's anger subsided. "I just like helping people. My dad did it all the time, he told me that it was best to help people in need. And I don't care about money. In case you didn't notice, I live out in the middle of nowhere. Mortgage isn't one of my problems," she pointed out. "But there is one thing that I do want from you."

"And what is that?"

"Before I answer that, how long are you going to be there for?"

Riven had never really considered how long he'd be there. He did want to experience the wild again though, the last couple months spent with civilization had gotten him into more trouble with the law and unsavory characters than he'd like, with killers and violent surprises at every corner. He required a much needed break, where the only things that wanted to kill him were pokemon. He was fine with that. Attempted assassinations? Not so much. "Couple months I suppose?"

Gale grinned, it was perfect. "There's going to be an event near Meteor Falls in five months, around June. The tickets cost two thousand each, and I don't have enough to pay for the ticket." She innocently placed her hands behind her back, letting the scruffy one figure it out for himself.

Riven stared blankly at her. "Oh god. You're guilt tripping me aren't you."

She smiled wryly.

Riven's hand connected with his face. _Should've known. Every girl I meet in my age group either blackmails me, guilt trips me, or attempts to do so in some form or another._ He sighed deeply. "Guess there's no way around it. I'll pay for your ticket but you have to provide the transportation. It's the _least_ I could do to repay you for helping me," he said through gritted teeth. Although, the deal _would_ work out for him too. It ensured a ride out of Forina, saving Riven two months of walking. Being the pragmatist he prided himself in being, he chose the option that would bring about the most benefit and save considerable amounts of time best spent doing something other than walking back to Lavaridge. Also, blisters were pure evil.

The brunette squealed and hugged him tightly. He locked up and pried her off of him, like a person would a pesky piece of chewing gum. The death glare returned full force. "Ah, you don't like being touched. No hugs, sorry about that. But anyways! Deal!" She held out her hand, which Riven shook firmly. "Here's my number. Save your holo caster's battery, or find an electric pokemon to zap it. I'll call to check up on you, in case you're still alive. "

"Thanks for the wonderful vote of confidence," he commented dryly.

They exchanged numbers and she got on her Swellow, waving goodbye to Emile and Riven. "Emile, when you're done helping crazy here with his quest, come back to the house. You know the way."

"Geot," he affirmed.

"Good luck, Rivy!"

_Rivy? REALLY?_ Riven's upper eyelid twitched furiously.

The blue flying type lifted off the ground with a powerful beat of its wings, ascending further and further until Gale and her Swellow were but a tiny speck in the sky. Riven eyed Emile, who impassively preened his plumage. He brought out his translator from his trainer bag and turned it on. "Right then. Pid- errr, Emile." The large bird stared at him with faint disdain. "When we get up in the sky, no pranks, alright?"

The Pidgeot gave a smug look. _"I can make no promises."_

"Like trainer, like pokemon," Riven muttered sourly. The Pidgeot gladly ignored him and went back to preening. Riven stared back at the Forinan landscape and precariously flipped open Charles for a debriefing of dangers. He knew nothing about the area, so it was best be prepared for anything.

"Ngh," came a digital voice. "Uhhhh. Sir, I'll have you know I was kindly napping." He made a yawning noise. Could AIs even do that? Riven had no clue, he couldn't work a computer to save his life. No sense in even attempting to understand.

"Charles, you don't- can't sleep."

"Contrary to popular belief, I do fatigue."

"But I haven't opened you in a long time."

"Precisely. I was hibernating."

"You're not an Ursaring."

"I could be."

Riven gave up, tackling a brick wall only meant hurting yourself. "Fine, 'Ursaring'. I want to know what dangers I could find in Forina. Assuming you _have _any relevant information at all. That actually _helps_this time. Not that amazingly useful advice you love giving." The monumental "survive" that Charles had given Riven and Will back in the desert was a prime example of completely useless fucking information. Actually, most of the pokedex entries on pokemon were either useless, or obvious exaggerations. Made him wonder who wrote them.

"There are nothing but cute Jigglypuff and cuddly Pichus in there," Charles stated with complete confidence, not even bothering to check. Blatant lies of course, but he was not to be mistreated like a common pokedex, he had a voice, and he intended to use it. Mouthing off to his owner was amusing in its own way.

"Ah, so this is your rebellious phase?" Riven asked.

"No, that was sarcasm. You might've missed it," Charles quipped.

"I'd love to continue this Charles, but I need the information somewhat urgently."

"Do you?"

"Not really. But you don't want to make me run your battery dry in the shade, do you?" Blackmail certainly did have its perks. It was no surprise why weasels and manipulative bastards loved it so much.

"Argh, fine. You win." Charles' blue lights flashed repeatedly, looking up anything referencing Forina. "Ah, here we are. Plenty of things capable of disemboweling or incinerating you sir. Just how you like it. Maybe beaten to a bloody pulp is better? Forina has that too."

Riven snorted."That's good to hear. Show me what she's got then. And not just the lethal stuff, I want to know everything." He was also on the lookout for a fourth team member, something fierce and powerful was preferable. Or maybe something that would give him an advantage over flying types. They were always pains in the ass for Aine(and for Baron, once he evolved). His flight anxiety only served to make his once reasonable and now irrational dislike of flying types even worse.

"Let's see here, shall we? We got Shiftry, Sandslash, Nuzleaf, some _Scyther(_Riven shuddered_)_, Absol, Altaria, Vibrava, Flygon, Linoone, Zangoose, Seviper, Tropius, Beautifly, Breloom, Shroomish, Castform, and Swellow. There are also some sightings of wild Salamence too." Most of the pokemon Charles had named were, in fact, capable of gutting someone rather easily. Or turning them into cinders, either way.

"Salamence?" Riven hadn't heard of those, but it definitely sounded intimidating. He was entertaining the thought of catching it at the very mention of its name.

"If you're thinking about catching a wild Salamence, you should leave that thought in a dark place, far, far away from you. Six feet under the ground is a good start," Charles warned.

"What's so bad about Salamence?"

Clueless trainer was clueless, Charles scoffed. "It's a dragon?" Riven didn't sound surprised yet. Charles let out a loud digital groan. "Fine. Let me give you an idea, since you seem insane enough to try and catch one. Wild Salamence are extremely territorial, go on rampages when angered, spew very hot flames from their mouths and fly very, very fast; it's one of the fastest flying types in the pokemon world. It razed towns to the ground in the past, single handedly, by the way, _not_ in groups. Also, wild ones tend not to listen to trainers, even ones with all eight badges. Trainers who own Salamence all raised them from Bagon or occasionally Shelgon. No one has tried catching an adult. Think about that."

Riven swallowed. "Is the core of the earth a deep enough hole for that thought?"

"Just about."

"Point taken, Salamence is out of the question. Wait, did you say Absol?"

"Yes, there are sparse Absol populations scattered throughout Forina. It's one of the few places where Absols can be found in groups. The other being in close proximity to Fortree City."

"Huh." Riven mouthed an 'oh'. That suddenly explained why Haona tackled him in Rustboro when he mentioned going to Forina. _She must be excited to see her own kind. I can't blame her, I'd be excited myself if I saw someone from my own time, however unlikely that would be._ He'd search for the Absols later though, the dawn stone came first. Riven thanked Charles and told him to go back to hibernation, then addressed Emile. "You ready?"

"_Let's get this over with. The faster the better. Plus, I don't like you anyway, you hold onto my feathers too hard," _the Pidgeot bluntly stated. At least he got straight to the point, which was leagues better than most people.

"Hmph. That makes two of us," Riven sneered.

* * *

It took a couple days to find the correct spire. Riven expected to get it over with in a day, since Emile could fly him around, but there were lots of spires, and most of them had holes in the top. The Pidgeot was obviously very miffed about spending more time with someone who wasn't his master and eagerly flew the trainer around, desperately wanting to go back. It was snow season and Forina got considerable amounts around this time of year. Frost plus wings was the perfect formula for disaster, death by falling was a shameful way for a prideful flying type to die.

Eventually they came to a spire with a gaping maw, pitch black darkness going down hundreds of feet. Green little specks glittered around the edges, suggesting that the caves were near the sides of the enormous hole. Riven decided that the best point of entry was the left most side. Emile landed on the rim of the hole and patiently waited. Riven set his backpack down, but not before peering to the side, all the way down. They were _really_ high up, one slip could very well entail death. He uncoiled a very large rope from his packpack, a culmination of tightly knotting three coils of escape rope together.

Taking out a metal ringstand, he used his foot to jam it into the rock at the edge of the chasm and looped the end of the rope through it, making a knot and letting the rest descend into the hole. Emile had flown him in to gauge the approximate distance from the nearest cave entrance from the top. It was about thirty feet down and forty feet away from the rope's position. Riven craned his neck and looked down into the pit, getting a little nauseous. He calmed his nerves, inhaling and exhaling deeply, then lowered himself down the rope into the darkness. He reached the end and began to swing, just like the kids did in the playground in Petalburg park, albeit on a much more massive and dangerous level. Picking up speed, the daring teenager swung back and forth across the chasm, gaining more distance with each progressive swing.

The rope was beginning to feel the strain, if he swung for too long, it could snap and Riven would be unbelievably fucked. He was close enough to the entrance and waited for one more swing before going for it, still holding onto the rope. As he flew through the air, Riven felt a rush as he attempted to cheat death once more. His feet made contact with the ledge, but just barely, his own momentum nearly sending him backwards into the seemingly endless pitch black void. Desperately struggling to keep his footing, he fell to the side, mere centimeters away from the edge, holding onto that length of rope like his life depended on it.

Riven laughed in disbelief, sweat coming down his forehead. "Holy shit. That actually worked." Riven patted himself down, still in disbelief that he stuck the landing. "THAT WORKED! HAH! AND YOU DOUBTED ME YOU OVERGROWN PIDGEON!" The trainer hollered out, giving Emile confirmation that he was good. The Pidgeot couldn't believe the human's utterly insane playground swing gambit worked.

The bird shook his head. _That human is a crazy bastard._

Riven walked along the interior of the cave, shining his flashlight on the walls, light reflecting off greenish crystals embedded in the walls. He was looking for something small, green, and circular. The shards in the wall were much too huge and his knife wasn't a damn pickaxe. It would snap if he tried prying off a piece. He continued further in, where the cave hollowed out into a large cavern, revealing multitudes of sleeping Aron and a couple Lairon. In the middle of the mess, there was a collection of dawn stones.

The black haired trainer turned off his flashlight, and carefully tip-toed across the Aron field, exceedingly careful not to disturb them. Aine could take a few of them anyday, maybe even a Lairon or two, but fifty plus? No way in hell. They could also cause a cave in, which would doom Riven anyway. His best bet was stealth. He took small, soft steps, heart hammering in his chest, being as quiet as humanly possible. His heartbeat felt like a drumroll for war. That's how loud it sounded to him.

Reaching the center, Riven slowly bent down and grabbed two of the green stones. He tried to swipe them all but before he could, the disturbance caused the remaining stones to roll away and clink very loudly against the metallic hide of a sleeping Lairon. Time seemed to come to an agonizing stop as Riven froze, silently hoping the pokemon would stay asleep. But as all things with wild pokemon went with him, nearly every single creature's eyes shot wide open, unsurprisingly _pissed off_. He felt the gaze of every single eye on him.

"Why couldn't you just stay asleep?"

He sprinted for the exit, narrowly dodging angry metal claws and rock tombs. He stumbled several times because of the shaky ground but managed to find the place in the wall where he anchored the rope. Securing the two stones in his bag, he freed the rope and swung out into the chasm just before the herd of iron armor pokemon metal clawed him down. He laughed at them and began climbing back up, when a sharp jolt rocked him. Riven's eyes widened as the rope thinned near the top. Bad news, very bad news. "Emile! The rope is getting weaker!" He cried. The rope gave way and snapped. "EMILLLLLLLLE!"

The Pidgeot just barely picked up the trainer's voice and rushed down to save the human. The Pidgeot was hesitant at first, unable to see the bottom of the chasm but dived down anyway, Gale wouldn't be pleased if the human male died. Riven closed his eyes in pitiful acceptance when the giant bird caught him by the legs. Riven desperately held onto his bag and belongings, he was not going to lose the stones he had traveled half across the damn region for.

It was terrifying being dropped off on the ground after that but Riven was still riding on the adrenaline high. He was alive. He had escaped and damn did it feel downright amazing. As Emile set him down on the ground, Riven jumped as high as he could into the air. His serious demeanor smashed to pieces, he felt great as his ego inflated."I. AM. FUCKING. AWESOME!" He shouted up into the sky. Felt good cutting loose with no one around."WHOOOO!"

About to bring out his pokemon for Baron's evolution celebration, something cut him off. Any and all cheer was completely eviscerated, including his ego boost, only to be replaced with dread and a strange feeling in the intestines that also happened to coincide with the browning of pants.

It was a roar. A defiant and absolutely pants shitting-ly terrifying roar. Suddenly, fire erupted, covering the wide open space in blue flames as tall as a house. Riven and Emile froze. A blur of red and blue rocketed through the air, coming directly at them, blue flames incinerating the ground below.

"Ahahah… _shit_."

* * *

**I found it odd that in the RSE games, you couldn't capture anything but Bagons in Meteor Falls. Considering the pokedex entries for Salamence, it made me think that an explainable reason for not being able to capture Salamence is that they are way too dangerous to attempt catching. Of course, they probably made it that way so people couldn't have access to a powerful dragon but still, it makes sense to me.**

**Allow me to explain.**

**Dragons have little weaknesses and looking at it realistically, rock types are **_**slow as balls**_**. They wouldn't be able to fling huge rocks hundreds of feet in the air to ground one. A dragon can roast an ice type and can outspeed flying types. Also, they shrug off electric like nobody's business. Point being, taking on a dragon without another dragon is **_**not**_** a good idea. And even then, risking it isn't worth it either. Baby Bagon it is.**

**Before anyone mentions that Forina doesn't have Salamence, yes, that may be true. But take into account that pokemon can be introduced into other areas or move, just like animals would. Forina has an abundance of tall spires and a plentiful food source from the forests below, it would be an excellent place for a small group of dragons to thrive. After all, Flygons are usually found in the desert and there are some in Forina. Meteor Falls isn't the only place that some stray Salamence could be foun**


	28. Escape

The forest near Littleroot was as peaceful as always, ideal for the starting trainer. Steven rode along as watchful Zigzagoon and Seedot hid in the trees and bushes, observing the approaching human. Poochyena scurried about, chasing their brothers through the thick foliage, stopping dead in their tracks as they noticed an enormous blue pokemon floating towards them, carrying a human on its head. They lowered their ears and slowly backed away. It was to be expected, since Steven's Metagross was a very powerful pokemon, and a champion level one at that. Naturally, his presence was intimidating, instilling fear into lesser pokemon. Not to mention that his appearance and sheer size alone was enough to deter even the strongest wild pokemon. It worked to Steven's benefit since it was better that they leave him alone for now. He didn't want to deal with them and waste daylight.

Reaching his destination, a relatively small cave, near the edge of the forest, Steven dismounted and set his backpack down. This was the only cave in the area, which meant this one was probably the one that Riven had mentioned, it certainly fit the description. Steven concluded that the situation would go down one of two ways; one, he'd find something extraordinary, or two, everything would be a grand waste of time and he'd have to chew out the teenager again. Naturally, being more on the scientific side, Steven was skeptical of finding anything remotely abnormal. But at the same time, his curiosity is what compelled him to come here in the first place.

Returning the large blue psychic back into its pokeball, Steven stepped foot within the cave. He flipped his flashlight on and swept the beam across the room. It seemed that the cave wasn't very deep at all, it was more like a den fit for a medium sized pokemon. There was an ankle high pool of water though, which confirmed that at least he'd found the right one.

Steven dug through his backpack and took out several instruments, one of which was a specialized Devon Scope, specially made to see in different spectrums of light. He configured the settings before placing the contraption on his head and looked up. Nothing was apparent in the visible spectrum,maybe he'd have more luck trying infrared. As the lens switched, Steven didn't see much out of the ordinary. It was when he switched to the gamma and x-ray lenses that his jaw dropped.

A small vortex of radiation could be seen spiraling out of a central hole directly in the center of the cave. Though the amounts were low, it was still very, very out of place. Steven fused the three lenses and got a clear picture of the entire interior. The _whole cave_ was buried in radiation from that single point. It was about the size of a dime, but the sheer amount of radiation suggested that the hole was once far larger, no way could this puny little hole emit so much. Steven's mouth hung agape, astounded and completely stupefied. Taking out an EMF meter, the device's green LED lights instantly lit up, detecting electromagnetic pulses everywhere. Deciding to test for errors, Steven went outside for a brief moment. The EMF meter went silent, then instantly started acting up as he entered the cave again.

"What the hell…" _Riven was telling the truth?_ No, he needed more proof before supporting claims of that nature. He wasn't an expert on physics, nor radiation. He needed a professional. Calling up a colleague, Dr. Lorence, an astrophysicist, Steven informed him of the situation. Naturally the scientist got more and more excited after hearing such an incredible discovery.

"Fantastic! I have to see this!" The physicist exclaimed. Steven Stone wasn't a liar after all, he wouldn't intentionally mislead him.

"Where are you now?" Steven asked. Last he heard of Lorence, he was in Sinnoh studying some strange phenomena of sorts. It was entirely possible he could have moved. The man was never in one spot too long, if anything, Lorence was more nomad than scientist. Every single time he contacted Lorence, he was somewhere else, never in the same place twice.

"Ah, I'm actually in my lab in Goldenrod. Can you teleport to me with your Metagross? Assuming he is with you, of course." A champion grade psychic would have no problem hopping regions. At least once or twice, more than that could strain the pokemon's brain severely. That would be bad.

"I can do that. Sit tight and gather some of your best equipment. We're going to be here a while." Steven summoned his Metagross and teleported away. He arrived with Lorence shortly after, returning Meta so he could recover his energy. The scientist set down several pieces of equipment and commenced taking his own readings. Steven leaned idly on the rock wall to the left, waiting intently for realization to kick Lorence in the face, just like it had to him. On cue, Lorence sputtered.

"T-t-this!"

"Yeah?"

"It-it's!"

"Go on."

"N-not possible!" The scientist began to babble like an incoherent child that just discovered an eternal source of chocolate and didn't know what to do with himself. It made Steven snort.

"That's why I called you here. I have no clue why this is here or why. It _shouldn't_ be here, I know that for sure, and not only that, but it coincides with another matter I'm worried about. The two are connected too perfectly, it's not mere coincidence," Steven explained.

"What kind of coincidence?"

Steven ignored the question and crossed his arms. "Lorence, tell me. Based on this, could you tell me if time travel is possible?" The vortex looked like some kind of hole. To where? He had no idea. Another universe? Possibly.

Lorence examined the hole under different spectrums, taking readings and such. "This is simply outstanding… Steven, you might have stumbled across a wormhole! A very small, but surefire example of one!" The shape was undeniable, almost like a fish eye lens.

"A what now?"

"A tunnel in spacetime that could theoretically be traversed for intergalactic travel, superluminal travel, and yes, most definitely even time travel itself. We've never been able to create one but we have drawn simulations." Steven was a bit lost, he was more of a rock collector, not a physicist, his face said it all. Lorence quickly searched for a relevant analogy to help the rock collector out. "Erm, picture every sci-fi show you've ever watched that involves wormholes and time travel, this is pretty much that."

"So what you're saying is, this can be a portal to another point in time? Like a door?" The ex-champion couldn't help but think of all the sci-fi shows he'd ever watched as kid or as a teenager_. _It made his brain hurt and stopped before he remembered enough mind screws capable of decaying his mind.

"Or another dimension, or possibly another side of the universe. Anything goes really, it's very unpredictable." Ending up in space on the other side of the galaxy would be a tad problematic, space wasn't very kind to the human body. Another dimension wasn't too favorable either.

"But how is this possible? Aren't they like black holes? Won't they collapse?"_  
_

"Normally, yes. But this is a _traversable_ one. Essentially, collapse can be prevented through the use of exotic matter, be it dark matter or something else with negative mass that would stabilize the wormhole, kind of like the skeleton of the portal, if you will." The exotic matter served as the frame, the rest was the actual rift, very similar to a door.

Dark matter… huh. "Don't pokeballs use a form of that?"

"Well, yes...kind of. Except that's only one use of it, there are still tons more we don't know about it. Pokeballs were very accidental as well." The man stabbed the air with his index finger , in the direction of the time-rip. "Stabilizing wormholes is something we have been fantasizing about for years! But there is one thing peculiar about this."

"And what's that?"

"The hole is very small, as if it shrank since it first opened," the scientist noted. "It might disappear fully soon."

Steven nodded. "I noticed that too. What would you say was the approximate size of the original?"

"Maybe several feet long and a couple feet wide." This was all based on the radiation given off. It was an inaccurate assessment but it would do for now.

"Big enough for a person to fit? Like say, a six foot tall man?"

"I presume so."

That was all he needed to know. Steven glanced at the vortex, narrowing his eyes grimly. _Time travel…but caused by who? Could Riven really be a time traveler?_ "Lorence, what could do this?" A large machine? Or an immensely powerful being…

"Some suggest that these wormholes pop up sporadically, but it's never been proven since we've never really found one."

"You really believe that in this case?"

"No."

"I thought so. Which again, raises the question, what _could_ have the power to do this?" Steven had a feeling it wasn't spontaneous either. It wouldn't be possible for people in the past to be advanced enough to do it either. Riven confirmed it. But then again, he was only a teenager, he couldn't possibly know everything.

"I may have an explanation, however outlandish it may sound," Lorence mentioned, looking very unsure of himself. He sat down on a chair, in front of the pool of water. "It's essentially a piecing together of things I learned on my last trip to the Sinnoh region."

"Enlighten me," Steven said.

"When I was there, I read and studied tales and sightings about the legendaries there. Are you aware of the creation trio? They are very well entrenched in Sinnohan mythology." Steven shook his head, this was the first time he had heard of them. The name seemed to signify great power though.

"Well, there are three legendary pokemon. There is the ruler of space, Palkia. And the ruler of time, Dialga. According to native Sinnohans."

_Dialga…the ruler of time, _Steven thought. Could he be responsible?

"Then there is the third, the fallen one whom Arceus cast out, in legend. Giratina, ruler of the Distortion World." _The reason for which he was cast out is unknown, even in the Sinnohan legends_, Lorence recalled in his mind. "You may know him as the 'devil', here in Hoenn."

Steven raised a skeptical eyebrow."The devil. Really?" There were myths upon myths about the dreaded "devil", a monster that took the shape of a giant centipede and had evil red eyes. It had appeared in children's storybooks and folk tales to scare them to sleep.

Lorence chuckled, oh the irony of a scientific man referencing folk tales."Heh, yes. It isn't anymore a devil than you or I, most likely. You know how those tales exaggerate."

"Well, I suppose. I can understand time and space, but the 'devil'? Unrelated, don't you think?" It seemed as if Dialga and Palkia were the only relevant ones in this situation. They very well could have caused such a rift in spacetime, but all the way in Hoenn? Did they really possess such power? He thought Groudon and Kyogre had stupendous power, but nowhere near this much.

"Steven, when I was at Mt. Coronet, I studied the disturbances near the summit, at Spear Pillar. There is believed to be a portal to the Distortion world. In fact, judging by the radiation signatures, both of these are very similar." Eerily similar. Almost too good to be true.

"Both could be identical in origin?"

"Yes."

"But how?"

"Collaboration."

"Collaboration?"

"Yes, legendaries and their supposed 'powers', considered, Dialga and Palkia could have bent time and space to create the tunnel, but Giratina stabilized the rift somehow." Time, space, and matter from a world where nothing makes any sense, all likely components in the creation of such a wormhole. It was very possible, however unlikely it sounded.

"Hmmmmm, you'd need substantial evidence to even attempt to justify that. Legendaries don't just agree with each other. You saw what happened here a few years ago."

The Magma and Aqua crisis. Yes, those were grim times for Hoenn. Lorence remembered watching the chaos unfold a few years ago. Few regions managed to experience the full unhindered brunt of a legendary's power. Hoenn had experienced the awesome power of _three, _at the_ same time_."...That's true, you would know that better than anyone. But it's the only other explanation I have. I'm sorry I don't have a more concise answer, Steven."

Steven waved a hand in thanks. "It's fine. Actually, I'd say that's probably the best answer. Legendaries work in ways we hardly understand, I've witnessed it myself." Lorence paled in his seat, suddenly looking very ill. "What's with that look?"

If Groudon and Kyogre had wreaked such havoc, what would the direct creations of Arceus himself be capable of, should they combine their powers? As he thought, Lorence grew horrified. He clamped a hand over his mouth. "From Sinnoh to Hoenn…no, the whole world... Three direct creations of the creator…"

"Continue," Steven urged, this sounded important.

"The results would be… absolutely cataclysmic," Lorence darkly stated. "This hole here is tangible if- no definitive proof that such a thing occurred. But how long ago did this happen? And why don't we know anything about it? I highly doubt three legendaries came together from entirely different planes of existence to create a small little hole in time and space. No, I suspect this is just a side effect. Something much bigger and much more destructive occurred when those three met. Yet there are no traces of any of this happening. Why?"

The two men stared at each other before turning back to the vortex, watching as traces of radiation spiraled outward continuously.

* * *

Riven wasted no time and jumped on Emile's back, his flight anxiety immediately going out the window and into orbit. "FLY! GO, GO!" Gripping onto his feathers with a vice-grip, he commanded the bird to get airborne as fast as possible.

"_I'm trying_!" Emile's wings flapped and he took off the ground. The dragon ahead was rapidly advancing, eyes set to destroy and rend. The Pidgeot just managed to avoid a torrent of dragonbreath as it charred the ground where both human and pokemon had been standing. The Salamence did a turn in midair and flew directly back towards them, ready for another shot.

Riven looked back, seeing blue flames dance across the ground. "Why the hell is it coming after us?!" It was either his fault, or fate decided to be an asshole again. Most likely the second. Riven ducked as a stream of flames sailed over his head, singing a few stray hairs. Had Emile not dived, both of them would be on fire right now, suffering from third degree burns and unbearable pain.

Emile desperately twisted and turned, evading blasts of super-heated flame as they shot towards him, narrowly missing his wings by a few centimeters. _"Maybe because when you decided to shout in the air like a genius, you accidentally challenged its authority? Dragons don't like that, they're prideful pricks."_ Riven froze. His triumph shout. Oh shit. It was his fault then. Riven quickly made a mental note to himself.

_Next time, whenever in the wild, kindly keep mouth shut in case large territorial dragons are lurking. Might save on trips to the hospital and/or afterlife. _"I messed up," Riven said, getting queasy as Emile continued his evasive maneuvers.

"_Oh no, I think you did just fine. Why don't you try punching it out with your fists next time? That'll make things infinitely better,_" Emile sneered sardonically. Riven couldn't blame him though, his blunder had put Emile into danger too. If he were Emile, that certainly would ruffle his feathers also. _"Don't you have a plan?"_

Riven blinked. "Plan?"

"_We're dead,"_ Emile said hopelessly.

"What do you want me to do?"

"_I don't know? You're a trainer right? Strategize! That's what trainers supposedly do," _the Pidgeot said with increasing hostility_. "You lot have the audacity to tell us how to fight, might as well do something useful for a change and think a way out of this."_

Another blast of flame narrowly missed Riven's face, its intense heat making him sweat. "One, I don't know any of your moves and I can't take my pokedex out while holding onto you! Two, I can't think straight when you're making me nauseous! AND three, that is a fucking dragon! We can't possibly beat it with flying attacks if we tried!"

"_You have a point there_. _Well then, master trainer, what do you suppose we –argh!- do?"_ Emile dived and twirled, evading flames. There was no way he could outspeed the Salamence. Eventually, it would catch up to them, his talons would be no match for a dragon's claws or its hide.

"Uh, fly?" What splendid, sage-like advice, truly. Riven felt like Charles right now.

"_Fly? SOME TRAINER YOU ARE!"_ Emile screeched, flying behind a spire just in time for it to block a flamethrower. "_AND HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE WE FLY?"_

"I'm not an experienced flyer like Gale, how am I supposed to know that? Just do whatever you can to make sure he doesn't roast us!" Riven was more concerned with surviving than a little crazy flying at the moment. He'd go puke his guts out later, when a wild Salamence wasn't trying to destroy him for mistakenly challenging its authority.

The dragon roared behind them, sending chills down Riven's spine. Its mouth glowed a bright blue as it readied another dragonbreath. Riven prepared for the worst when Emile shouted, "_Hang on! This is going to get a little hectic!"_

_Already more than- _Riven's thoughts were silenced as Emile dove, twirled, twisted, and spun in the air, weaving past spires, leading the Salamence on a chase among nature's sky scrapers. Riven's stomach churned, and shoved his face into Emile's feathers, fighting back the urge to fling the contents of his stomach from his mouth as projectile vomit. The effort was for nothing though, as the maneuvers weren't enough to compensate for the speed advantage the Salamence had over the Pidgeot.

"It's not working!" Riven reminded, seeing red wings soar through the air above them. Another blast of blue flames missed them, but not before it singed part of Riven's backpack.

"_I know!"_ Emile responded_. "Time to change things up, I'm going to fly in low!"_

Riven held onto his headset with one hand, making sure the rushing wind didn't knock it off his ears and send it tumbling to the ground below. "What are you doing? That dragon is going to burn the forest down!" They didn't want to burn the entire forest down, that would destroy plenty of usable food sources and potentially kill a lot of pokemon. Which again, meant less food for him.

Did the human really care about a forest, now of all times? "_Do you want to die?"_

"No."

"_Then shut up."_

The trainer bit the inside of his cheek and did as he was told, tightening his hold on the avian's soft feathers.

Emile descended into the forest, weaving through the trees with impeccable precision, wearing the most focused gaze Riven ever saw. What he didn't know was that Emile was under impossible amounts of stress right now, one false move and they were either going to crash or end up incinerated, possibly both if worse came to worse. With the Salamence's flames exploding trees into nothing but wooden shrapnel and splinters behind him, the Pidgeot worked even harder to keep himself under control. Even under such conditions however, Emile felt something he had never felt before. He felt alive. In a way that regular flying didn't make him feel. The aspect of danger made flight feel even better. The feeling to laugh his head off almost overcame him.

He caught a glimpse of Riven, a ghost of a smile on his face, eyes full of the same excited glee. The human loved the danger, no- reveled in it, like the crazy bastard he was. Turning his attention back to what lay ahead of him, he zig-zagged through the forest, as fire erupted behind him. The Salamence's speed worked to his detriment here, where trees tightly clumped together acted as speed traps; the dragon remained above the cover of trees, raining blue fire down in an attempt to kill his challengers.

"Emile, land. Now."

"_Are you insane?"_ Actually, he didn't have to ask. He _knew_ Riven was insane.

"Just do it." Riven had an idea, and Emile was going to absolutely _hate_ it.

Emile touched down under the cover of a few trees, watching the skies as a blue and red blur sped above them, angrily roaring, daring its challengers to face it. _"So what's this plan? Ice beam to the death? And do it quick, it won't take long to spot us."_

The human appeared to be very hesitant. "Not with your size and color standing out like that." The bird froze. He wasn't implying _that_, was he?

"_Please don't tell me you're going to-"_

"I'm smaller, I can hide a lot better than you. If I don't have to worry about your size, that Salamence won't spot me... us," Riven explained, taking out a pokeball. "After the dragon goes away, I'll release you and smash the pokeball, that way you won't be bound to me. Don't struggle, the pokeball might break and the light can catch the Salamence's attention." He knew he would technically be catching Emile but he also didn't want to steal Gale's pokemon. Plus, he had no interest in a flying type who had zero confidence in him and was also a bit of a dick. At least White Queen trusted him… somewhat. Maybe. He didn't really know.

Emile eyed the red and white ball with complete disdain. _"Fine, but you better smash that pokeball afterwards or I'll gut you myself," _Emile warned. He flexed his talons to show Riven he wasn't shooting the bull.

"Got it." The pokeball sucked the Pidgeot in and wiggled three times before coming to a stop. Riven picked up the pokeball and hid among the bushes. He squinted and saw the familiar red and blue blur before he heard its trademark roar. As he focused his eyesight further, the trainer's eyes widened and he dashed away as fast as possible. The Salamence's mouth held a bright yellow ball of energy, releasing it seconds after Riven began running.

The beam crashed down into the ground, kicking up a giant cloud of dirt and dust, whilst leveling a section of the forest and the trees surrounding the impact crater. Riven's ears rang and was launched into the air by the immense force of the explosion, shards of bark cutting into his skin as he violently crashed into a tree trunk and was knocked unconscious. Watching the destruction from above, the Salamence roared in triumph and flew away, sufficiently convinced that the ones that challenged its authority were eliminated.

Riven stirred three hours later, among the remains of the trees that had been blown clear by the attack. His head and body felt like shit as he picked himself up. The blast had completely destroyed the area he and Emile were standing in, reducing it to nothing but a ruined mess of what it once was. The air was thick with smoke from the Salamence's fires, putrid fumes rising high into the sky. Riven walked over to the nearest bush and retched.

Emile's pokeball was on the ground several feet away from him, untouched by all the damage. The black haired trainer limped over and released him with a haphazard throw, akin to that of a small girl. He couldn't help it though, his arm felt flabbier than a Gulpin at the moment.

The flying type materialized in the middle of the damage and rotated his body, eyes widening at the extent of damage to the surrounding forest. _"What in the- what happened here?"_ He asked. One moment the forest was fine, and the next it was in ruins!

Riven coughed up dust. "Salamence. Hyper Beam. Boom," he replied, coughing up more dust.

"_One hyper beam did this?"_ Emile couldn't believe it, once healthy trees were nothing but splinters and ash littering the ground, the soil a pure charcoal black.

Riven's mouth fell into a thin line as he observed the damage around him and Emile. "It's called hyper beam for a reason. I saw one destroy entire houses before, I shouldn't be surprised that one by a dragon could cause this much destruction," Riven said, kicking a twig away with his foot.

Emile took a moment to look at the human after the blast. He was slumped over and covered in dust, with several cuts along his arms from stray shrapnel. His breathing even sounded strained and a little pained. _"What about you? You look like something thrashed you around rather viciously."_

"The explosion knocked me off my feet and sent me into a damn tree. My left ear is still ringing." Riven held his head with both hands, swaying a moment to stop the massive migraine he was currently having. "Oh, right." He trudged up to the pokeball and smashed it with a stomp. "There you go. Free."

"_Thanks. You sure you don't need any help?"_ Emile asked. The human was clearly worse for wear, he did just get launched into a tree. Nobody could be "just fine" after that.

"I'll be fine. I've taken worse hits than this really. You need to return to Gale before that thing comes back again." He held up a finger while hanging his head down, releasing a small groan. "Also, don't tell her about this. Got it? Me and you only." He groaned in pain louder this time.

Emile raised his head in a cocky manner. _"Oh no, I am so telling her about this. About how I saved your miserable human ass from death with my superior flight skills."_ The escape had clearly gone to his head, anymore ego stroking and the avian's head would explode, figuratively. The thought of the Pidgeot bursting made Riven snort, but he figured it was just the after effects of getting his bell rung. Macabre thoughts weren't common, nor welcome.

"Then I can tell her about how I saved yours by capturing you?" Riven remarked in an annoyed tone. _Two can play at that game, you damn bird._

"_I saved you twice. Remember the caves?"_ Emile smugly countered.

"Hmph. Fine. Just get the hell out of here already. If you don't return, Gale's going to rip my head off. Watch out for the resident dragon too." Riven made a shooing motion with his hands. "Go on, get out of here. Come back in five months."

Emile nodded and extended his wings, generating small gusts with each flap, pushing Riven back from the force of the wind. _"If you say so… just don't piss off that Salamence. Or any other dragon in the area, even if they are much more friendly. Angry Altaria are forces to be reckoned with."_ This human was more than capable of doing very stupid things, it was surprising he wasn't dead yet. No sane creature swung across a chasm from a measly rope and expected to come out alive unless he was Zubat-shit crazy.

Riven covered his face with a hand to block some of the wind, "I learned my lesson the first time. Now go!" The bird turned around and flew up and out of sight. The exhausted trainer sighed and shuffled his way over to a fallen tree, leaned on the trunk and looked up at the sky with lidded eyes. The day had been interesting. Hopefully after some well earned sleep(with no nightmares), he'd bring out his pokemon the next day to witness his Kirlia's evolution into a Gallade. He just hoped it was worth nearly dying three times, a Gallade better be all it was cranked up to be or something cute and cuddly was getting sliced open. Riven massaged his temples and drifted to sleep quickly afterwards.

He awoke in the morning to a mild headache, sore arm, and a few Shroomish curiously inspecting him. "Shroom? Shroooom." He stared at them with a dazed expression before his mind registered- WILD POKEMON, ALERT. Realizing this, he jumped to his feet and stood on the log, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and drawing his knife with the other hand. He growled and bared his teeth at them in an attempt to drive them away.

The grass pokemon backed away hastily, the most nervous of them releasing small amounts of stun spore. "Shroom! Shroomish! Shrooo!" They stepped back further,as the strange human took out a pokeball. They heard about the prison devices that the humans used to capture pokemon and torture them. They saw it enlarge and a look of terror came over them as they fled, their stubby little legs taking them deeper into the forest.

Riven exhaled in relief and stepped down, sheathing the knife; he had only resorted to using the pokeball to scare them away, which worked rather splendidly, by the way. He had run out of money for some half decent repels, reminding him that he needed to stay vigilant and take note of where he went to sleep at night, especially with the amount of dangerous pokemon around. He stretched, instinctively keeping a close eye on the sky and surrounding forest for any hint of the red and blue menace. Seeing no territorial dragons or potential threats, the trainer decided to find shelter before evolving Baron, preferably a place hidden from view and near a water source where he could wash his wounds to prevent infection.

Several hours later, Riven had managed to find himself a little grotto that was of sufficient size to be called a cavern, but not deep enough to be a massive cave system. Water trickled in from the top of it, forming a clean little stream of drinkable water in the center. That would certainly be of great use to him and his pokemon if they wanted a drink. But there was also a magnificent waterfall a few miles away that he had spotted earlier, perfect for refilling his containers and also for bathing. If he focused his hearing, he could still hear the roaring of cascading water.

The days spent searching for the dawn caves on Emile's back had given the trainer a good overview of the surrounding landscape. One of the most important lessons that had been drilled into his brain when he was a scout was to know the surrounding area. Climb to a vantage point and do some recon, then figure out the best point of entry or passage. Content with his position, he set his supplies down. He'd need something to eat soon.

The sun had already gone down but earlier in the day Riven had managed to sneak up on a Seviper, and caught a few Zigzagoon as well. Riven also spotted a tasty looking Swellow but had to let it go as he realized he would be unable to reach it. The bird would make a good meal but he didn't have any ranged weapons to actually disable it with. He could have used White Queen but her fur was far too noticeable, Swellow had keen eyes and didn't miss much. Absol were predators here from what Charles gave him, which meant these pokemon recognized the dangers that Absols presented. Baron wasn't much better, being mostly white in color. Aine would most likely burn the bird to a crisp, which would be a terrible waste of meat.

He had to fashion himself a bow and a set of arrows soon. Zangoose claws and bones would make excellent arrow points and there were plenty of trees from which to make the shafts from. He'd start tomorrow. Today, he had to celebrate. Setting up a fire, he skewered the Seviper and Zigzagoon meat, pitting them over the fire to cook. He brought out his pokemon from their pokeballs, who hadn't seen the outside for more than a week, due to extensive flying. Riven quickly put on his headset.

Baron, Aine, and Haona looked around, seeing that they were no longer in the plains but in a forested area, with enormous rocky spires towering over them. They had no idea where they were.

"_Where are we?" _Aine asked.

Riven smiled. "Guess."

Haona caught on instantly and was the first to tackle him. She licked him in the face, red eyes glittering with happiness. She dug her paws into the soil and sniffed the air. This was her parents' birthplace, their home. Well, for awhile at least. Then they moved further south for some inexplicable reason. Haona stopped licking her trainer and turned, taking in as much of the scenery as her eyes allowed her. _"So, this is Forina?"_ She wanted to see it in the daylight, all of it.

"That's right," Riven replied, checking the meat to see if it was ready. "It's a pretty big place, we're around the southwestern side right now. The cave behind us is going to be our base of operations for some time. Don't get too carried away tomorrow with exploring, all right White Queen?"

Aine gaped in awe at the large spire some fifty feet away. "_They're so tall! Are they everywhere?"_

"For the most part. I stopped counting from how many there are. Honestly, it's more impressive seeing them all from the air."

"_Wow."_ The orange chicken plopped down next to Riven, puffing an ember at the meat. Riven gave her a disapproving look, he didn't like his food _over-done_, and was fairly sure everyone other than the energetic Combusken agreed as well. _"You're going to climb one of those?"_ She asked, pointing to the pillar with her claws.

"I was. But now I don't have to." Baron, who had been rather quiet, looked up as the statement piqued his interest. Riven gave him a knowing look, then broke out into a sly grin and beckoned the Kirlia over. "You might want to see this, Mischief," Riven said, intentionally using his Kirlia's old trainer nickname.

Aine and Haona watched as Baron stopped in front of them, standing in front of his trainer. He looked nervous and ecstatic at the same time, his tiny white fists shaking in expectance. _"D-do you have it?"_ Baron questioned, voice shaky. He had dreamed of this moment for a long time, never had he thought it'd come true.

Riven located the small green stone in his trainer bag, enclosing his hand over it, smothering its green glow. "Looking for this?" He opened his palm, revealing a circular green gem in the center, sparkling radiantly. Baron looked mesmerized and stared dumbfounded at Riven, almost as if the gem was surreal and just a figment of his imagination. He slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming either. "What're you looking at? It's real. I nearly died getting this. Thrice."

Aine snickered. _"How did that happen?"_

"Aron and Lairon have nasty metal claws. And they go after anyone that wakes them up...violently so."

"_I could of taken 'em,"_ Aine boasted, thrusting her claws out. She was a fighting type, she could beat Arons into the ground all frickin' day.

"Not fifty of them at the same time."

Aine raised a claw then promptly set it down. Couldn't argue with that, unfortunately. Haona spoke up this time, _"And what about the other two times?"_

"The rope I used to get into the caves snapped and Gale's Pidgeot had to save me. Then I kind of challenged a wild… Salamence… for dominance. That didn't go too well." Riven let out weak chuckle. Haona was about to scold him when he clarified himself, "Not intentionally!"

The Absol frowned, she would of enjoyed chewing him out. _"I was about to criticize your critical failure to think straight. What kind of idiot intentionally challenges a Salamence?"_ A very _dead_ idiot, that's what. Messing with dragons was essentially suicide, so what if trainers had ice types? It doesn't mean a damn thing if they can't hit anything.

"I'm not _that_ stupid," Riven assured, drawing a breath of relief from the Absol. "Hey, Baron. When are you going to stop shaking and just grab the damn thing? I need to make sure the meat gets cooked right. Also, the dramatic effect tends to wear off when you stall too long, kindly hurry it up please."

"_Oh, right."_ The psychic snapped out of his trance, swallowed tensely, and took the gem into his hands. As he held the stone to his chest, his body was enveloped in a brilliant white glow. The light outshined the light of the fire, briefly blinding the others. Baron's body began to shift and change, growing taller and fuller. The shifting ceased and settled into a definitive shape. As the light cleared, the two pokemon and their trainer analyzed Baron's new appearance.

His "hair" had become a fringe with a large teal head crest, which resembled a helmet of sorts. Baron's arms had changed from thin white arms to stronger and thicker green arms. His legs had also bulked up, no longer the skinny white toothpicks they were before. The psychic looked like a true warrior. He looked down at himself, grinning like an idiot.

"You got taller." Riven didn't despair though, considering that he still had the height advantage by around six inches or so. If any of his pokemon grew taller than him, he'd have to wrestle an Ursaring just to feel manly again.

"_Seems so,"_ the Gallade replied with a much deeper voice than he had previously. It sounded more grown, like a young adult.

"_So, how do you feel, Bib?"_ Both Aine and Haona asked same exact time.

Baron stared at his hands and flexed his feet, feeling the newly formed muscles in his legs and arms. A fighter's muscles, not those of a fragile little psychic anymore. The thicker muscles and bones meant for close quarters combat with punches and kicks infused with psychic energy for massive power. _"Stronger, that's for sure. My psychic abilities definitely improved. I just feel so much more powerful. Like I could punch through solid rock."_ Oh yeah, trainers had to watch out now.

Aine rejoiced. _"Yay! You're a fighter now! You can spar me and I don't have to worry about pulverizing your ribs!"_ She exclaimed. She always wanted a sparring partner, Riven never had any time, always being more concerned with trainer stuff. Apparently it was very _serious business_.

Baron turned to face her, about to accept when he flexed his arm and the blade on his right arm extended, slicing off a couple of locks of Riven's hair near his right cheek. Riven moved his eyes to the green blade currently inches away from slicing his neck and creating a bloody mess. He gently pushed it away with a finger. The Gallade retracted it quickly after that. "_Uh, I didn't know how I did that."_

Riven stared at the severed hair on the floor. "I almost just died. Again. That raises the near death experience counter in Forina to four. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. Who will kill Riven first? Currently, Baron is winning," he deadpanned.

The Gallade apologized extensively and accidentally flicked his other blade out. Haona was prepared and had moved out of his killzone already, so the blade struck nothing but empty air. _This is going to take some time getting used to, _the fully evolved psychic mused. He sat down to Riven's right, sufficiently far enough away to make sure that none of his friends were in blade range.

"Baron trying to sever my jugular aside, who's ready to eat?" All three pokemon perked their heads up. "The Seviper is tasteless but it'll fill you up. I gathered some berries to give it more flavor though." Riven took the skewers out of the fire and handed them out to his pokemon with a handful of berries.

While eating, Baron addressed his trainer, _"Riven."_

"Whu? I'm eading," he said with a mouthful of Seviper. "I'm eating."

"_I just wanted to say thank you."_

"For what?" He took another bite.

"_Going through all this trouble for me."_ He had crossed the region just to do this for him. There was a strange feeling within him that compelled the Gallade to express his gratitude. Was it that honor thing Gallades were obsessed with? Honestly, being too much of an honor bound psychic scared him more than it should, his trainer being who he was. Riven had gone on tangents about how knights in shining armor were stupid, multiple times at length too.

Riven chewed his mouthful quickly and swallowed. "Hmmm, needs more berry juice…" He crushed another berry over the skewer. "Baron, listen. You're my pokemon. It's my duty to make sure you evolve. A commander wants the best for his men, which I guess trainers are to some degree, making this no different. But… this isn't a one sided thing either. I evolved you so you could get stronger and win us some more battles. Hopefully Aine evolves soon too, that way she'll be more than a match for you in sparring matches. But, considering you can read her mind, it wouldn't be a fair fight anyway, would it?"

"_Heh, I guess not_." Baron bit into his food, savoring the berry juice slathered on top, giving the tasteless meat some form of flavor. "_But nonetheless, thank you for everything."_

"I told you, I don't need any thanks. It's my responsibility, I don't expect any praise. Just doing what I have to."

Baron smirked mischievously, still retaining that playfulness he had as a Ralts. _"Can I hug you right now, oh-so-beautiful trainer? You know, all strong and stuff."_ He held his green hands out, stupid smirk still plastered on his face.

Riven shot a death glare at him and Baron swore that the fire in front of them flared slightly. "Don't make me regret evolving you. I got a knife you know, I can relieve you of your life force," Riven warned calmly, waving the sharp metal weapon around in the air, then set it down as he broke out into a light chuckle. It quickly became a wholehearted laugh, with Baron joining in as they took another bite out of their Seviper. They sat in relative silence after their laughing fit died down, simply enjoying their meal.

Clouds were beginning to gather in the star-streaked sky, blocking out the stars and foretelling the falling of rain or snow. Possibly lightning, depending how bad the storm got. Anyway, it mattered little. The cold was not going to deter Riven or his team, neither was a little rain or thunder. He snapped his fingers to get the attention of his pokemon. "Listen. You better rest up, all of you. Because for the next five months, we're going to train like hell to tackle Norman, and I hear he is one tough bastard. We're also to be on the lookout for a fourth team member, there are plenty of great candidates here. Everyone got that?"

"_Yes," _Haona said without thinking_, _focusing her thoughts mainly on the other Absols. She would have plenty of time to look for them in the upcoming months. Meeting her own kind seemed more interesting than whatever her trainer had in mind anyway.

"_Yup!" _Aine cheered, happy to have two sparring partners now that Riven didn't have much trainer business to worry about anymore.

"_Sure," _Baron smiled. He wanted to control his new found strength and hone new techniques while improving old ones, and maybe control his body better. Having blades on his arms was a little different from what he was used to. The bright side was that he didn't look like a girl, it got really annoying when every single girl(or female trainer) mentioned he looked like a little doll. At least Riven's presence scared them off, which wasn't good for his trainer but he didn't care, it wasn't his problem Riven looked scary.

A curt nod came from their trainer. "Just felt like warning you."

Aine, Baron, and Haona joked and teased around the fire, laughing and smiling. Riven only held a faint smile, quickly disappearing as he stared into the flames.

_Happiness, what a terrifying feeling...how long do you plan to stay this time?_

* * *

"Director, we have news that the mercenaries failed."

"I already know that."

"Ah, I'm sorry. Do you wish to send more after the two boys, in case they know anything? I'd be more than honored to carry out the task myself."

"No. That won't be necessary. The older one has already ruined two of our approaches and set us back considerably, and with the information our informants gathered, he seems to be very…unscrupulous in his methods. We know that all it takes is one spirited young trainer with loyal pokemon to destroy everything we have planned, the Aquas and Magmas learned that the hard way. We don't need a spirited trainer coming after us. If we don't bother him, he won't bother us. Besides, we already found the ruins that the lights originated from, we have no need of those two, let them continue with their ignorant lives."

"I see. What was found there?"

"Only Claydols, carvings, and a strange machine. It was beyond repair but its seemingly alien construction suggests ancient technology. Our scientists are analyzing it as we speak. It can yield something of merit. The Claydols refused to tell us anything about it so the Crawdaunts took care of them."

"What's our next plan then?"

"It would be best to lay low for some time, official presence has increased in the cities lately. This could hinder us or give them a trail for them to trace. For now we are to continue gathering information concerning items of interest, but our primary objective is to locate 'Haemon'."

"Yes, sir. But… I have one request."

"What is it?"

"That I get the first shot when the dust settles. It'll help our cause, promise."

"You've had an acceptable mission completion record so far."

"Heh, that's all I needed to hear. Tesla out."

* * *

**These A/Ns might get annoying and I promise there won't be too many more. Skip it if you don't want to read it, it's decently sized. TL:DR is fine.**

**This is almost entirely guessing at this point and partly my own musings. IT ISN'T SPECIFICALLY TRUE, BUT MY OWN SPECULATIONS.**

**Anyway...we have three legendaries created from Arceus, that represent time, space, and arguably antimatter(I don't get this part, if he crossed over into the actual world, he'd explode). And control it too.**

**Dialga and Palkia are pretty straightforward. Roar of Time can be used to accelerate or decelerate time and Spacial Rend can be used to warp space. I know that Ash and friends have time traveled before, but I'm trying to explain this realistically so bear with me here. Celebi and Dialga shenanigans need to go away.**

**Now let's get to the **_**interesting**_** part, shall we?**

**Giratina is the ruler of the Distortion/Reverse world, a world said to be parallel but not quite in contact with the material world.**

**Also, his primary move is _Shadow_ Force.**

**Now let me give you a bit of physics and stuff. Traversable wormholes, specifically Morris-Thorne wormholes are basically gates in space time where time on the other end has been accelerated or decelerated and space itself has been warped in between. Note this requires some type of exotic matter, as you've probably read early on in the chapter at this point to even keep it stable.**

**Dark matter can fill that role. It has been considered not reactant to light, so scientists have called it "shadow matter" There are theories that a parallel universe and galaxy composed entirely of dark matter exists, right alongside ours and we have no idea that it's there. They call it a**_** shadow**_** universe.**

**This coincides with the pokemon universe's version. No one knows(or knew at least) that the Distortion World exists, yet it is parallel to the Pokemon world and contains some strange things that defy reason.**

**Shadow matter is also invisible to the naked eye and virtually all forms of detection. Sound familiar? Shadow force causes Giratina to completely turn invisible, suggesting that it isn't the embodiment of Antimatter, but dark matter. Just as dark matter universes are supposed to be reflections of our universe, the Distortion World is very much the same, which is explicitly stated in the movie and in Bulbapedia. Hence, the reflection motif that is apparent with Giratina.**

**When Giratina is using Shadow Force, he's controlling dark matter. The fact he resides in the Distortion world only makes sense.**

**It's also proposed that when two dark matter particles collide, they produce radiation(mostly gamma), which can explain the portal's radiation signatures, if any of you were wondering about that.**

**Picture combining Roar of Time, Spacial Rend, **_**and**_** Shadow Force. Perfect formula for wormholes and time travel. And with this, I believe that time travel is perfectly reasonable in the Pokemon world. (again, excluding the M4 and M12 stuff. That's just no.)**

**Check the wormhole articles on Wikipedia out, interesting stuff.**


	29. Forces of Nature

**EXPECT SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER TIME FOR UPDATES COME LATE SEPTEMBER ONWARDS. COLLEGE STARTS SOON AND THE MONEY STRUGGLES WILL BECOME REAL FOR ME, SO DON'T BE SURPRISED IF IT TAKES A WHILE TO UPLOAD. I'LL TRY TO RELEASE A COUPLE MORE CHAPTERS BEFORE MOVE-IN DAY.**

* * *

"_I don't feel like training today,"_ Aine said lethargically, punting a pebble across to the other side of the cave.

"_Same here. All this training lately has me feeling like hell,"_ Baron added.

Both of them had been sore for the past few months from the running and fighting exercises their trainer had put them and himself through. Climb waterfalls, run miles, climb spires, punch rocks, fight blindfolded? Hell, all three of them trained so hard that they could barely stand, going lights out the moment they hit the floor. This had been going on for nearly four months! Aine and Baron were fighters but they needed their rest too. Their trainer was absolutely _insane. _Haona was the only one who wasn't dead sore all the time, preferring to go spend her time with the Absols up north.

_It's because you're fighters. Yeah, right. _Baron thought sourly, bringing up Riven's excuse for letting her off.

Riven stopped his morning exercises and scowled, "You want to take a break? Fine. But as soon as it's over, we're going to train into the ground again." The Gallade shuddered and gulped. "I suppose we could a trip to the other side of Forina. We haven't been over there much." They tended not to leave the area, focusing more on training rather than exploring. There was still a large section of the place they hadn't even seen yet.

Haona lazily chewed on a piece of dried meat. "_Smartest idea you've had all day_."

Riven shot her a look. "I guess you want no Swellow for the next month then?" That ought to straighten her up. He couldn't out stubborn her, so the only thing he could do was attack her weak point, her food.

She shot up instantly, growling. _"I'm sorry._ _You're_ _the best trainer in the world and I love yo_u," she bit out. _Stupid human. _Denying her of the only non-tasteless meat in the entire place was cruel and uncalled for. What an ass.

"You're insulting me mentally aren't you? Ah, you are."

She growled and devoured her meat viciously, giving a glare chilling enough to cool lava. She didn't take kindly to blackmail. Her expression was glorious.

Riven smirked. "Glad you're on my side, Haona."

"_I hate you," _she grumbled and trotted out of the cave.

Unanimously agreeing to do some adventuring, Riven and his pokemon took a trip to the northeastern side of Forina for some sight-seeing, anxious to see what they would find. They witnessed the Altaria and Swablu flocks engage in their courting dance, forming a massive circle, white cottony wings everywhere. Magnificent sight. That is until they spotted Riven and chased him out with angry beak pecks, they didn't take too well to humans either.

Shiftry and Breloom were also found further into the forest there, calmly lounging around and doing whatever it was they did, while also giving Riven and his pokemon several warnings to back off. Apparently scaring off the Shroomish gave the big bad human a bit of a reputation among the Breloom population and Shiftry weren't very sociable in the first place, preferring to play tricks and spook the smaller pokemon. If that was what Nez was going to become, Will had to get ready because those pokemon were relentless.

The trip overall was a good experience, giving the group a taste of what another section of Forina was like, but it was time to head back.

Hours down the line later, the group were pummeled with hail and pouring rain, soaking them to the bone. It was highly unusual weather, and seemed to alternate between the two irregularly; it didn't seem like natural weather at all. Riven and Baron's teeth clattered together, naturally lacking fur like White Queen or an internal furnace like Aine(which did nothing to mitigate the rain, to her dismay). They looked around suspiciously when a booming voice was heard overhead.

"_YOU THERE. HUMAN AND HIS COMPANIONS!"_ It shouted, voice loud and deep enough to pass for a fairly enormous pokemon. Riven drew his bow and his pokemon huddled around him, ready to fight. The clouds grew dark once more and hail began to fall. The voice returned above them, seemingly from the storm itself. If Riven didn't know any better, he'd say it was god.

"_HUMAN! FACE ME AND HEAR MY WORDS! LOOK TOWARDS THE HEAVENS AND WATCH ME DESCEND!"_

Riven strained his eyesight against the falling hail, which buffeted against his head and face, leaving tiny red marks where the ice struck him. As he watched, he noticed a tiny form descend, which appeared to be in the shape of a very small cloud. The trainer flipped open Charles, who scanned upwards and identified the cloud as a Castform. Riven suppressed the extreme desire to laugh, the pokemon's body and appearance didn't match its voice in the slightest. "What do you want?"

"_WHAT IS IT I WANT? THAT IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION!" _The cloud shaped pokemon floated some thirty feet above them, circling around in the air, watching all four of them on the ground_. "WHAT I WANT YOU CAN GIVE ME, HUMAN. I SEEK TO GET STRONGER AND TRIUMPH IN GLORIOUS BATTLE, WHERE MY GLORY, HONOR, AND PURPOSE RESIDES. MY GOAL IS TO CONQUER MY ENEMIES WITH UTTER GRACE AND SPLENDOR, DEMONSTRATING TO THE WORLD THAT I, AM THE GREATEST CASTFORM TO HAVE EVER LIVED!"_

Riven and his pokemon exchanged looks while the Castform boomed above. He kept going on about honor and splendor, clearly indulging himself in being as loud as possible. Riven's brows furrowed hard enough to dig a hole into his skull.

"_I WILL GAIN MY TRUE…"_

"_You think he's a little, you know, cu-coo?"_ Aine wondered.

"_HONOR!"_

"_I honestly have no idea,"_ Haona replied.

"_He's a spirited one,"_ Baron noted.

_"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

Riven nodded, still hearing the Castform's booming voice in his headset. "A little too much spirit, if you ask me." His ears felt like they were going to pop.

"_AND THUS, I SHALL SEEK WORTHY OPPONENTS AND CRUSH THEM!"_ The Castform continued, oozing arrogance from every inch of its body, putting even Haona to shame. _"NO LONGER WILL I BE KNOWN AS THE ONE WHO CHANGES THE WEATHER. NO. NO LONGER, I SAY! I SHALL BE KNOWN AS THE ONE WHO CONTROLS THE POWER OF THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES! THUNDER, SUN, RAIN, HAIL, BLIZZARDS, SANDSTORMS! I HOLD THE FORCES OF NATURE, AND I WILL USE THEM TO SMITE MY ENEMIES, AND DEFEAT ALL WHO STAND IN MY WAY!"_ He boasted, releasing a disgustingly arrogant laugh. Riven wrenched the headset off of his ears for a moment to check if his ears weren't bleeding.

"Man, he is _loud_. How could something so small be so noisy?" The Castform's booming voice could still be heard through the headphones, and they weren't even on Riven's ears. He placed them around his neck, and was still able to clearly make out words.

"_SO, I HAVE TOLD YOU OF MY WANTS, WHAT SAY YOU, HUMAN?"_

"Well, first you can stop shouting-"

"_SPLENDID! BRING OUT THE POKEMON CAPTURE DEVICE, FOR I AM READY!" _

"Wait, I didn't-"

"_THERE IS NO TIME TO DILLY-DALLY, BOY. PRESENT TO ME MY SPHERICAL CHAMBER OF GREATNESS!_" The cloudy arrogance bomb demanded.

Riven had no idea what to do. He asked his pokemon for help, because this was just downright bizarre.

Aine was too stunned at the Castform's sheer voice volume to formulate a response to her trainer's question. "_Was I ever this loud?"_

Baron snorted. _"Was? Heh, you should have a battle cry match with him and see how many windows you can shatter. Eardrums can be argued for bonus points."_

Aine gave Baron a flat look.

Haona snickered. _"I'd like to see that."_ She looked back up at her trainer, who was still deciding whether to take the obnoxious little pokemon or leave him. _"Give him a chance, I guess. He seems enthusiastic enough about it. Most wild pokemon don't usually take well to getting captured, if he wants to go willingly, I say you take it. But are you sure that isn't a Loudred?"_ She was holding her paws over the fur that covered her ear canals, clearly protecting her own tympanic membranes from spontaneously exploding.

Riven sighed in defeat, took out a pokeball and enlarged it. The little hyper voice floated down towards them, brimming with determination and confidence. At least he lifted that blasted hail, getting pummeled in the face with it wasn't fun.

"_AT LAST! I SHALL BECOME THE STRONGEST CASTFORM IN THE WORLD HAHAHAHAHAHA!" _He cackled before the pokeball struck him and was quickly sucked into it. The ball wiggled thrice before coming to a stop, then opened up by itself and out came the Loudred turned Castform again. _"YES!"_ He exclaimed, inadvertently summoning more rain clouds.

Riven's scowl deepened as droplets began pelting him again. "Castform that doesn't seem to realize what a normal speaking voice is, can you not use rain dance again? I'm completely soaked and it isn't exactly toasty warm right now," he mentioned, shivering.

"_OF COURSE."_ The clouds dispersed and the normal cloudy cover returned. Riven tapped the gray pokemon, who whipped around with a smile on his face. _"YES, HUMAN TRAINER?"_

Riven jumped back, a little startled. "Umm, now that neither rain nor hail is currently bombarding us, why don't you introduce yourself? First and foremost, what's your name?" The Castform drew in a large breath, but was quickly stopped by Riven. "My eardrums don't feel like committing suicide just yet. Being able to hear is wonderful, if you please." The trainer caught his Gallade's gratefully silent "thank you".

The Castform complied and finally lowered his voice. "_I am glad you should ask. My name is… Boagrius. The. INDEFINITE_!" He announced, prideful.

"Boagrius the indefinite?" Quite the title there.

"_THAT IS CORRECT!"_

"Right then… Boagrius. This is Haona, the Absol. Aine, the Combusken. And finally, Baron the Gallade. Everyone, this is Boagrius the… indefinite," Riven mentioned very awkwardly. Not only was the little Castform a serious offender to the ears with his extreme lack of an indoor voice, but his name was meant for someone that Riven expected to see single-handedly crushing an army, standing seven feet tall, with a big freaking sword.

"_WONDERFUL! THESE ARE MY TEAMMATES YES?"_

Riven nodded and bit his lip hard enough to bleed, trying his hardest not to snicker. The other three pokemon slowly waved back, probably on the verge of laughter like their trainer was.

Boagrius didn't stop.

"_AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! TOGETHER, COMPANIONS, WE SHALL PUMMEL OUR FOES, CONTINUE ON OUR WONDROUS CRUSADE FOR GLORY AND TRIUMPH AGAINST ALL WHO WOULD OPPOSE US! ALL THE WHILE FIGHTING TYRANNY, HELPING THE INNOCENT, AND ENACTING RIGHTEOUS JUSTICE!" _He rose in the air and summoned rain clouds again, starting another torrential downpour.

Riven held the bridge of his nose, exhaling deeply with thinning patience. "To think people have six of these..."

* * *

There were less than three weeks left until Gale came to pick Riven up.

She had called a few times, mostly to check up on him and warn him of anything going on in the region. So far, everything had been quiet, with no news of anything abnormal or horrifying; it was a good sign for the gym leaders and officials who had been tying their heads up in knots for the past few had been going great, it seemed.

That is until a dilemma had arisen and kicked him in the shins, so to speak. A grave one at that.

The Absols, whom Haona had befriended a few months earlier, came to speak with him concerning her. Their leader was a red Absol, a shiny, as the other trainers called them. His name was Sarim. Riven saw him in glimpses but never once met him face to face; he always remained in the background, flanked by two of the biggest Absols he'd ever seen. He didn't care if they sat outside and watched him all day, as long as they kept their distance and didn't bother him, he couldn't care less.

However, this time, Sarim had come to the grotto, completely alone and in the middle of the day, highly unusual behavior for wild dark types. The shiny pokemon carried himself with dignity and elegance, taking gentle steps forward. He stopped in front of Riven, who was making a new score of arrows at the moment.

The black-haired human paused his activity and put on his translator. "Sarim, what're you doing here? You don't usually get close… Not alone anyway. Where are the other two? You know, the giant ones with staring problems?"

The Absol's blue eyes bore into Riven, far more respectful and formal than the others that typically came to the cave. He was here on business, not just a casual stroll. Still, the quip made his eye twitch. _"They did not come with me."_

"Oh. I assume you didn't come here to observe the stupid human like most of the other Absols? I can hear the whispers you know, my ears function just fine." Riven said, going back to his work. "It's about Haona, isn't it?" _Of course, what else would it be? It's not like they came for Aine or anything._

Sarim briefly stared up at the light filtering in from the small hole near the ceiling of the cave, watching the trickle of water flow down the rocks and into the small runoff of water in the center. _"Yes. I have come to speak to you about our sister Absol,"_ he stated calmly. _"And I'm sorry about the insults, the rest do not trust humans." _

"Hmph." Riven continued shaping and heating the shafts of the arrows. "What is it you want to speak about?"

"_You and your pokemon have stayed here for quite some time, and have not proved to be a nuisance to us. We would not mind it if you remained here, you are a tolerable human that shares your kills with our kind."_

Riven eyed him analytically. He wanted something from him. He just didn't know what it was. "What are you trying to tell me, Sarim? Don't sugarcoat it either. My bullshit sensor is surprisingly acute."

Sarim caught his gaze. _What a crude human. But he is no fool_. _"Ah, Haona has told me you are not one for long-windedness."_

"So she does pay attention. Straight to the point is the best option, since going in circles is about as riveting as watching paint dry," Riven said dryly.

"_I do not understand what paint is but I assume it's not enjoyable to watch dry, yes?" _ Humans and their references were completely inane. How pokemon could even think about taking orders from them was even more so.

Riven knew Sarim was judging him. After all, Haona had done it so many times before. He let it slide, wild Absol being distrustful of humans was normal. He nodded in response.

"_I thought as much. I dislike it as well, and so, I will speak my mind."_ He paused for a moment, thinking over what to say, careful not to anger the human holding a sharp object. "_I wish for Haona to stay with us, where she belongs, in her parent's true home."_

Riven stopped trimming the arrow shaft he was working on and set his knife down. "You want her to stay? Permanently?"

_Idiot. If he hadn't meant permanently, he wouldn't have come in the first place._

"_Well, yes. I can understand if this is hard for you. That is why I came here to ask for your blessing. You are her protector and guardian, and as such, this decision falls to you."_ He bowed his head in respect.

Riven huffed as he saw the Absol's gesture. "You don't have to do that, I'm not royalty or anything. I'm just another human here."

Sarim picked his head up, giving Riven a quizzical stare.

"Look, I'm only her trainer. She's my pokemon but I don't have absolute control over her. I can't decide whether she stays or goes, not fully at least. She's her own self and is entitled to her own decisions as much as anyone." The trainer breathed in deeply. "I don't want her to go. However, if she does decide to stay, I won't argue with that choice."

Sarim was pleasantly surprised. _"I did not think humans would be so understanding,"_ he admitted, forming a small smile on his lips.

"Don't get the wrong idea. Most humans are anything _but_ that," Riven said sternly. "I just don't feel as if I should trample over her freedoms, because I wouldn't like it if someone trampled on mine. It's not about being understanding, it's about not being a hypocrite. Although… I would like to know why it is you want her to stay, apart from her being one of your kind."

The Absol stood up and settled himself over a rock, adjusting his position until he was comfortable enough. _"I see. Well then, I believe I must tell you. As you know, she is part of our kind and seeing as there are not many of us, we would be delighted to have another Absol join us. Not only this, but she is female and could help even out the number of males to females in our group. Among… other things."_

"Has she found a mate yet?" Riven asked, knowing exactly what Sarim was implying. If she had, then he really had no choice but to let her live her life.

Samuel had told him that one could not force a pokemon away from their mates without hurting them, much like a person from their true love. Riven didn't understand the concept in the slightest himself, but he figured it must be a deep emotional connection, and thus, very special.

"_No. But there are many attempting to gain her affections, she is quite alluring to the younger ones,"_ Sarim explained.

"Rebuilding the species is a logical goal. I can't really disregard that, Absol being on the endangered list considered."

"_Endangered list?"_

"There's a longer explanation, but let me put it simply. Your species is this close to dead." Riven held his thumb and index finger an inch apart. Birch had told him about the endangered list before, when he saw White Queen, but at that moment he thought Birch was a blundering fool who knew not what in the hell he was saying. It took Riven a while to understand it himself. Explaining it to a wild pokemon would just be a headache waiting to happen.

"_This 'list' is not wrong then. There are very few of us left, when once there were many."_ The Absol stopped talking, purposely leaving out the rest.

"Humans did it. I _know_." Hunted down and exterminated, being viewed as bringers of catastrophe and death. Superstitions.

The red Absol apologized. _"I thought you would take offense, being human yourself. Many men I have seen possess tempers that could be set alight with the drop of a berry."_

Riven scoffed. If he had a hair-trigger temper, he'd have murdered all of his pokemon by now. They were difficult at the _best_ of times.

"Sarim, I've seen things… in my lifetime. Things not many others of my 'kind', have. I know _exactly_ what my species is capable of. We truly are despicable beings, as much as I'd like to refute that. It's hard to accept… but it's better than being delusional," the human admitted.

"_The truth is a difficult thing to swallow. Some would prefer to take refuge in ignorance rather than face it. Commendable of you."_

"I guess… I'll speak to her about your proposition, Sarim."

"_Thank you. It is appreciated."_

"No problem."

Sarim closed his eyes in recognition and stood up to walk away. He paused and turned back to the human, who showed absolutely no change in expression, once again immersed in fletching. _"You don't have to leave her. You can stay here, with us, if you would like."_

Riven gave the blue-eyed Absol a faint smile. "Sorry, but I don't think I could. I still have questions I need to find answers to; Forina was just a momentary reprieve. Besides, if I sat in one place too long, I'd lose my mind." The wild was relaxing, but there were still things he had to do. Surviving didn't mean living. He had survived for more than ten years, but he hadn't lived a single day. Enough was enough.

"_I understand… When can I expect an answer from her?"_ He asked sincerely.

"Don't know, maybe in a few days. We need to give her time to think this through," Riven reasoned.

"_Very well then. Good luck to you."_ The shiny stood up and calmly left the cave, joining up with two other Absol outside.

_So they were here after all. Bastards. _

He stopped his work and quietly sat in place, thinking about how Haona's loss could affect the team.

Baron would be devastated, but he was a Gallade; and was empathetic enough to know that if Haona felt like she belonged there with her kind, then he was in no position to argue. Aine would be sullen, but she was hardy and would recover in time. Boagrius would take it the best, being fairly new to the team and quite accepting himself.

He couldn't quite come to terms with how it would affect him though. It would be a melancholic farewell, surely, but if it meant Haona was happy, he was all for it. The notion of helping bring back the Absol species from the brink was also gratifying in itself, making the trainer feel like his sacrifice would contribute to something greater. Still, a selfish part of him silently hoped she would refuse Sarim's offer.

_But that isn't how the world works. I know that._

When his pokemon returned to the cave-Boagrius' boisterous proclamations signaled their arrival- Riven called them over and informed them all of what it was Sarim had said.

Naturally, his Absol was torn. She felt like she belonged in both places, but knew she would eventually have to leave one for the other. Aine and Baron gave her their blessings, should she decide to stay, albeit in a very crestfallen tone. Boagrius actually managed to lower his voice and presented a gallant speech to the Absol about following one's heart and its desires.

Haona alternated between looking at the other pokemon and Riven, uncertainty evident in her features. Her trainer's face showed no hint of unease or sadness, just indifference as usual, but she knew that he'd be fine with whatever she chose. _"I'll need some time to think about this,"_ she mentioned, leaving the cave to go think. Aine nearly followed her but was held back by Baron, who shook his head.

"_Let her clear her mind and decide,"_ he said sadly.

* * *

Two days after that, Riven and Baron were on their usual food run when they spotted something gruesome and out of place.

They came upon the corpse of a decomposing Zangoose that didn't appear to be eaten or killed in a fight to the death, differing from the common way in which they were found dead. Many of them were killed by Seviper or eaten by the Salamence and Flygon that roamed Forina. But not this one. It was missing the entirety of its skin, pelt stripped clean off. As Riven got closer, he shielded his nose and examined the body, looking for puncture wounds.

The neck revealed no bite marks and the body itself was neither charred nor visibly torn into. However, the advanced stage of decomposition made it difficult to discern what could have killed it for sure.

Baron stepped away to avoid the smell. _"What did this?"_

Riven had to stand up and back away as well, the putrid stench of decomposing flesh making him gag. "No idea. The body is too far gone decomposing to tell if it was a wild pokemon or-"

"_Human?"_

"…Possibly." He knew for a fact that he hadn't killed this Zangoose. Whoever did this had knowledge on how to properly skin an animal. And no pokemon had _any_ remote use for another pokemon's hide. The fact that they had only taken the pelt also worried Riven. A kill was not to go to waste, and Zangoose claws were far from useless.

Baron came to the next logical conclusion. _"Poachers?"_

Riven remained ominously silent, scanning the body. Baron had a point. Forina's seclusion, along with its abundance of uncommonly found pokemon, made it a prime target for poaching. It wasn't hard to put together that fact. They were a very real possibility, one that couldn't afford to be overlooked. With guns around, their lethality was much greater.

_There's no way I'd be able to take more than one before I'd get riddled with holes. I can't risk any of my pokemons' lives. Knife and a make shift bow won't do it. Not anymore. Need to avoid direct confrontation at all costs._

"Baron, we need to be more careful. In case there are poachers around, tell Haona and Aine not to wander off too far, it could be dangerous. Check back at the cave and tell Boagrius not to shout so much, he'll understand."

The Gallade nodded and teleported away.

Riven searched the surrounding area but deemed it useless. The Zangoose had been dead for days now, any tracks the hunters might have left would be long gone.

Hunting runs were carried out in a much more cautious manner from then on, with both Baron and Riven keeping close eyes on prey as well as potential threats. Baron was used as an early warning device, being able to hear the thoughts of any humans, should they approach. But this was also a double-edged sword, stemming mainly from the fact that he heard the thoughts of many of the other forest dwellers as well, lessening his effectiveness. Still, it helped.

Boagrius remained in the air, high above the ground for a much more aerial view. Baron had a telepathic link set up with him just in case he spotted anything dangerous, whether it be Salamence or human. Aine and Haona stayed back at the grotto, protecting it in case any poachers got any bright ideas.

Riven remained on increasingly high alert, finding more and more corpses of fallen pokemon, skinned and left to rot. This unnerved him drastically and eventually posted a lookout during the night, alternating between himself, Baron, and Boagrius. Aine would be far too conspicuous with her orange colored feathers, and White Queen's fur was far too noticeable as well. He told them to remain inside and assist should anything come up.

It did.

One night -just a week before pickup- while all of them were resting, Baron alerted them, something was approaching. Riven rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and unsheathed his knife, hiding near the entrance of the cave, ready to strike. He motioned something with his hands.

_Get ready. Once it comes through, destroy it._

Baron was on the other side, extending a blade, already channeling psychic energy through it. Aine was prepared to turn whatever came through that cave mouth into ash and Boagrius silently waited above them, sparking. It was when they saw white fur and a trail of blood enter the cave that they dropped their hostility.

_An Absol? What?_

Female, judging by the features. Circular blood splotches and large knife gashes on the left fur was nearly crimson, instead of the usual white. She had lost a substantial amount of blood. _She doesn't have much time._

Riven picked her up gently and set her down on the rock near the improvised hearth, checking her wounds a bit more closely. Everyone was silent, except for Haona, who recognized the Absol instantly.

"_Iara,"_ she whispered, almost too low to hear. Iara was Sarim's mate, which meant something had happened to the group. From the looks of her wounds, she had barely escaped alive. _"What happened?"_

The injured dark type struggled against the pain to speak_, "Attacked…don't know how…Korek…killed."_ She grunted in pain, tears forming in her eyes. _"Sarim…captured."_

Haona's eyes widened in shock, Korek was Sarim and Iara's pup. _They killed a child?_ She growled, low and furious before taking off outside the cave.

"Haona! Stop! Don't be reckless!" Riven warned, but she was already gone. "Shit." He grabbed a couple of potions he had in his bag and applied them to Iara's wounds, the spray causing her to snarl in pain. Grave realization hit him; the potions weren't strong enough for wounds that deep. He needed to try other methods. "Baron, use heal pulse."

The psychic hesitated. Did he say heal pulse? _"I've only just learned it, I haven't mastered it yet-"_

"Do what you can. If you can slow the bleeding or close the wounds, that will be fine. Otherwise… Aine, stay with him for now."

"_Why do you want me to stay?"_ The worried fire type questioned. The way Riven had said it sounded very ominous, like it was something to be avoided. She wanted to go look for Haona too._ "I can help you look?"_

"No, stay here. If Baron can't close the wounds, you're going to have to sear them shut. It will cause her _unbearable_ pain. She might pass out, but she _will_ scream her lungs out before that happens. Be ready, and don't stop until those wounds are closed." He placed both hands on the Combusken's shoulders, who looked very unsure of herself. "You can do this Aine. You too Baron, try your best. You're a field medic today, don't let her die. When you're done here, teleport to Boagrius. I'm going to follow the blood trail back and see what I can find." He took off outside the cave, Castform right behind him, unnaturally quiet.

Baron stood over the injured Absol and channeled all the energy he could into his hands, forming a small pink sphere of light. He closed his eyes, calming his mind and focusing solely on the wounds.

_I can feel the damage…here._ Torn tissues, skin, and muscle._ Don't apply too much energy. Mend. Close the wound slowly. Undo the damage and nurture the skin back to health- _

Baron's thoughts were cut off as the energy ball's glow waned. Nausea and light-headedness came over him, nearly breaking his focus.

Aine noticed his trembling hands and called out to him, "_Bib, stop. You're putting too much mental strain on yourself!"_

"_I can do this!"_ He responded, pouring more energy into the ball, concentrating as hard as he could. The bullet wounds stopped bleeding and began to close, leaving behind reddened skin, not quite fully healed. The Gallade attempted to move onto the larger knife gashes but was unable to reform the energy ball. Using heal pulse without completely mastering the move presented great danger to the psychic, who was drawing vast amounts of his own energy to fuel the healing, leaving him disoriented and weak. On the verge of collapsing, he supported his weight on a rock adjacent to him.

Aine ordered him to rest, and focused her attention on the enormous gashes on the Absol's side. The slashes were horribly deep, dripping blood onto the floor. Aine swallowed and hesitated, looking into Bib's eyes, who nodded weakly. The Combusken walked over to Iara, flames rising up out of her beak.

_"I'm sorry,_" she apologized solemnly.

Iara braced herself as the Combusken washed flame over her claw and leaned in, pressing the heated claw onto bare skin. The cave erupted in blood curling screams, echoing out onto the surrounding forest.

* * *

Riven sprinted along through the dark forest, following the blood trail when he heard screams ring through the forest behind him. He stopped for a moment, grimly realizing that Baron hadn't been able to fully close Iara's wounds. Aine was probably cauterizing the wounds now.

_The pain of getting your injuries seared… No, don't think about that. _

Cauterization was a necessary procedure at this point. It had to be done, there were no pokemon centers for miles and potions could only do so much. But he had no time to hesitate, he needed to move. Iara could wait.

The trail came to a large den, inside as dark and silent as the grave. The overpowering odor of iron clung in the air. That only meant one thing.

_Blood. Lots of it. _

Heading further in, he saw Haona standing in the middle of it, paws covered in blood, surrounded by dozens of Absol corpses. She simply stood there, unmoving and completely silent. It looked like she had been broken in two. Riven walked up to her and witnessed the carnage around the cave. Baby Absol, as well as mothers and fathers lay dead among the pile, all missing their horns and forehead gems. Bullet holes lined the walls.

"_They're dead… All of them,"_ Haona muttered in a shaky voice. She had spoken to most of them just days before. Played with the children. She was going to decide to stay and live among them, but now it was all for nothing. There were no Absols to stay with now._ "If I had warned them… maybe they could have survived. It's my fault…"_ She lamented, feeling nothing but guilt.

Riven could not help but keep his gaze fixated on the dead pokemon. Innocents. These pokemon did nothing to humans. They stayed away, only wishing to live their lives. And the poachers killed them_. _All for what?

Just like then. Different people, same concept_, no difference._

_They won't get away. Not this time. I won't let them._

Haona was on the verge of breaking down when Riven began to walk away. "_What are you going to do?"_ She asked, noticing a sudden change in behavior. Something seemed different about him, his walk wasn't nervous anymore, or alert like it usually was. It was relaxed, nearly predatory.

Her trainer looked back at her, expression colder than anything she had ever seen; there was no emotion, no remorse. Right eye once dark blue was now a vicious crimson, instilling fear into her very core. She backed away instinctively, an intense feeling of evil and malice loomed over her, almost like it came from Riven himself.

"Pay evil unto evil," he hissed, and left the cave.

* * *

Amy and Seab were currently relaxing on her porch swing after a long day of training, drinking some oran juice in the night air.

They had taken the trip back to Mauville to swing by Petalburg and challenge Norman, as well as return to saner country where large steel winged birds weren't trying to slash their heads off. Seab had finally gotten his wits about him and captured his third pokemon, an unexpected candidate really, surprising even Amy. The guy was scared of electric types, yet he swallowed that fear and captured one of the most unfriendly ones she knew, it was kind of awesome.

It was none other than Mauville's resident jerk, the Electrike under the bridge, Grumpy. At first, the electric type flat out refused the boy's proposition of making him stronger, shooting sparks to warn him off, then launching stray bolts as intimidation. Noting that it was of no use talking, Ren battled him, weakening Grumpy enough to successfully use a great ball to capture him. After persistent goading and several thunderbolts, Grumpy finally allowed Seab to command him. Years of protecting his territory meant that the Electrike was fairly experienced, easily catching up to Comet and Ren. He had also been apparently in need of a good battle, since he evolved right after trouncing an ace trainer that had challenged Seab.

Grumpy was much bigger, being a Manectric now. He was large enough to carry Seab, at incredibly fast speeds no less, which would be undeniably useful for quick getaways. Now he could keep up with Mila, who had also evolved recently, into a beautiful Altaria with magnificently fluffy wings (which made for heavenly pillows by the way).

Evolutions and battles aside, Amy and Seab didn't feel like heading to Petalburg yet. They were a little apprehensive about taking on Norman, especially after hearing the rather frightening tales from other traumatized trainers on how scary strong the leader was. They even came up with _ridiculous_ stories straight out of a story book.

Some went that he beats people with that cane of his or that he wrestles Ursarings for fun. Others said that he had his Slaking chuck a staircase at a thief once, and that he swims through land. Probably the most ridiculous one was that a Seviper had bitten him, and went through three days of excruciating pain before finally dying. The crazy part was that everyone thought it was true and not a single soul questioned it. Norman was basically a monster, in simpler terms.

They decided to do something _else_ before gathering up the valor to challenge him.

And so, both trainers had attended the Verdanturf Contest the previous day(watched, not participated), one of the first contests to be held since the Petalburg incident, where they noticed increased security and the presence of _actual officials_. They weren't the only ones a little spooked by that, everyone was somewhat nervous.

Regardless, they did get something interesting out of the contest, apart from the cool visuals and stuff. While they were sitting at the tables outside, a guy was handing out fliers to people, giving one to Amy. She held it up, scrutinizing the paper like she would a 90% off everything sale. "It says there's going to be a festival in two weeks."

"What festival? And where?" Seab questioned, handing a piece of cinnamon bread to Ren and Comet.

"Says here that there's going to be a race of some kind, and food, lots of food. Ohhhhhhhh! Drake's going to be one of the lead organizers! He's also going to personally hand the race winner a special prize!" Amy gushed, wrinkling the paper on accident.

"Drake?"

"Yeah! He's one of the elite four. Dragon type, really strong. I've seen some of his battles on TV against challengers, and I'll have you know, he is _amazing_." She dreamed of challenging him, picturing Mila and Drake's Salamence exchanging dragonbreaths and flamethrowers.

Seab didn't share her excitement but he was semi-interested in the event himself. After all, festivals were fun. "Where's it located then?"

Amy checked the location and her smile completely inverted. "Fuck." _Had to be there didn't it?_

"What?"

"Meteor Falls," the blonde said sourly, setting the wrinkled paper down on the table.

Seab was silent for a moment, processing the name through his brain. He threw his hands up. "Are you kidding me? Didn't we just come back from there?"

"Yeah…" Amy sighed heavily, recalling the absolute bitch that it was coming back to Mauville. Weeks of bike riding and then another trip through the desert followed by even _more _cycling. Neither of them felt like going back, even if they could make the deadline through more conventional methods of travel. Flying would take about two weeks, but her traveling companion didn't have a flying type of sufficient size yet, regretfully. Comet would probably get a hernia trying to fly him anywhere.

_Maybe there's another way there_, Seab thought_. _Then the answer hit him_._ "A psychic!"

Amy currently had a danish in her mouth, but that didn't stop her from raising an eyebrow, as if asking him if he had gone mad. She chewed her mouthful before speaking again, speaking while chewing was barbaric and disgusting. "What about a psychic?"

"They can teleport us there instantly," Seab stated flatly. Psychics could teleport anywhere as long as they knew the place or had a psychokinetic link or "lock" to teleport to. It was perfect, potentially saving them time and sparing them weeks of travel. Hurray for paying attention in class.

Amy considered it. Seab's idea wasn't a bad one, it only had one problem_._ "Whose going to teleport us there and back then? A random trainer? You know they'll want something in return."

"Hmmmm, you're right. Probably money or something," Seab suggested.

"We do have a pretty hefty sum… I mean, we haven't lost a battle in a long while and we haven't been dumping huge amounts of cash on stupid things," Amy said, skimming through her wallet.

Seab nodded. "I guess we can pay for a round trip if we asked any of the more experienced trainers. How much are the entry tickets?"

"Let's see… About two thousand each."

Urk. Expensive.

"That's a pretty large amount…"

"We can manage. Besides, if we go to the festival, we can hit two Taillow with one stone, head to the falls and you can nab a Bagon egg!" Amy beamed.

"You're still with that crazy Bagon idea? We are definitely not going to do that!" Seab thought that the girl had completely erased the thought of going to a dragon infested place on a suicide mission to grab a Bagon egg. He was sadly mistaken.

She frowned. "Why not? It's efficient. We can get two things done at the same time while we're at it."

"Efficient doesn't go with you." Impulsive and efficiency oriented could cause problems. It was a perfect formula for reckless behavior and getting killed.

"What're you trying to say? I'm all for efficiency. Everyone should. What's not to like about it?" Amy wondered, hands on her hips.

"Just because something seems efficient, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Trying to steal eggs under very dangerous overgrown pokemon that can fly and breathe fire isn't my definition of a good one," Seab said carefully. He'd told her this many times before but she was too stubborn to admit it. Now that Mila was an Altaria, Amy thought that pissing off Salamence was a perfectly viable option.

It was _not_, in any way, shape, or form.

The blonde frowned again. "You know what? I don't want to argue this anymore. If you want to miss out on an undeniably badass dragon type, that's your loss. But I still want to go to the festival." She took a vicious bite out of her danish and sauntered off to go see the contest winners.

Seab stared at the flier. Dragons were an ideal type for any trainer to have. But they were difficult to raise, and their size meant they had to eat a vast amount of food. Not to mention their aggression. Mila had become much more enthusiastic about fighting and a lot more ferocious during battles. Scary, to be honest.

Having a Salamence would be, indeed, awesome, but the acquiring part was too dangerous to be worth it.

_I'll worry about it later._

He went to go join Amy and meet the contestants; obviously May wasn't there, which only made sense after what she went through. It was nice having the contests back though, since Seab hadn't ever seen one before, and they did, in fact, live up to all the hype and craze the Hoennites placed on them.

After getting a couple pictures, Amy dragged Seab to the pokemon center, holding him by the collar while she continued ahead.

"Amy, my legs work," the boy stated gruffly. She let him go and power-walked to the center, not stopping in the slightest. "Why are we here? We haven't battled anyone at all."

"_Obviously_ we're here to flirt with Nurse Joy, and make pancakes," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Common sense hit Seab upside the head_,_ nearly warranting a face-wall. _Find a psychic. Duh._

Although, Mauville wasn't exactly a good place to look for experienced trainers; many of the center's inhabitants were fairly young with two or three pokemon usually at the secondary evolutionary stage. Finding veterans was rare and those that were found there were usually foreigners who visited Hoenn from other regions, like Seab, or trainers returning home for a visit.

Amy did manage to find a guy in the dining area though. Mid-twenties, real shady sort and kinda devious looking. Not the first choice on Seab's trustworthy list, but it beat traveling to Slateport at least.

"So, you two want to go to Meteor Falls huh," he said, taking a spoonful of rice.

"That's right," Amy confirmed.

"Well, I could take you… But what's in it for me?"

Amy came to the most logical choice. "Money?"

"Money… Yes, money is good. Very good. I do like money, it's so… green."

His strange response didn't bother the blonde though. She was in negotiation mode at the moment."How does five thousand sound? Half for getting us there and half for bringing us back?"

The man's eyes narrowed into a thin squint. There was a long minute of silence. Seab expected him to say something profound or argue for a price hike. But all he did was blink furiously. "Yep! I'll do it, just wanted to see how long I could go without blinking."

_Erm, what?_

"Wait, so you weren't even going to argue for a price raise?" Amy blurted out.

"Nope!"

Amy was incredulous, he made no sense. "But… why?"

"Why? Girl, do you _want_ me to raise the price? HMMMM? HMMMMM?"

"On second thought, I'll just shut up now," she squeaked.

"Yes, well. Blondie and Mr. Blues, just let me bring out my pokemon." He threw a dusk ball outwards and a purple ghost pokemon with red eyes and a large mischievous smirk on its face appeared. It cackled silently.

Amy and Seab froze. Numerous other trainers in the center nearly fell over. A flashing of pokedexes was seen, followed by many gasps. Some trainers pulled out charms that were supposed to ward off ghosts, holding them up like shields. The charms were totally useless of course but it was pretty funny nonetheless.

The Gengar's owner chuckled. "Now now, boys and girls, don't flatter Gengis too much. The attention will get to his ego, and ghosts can be proper tricksters, right Gengis?" The ghost's smirk seemed to widen, acknowledging the fact.

Amy folded her arms in annoyance. "A ghost? Come on, Seab. We're wasting our time." Unless the Gengar could teleport, they were going nowhere. The guy was an asshat.

"WAIT! Wrong one! Here, it's this one." Another pokeball shot forth, releasing a strange pink and blue pokemon. "This is Robbie, my Porygon2. It knows teleport so it can take you guys there." The man grinned widely and gave Amy and Seab a thumbs up.

Amy gave him a disdainful look,unconvinced, but filled him in anyway. He scratched his chin with his eyes closed, nodding at random intervals."OKAY! When the time comes, you let me know. Then, I'll take ya right away. Just gimme the money up front and we'll have no problem. Don't worry, I won't cheat you either, I'm not a-" He cut himself off. "That's not important. Anyway, my name is Styx. Pleasure to do business with you," he said, extending both arms out in a handshake gesture.

Amy and Seab both shook his hands, silently agreeing that this guy was not to be trusted too much.

_Styx, I'll be sure to keep an eye on you… _Seab thought suspiciously. Ren seemed to agree, glaring the Gengar down. That ghost's smirk was way too creepy, no wonder people avoided catching them.

_I suppose it doesn't matter, since he's only going to take us there and bring us back, then we won't have to deal with him. Which is good, considering he seems like the questionable sort…_

If things went bad, he just might have to bring out Grumpy and bolt out of there. Amy could manage fairly well with Mila. That dragonbreath was nothing to sneer at.

"Just don't try anything funny," Amy warned, glaring directly at the man, then at the Porygon. "Or my Grovyle's leaf blades might sever something important." An empty threat, but she had to look like she could carry through.

Styx grinned slyly, putting his hands in the air in a mock surrender. "Wouldn't dream of it, blondie."

* * *

**Withdranwnmadness000: This is a combination of both the games and anime so, Ash is referenced but he won't appear. He's too busy doing stuff in Kalos, which going by the supposed age progression he should be at, he's like 16 or 17.**

**Pairings may not happen. Shipping and the like are dangers waters, friend. Best to tread lightly. That stuff is very serious business to some people. Getting torpedoed by Die with Our Ships isn't fun.**

**As for going back in the past, that will be explained later. Can't reveal too much here can I?**

**Connorxconnor: No, he's not a tyranitar. That… would be hard to explain. I assure you he is very much a person.**

**And just a warning for the future. I know that in canon, pokemon only know 4 moves. But as the meme goes, how can Alakazam remember everything but a fifth move? Doesn't make sense to me. They probably established that so pokemon wouldn't have 506978898058873243 moves on screen. Imagine having to scroll through 50 pages of moves? Online battles would take days and type coverage would be completely laughable.**

**Learning moves should be like learning a skill in real life. You can learn six languages. It might take a while, and be very frustrating, but yes you can. Pokemon must be exactly the same. However, learning too many moves can be a burden and leave less room for mastery of one specific attack, so it's preferable having a smaller movepool so the pokemon won't break its brain. Or spend large amounts of time training to hone techniques, unless a TM is used to instantly give the knowledge.**


	30. Rain's Edge

**Warning: Violence. Wait. Do I even need to mention that? I don't know, here it is. Still don't own pokemon.**

* * *

A group of five men sat around a fire, boasting about their amazing haul, if not their most rewarding ever. Their captive slammed against the steel cage, rattling one of the trucks next to them, growling and slashing at the steel bars with its horn. The poacher sitting immediately in front of the cage flicked one of the bars with the butt his rifle, earning the most hateful look he'd ever seen from a pokemon. Then again, they all gave the same look, so technically, it wasn't the worst he'd ever seen. Still didn't make it any less satisfying. Honestly, it never got old.

"Look at 'im. Trying to be all scary and intimidating. Hah, growl all you fucking want, you're not going anywhere! We sure lucked out with him, didn't we?" Ross grinned fiendishly, sneering at the creature.

"Sure did. I mean, we just came here for some horns and gems but to get a shiny Absol? Dammmmmnnnn. About time we run into something worthwhile. How much you think we're going to get for him?" Dan asked Mic, smirking.

Their boss scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Glad you asked. Let's see… Endangered, shiny, and in prime condition?" He chuckled and rubbed his hands together, picturing the beautiful stacks of money. "If we sell him off in Kalos, we'll get three million at the least. Apparently some weird stones have been found over there, and because of that, demand for Absol in that region has skyrocketed. I'm talking holy shit proportions. You know those Kalosian people, all fancy and fat with money. They'll pay shit tons for him and we'll walk away filthy rich."

"Three mil?" Kenton gawked incredulously, jaw nearly unhinging upon hearing that amount. No job had ever paid that much, and he'd done _a lot_ of jobs. Some of those with more risk than this.

Mic gave him a toothy grin. "It gets better. We haven't even _started _talking about the Absol eggs either. One of those will fetch a nice two hundred thousand each over there."

Everyone cheered. They had about twelve Absol eggs, which meant _another_ two mil plus. Today was glorious.

"I'm going on a long vacation after payday," Kenton said gleefully. With the amount of money they were going to make from this trip, he'd probably have enough to retire. "Say, where's Clyde and Bishop?"

Richard pointed up ahead of them, into the darkness. "They're on watch duty up ahead. Wouldn't want a Salamence to come up and roast our asses now. I heard there are a few around here, and that they are vicious as all shit." No one caught Salamence, too crazy. Not even those fancy-shmancy pokeballs were of any use, since the dragons tore apart anyone after being captured. If anything, they got _even more_aggressive after being caught. Something to do with a dragon's pride, blah blah.

Point was, don't catch a grown Salamence unless your balls are made of diamond or you're looking for a death sentence.

"Shit's true," Dan assured, polishing his rifle for the twenty-fifth damned time.

Kenton shot him a suspicious look. "And how do you know that?"

"You know I had a group before right?"

"Yeah, you never shut up about it." The only thing Dan ever talked about more than his gun was his old group. That got old _real_ fast.

"Well, they came here. Never came back." He pointed towards the sky, letting Kenton figure it out for himself. That is, if he could _use_ that brain of his. He sucked complete shit at plans, preferring shoot-everything-that-moves. Damn Leeroy Jenkins_._

"Oh, shit. Really?"

"Nothing left but ashes, hyper beam for sure. Had to be a Flygon, Altaria, or Salamence. But I'm pretty sure it was a Salamence, the other two aren't aggressive unless you attack 'em. Glad I decided to drop the job, else I'd be as fucked as they are right now." He chuckled, kissing his rifle. Good ol' gut feeling never once led him astray.

The other poacher watched him kiss his rifle and shook his head. "You love that thing don't you?" Kenton was surprised that Dan hadn't had sex with it yet. The guy was a damn gun nut.

"Shit, don't you love yours?" Eight pounds of death dealing aluminum and steel, capable of killing medium sized pokemon with a few well placed shots, people even fewer, what wasn't there to like? It wasn't like they had other pokemon to do the hunting for them. Or superpowers or something crazy like that. And guns were manly. Very manly.

"Well, yeah. But I don't make out with it all the time. It came in handy against those Absol though, that's for sure. I thought we weren't going to take 'em all."

Mic nodded. "Biggest group I've ever seen. Too bad they were all feral. Could have caught some of them. Such a shame. But oh well, we got the juiciest part of the deal anyway. Not to mention we don't have to give a cut to David and Luis, since the Absol absolutely shredded them, hehe." He took a glance at the sky and his cackle died down, seeing dark clouds forming. "Sky doesn't look too good." The sky was clear earlier in the day, perfectly fine weather. What was with the sudden change?

The other four turned their attention to the sky as well. Black clouds loomed over them, blocking out the light of the moon, looking very ominous. They seemed to be moving a little _too_ fast.

"Is it supposed to rain today?" Ross wrinkled his nose, trying to make out the faint outlines of the clouds being illuminated by the moon.

"Not a drop," Richard answered, noting the shape and darkness of the clouds. "Those are rain clouds. No doubt about it. I've been out enough to know them when I see them."

"Why is it going to rain if it wasn't supposed to?"

"Kenton, you're a dumbass. What're we, Kyogre? How the fuck are we supposed to know that?" Dan shook his head, irritated. Kenton had the intelligence of a Bellsprout. Virtually nonexistent.

"You wanna state your problem with me, asshole? I've been taking passive-aggressive shit from you all trip," Kenton responded, standing up. "I'll break your fucking nose and we'll see just how good of a shit talker you are after that."

"Calm down, you're acting like eight year olds. You're grown ass men. 'Sides, you know how wrong the weather prediction is all the time. They say it's going to be sunny and the next thing you know, you're buried in six feet of snow," Mic said. "If it starts raining, we'll just get into the trucks. The Absol will be fine, just keep the eggs inside. Now shut up and sit down."

* * *

Clyde and Bishop were standing in the dark, keeping watch. Forina had lots of scary stuff that could easily kill people, like Shiftry, for instance. Those razor winds could slice people in half, Bishop had seen it happen before. That Fortree job was a proper disaster.

"Why are we on guard duty again?" Clyde asked, rubbing his eyes after he saw a red glow in the darkness. It was gone the next second but hell, if that wasn't a sign that the dark was getting to him, he didn't know what was. It was probably just his mind playing tricks or something.

"Because we were the first two to lose in the group wager?" Bishop reminded. He didn't like the position either, since it was boring as shit most of the time. Nothing ever happened. Sometimes, he wished something interesting would go down. Being a guard was like being bait, you stand around and wait for things to come and find _you_. And when they do, you blow them to shit. Easy. But mind-numbingly boring.

"Oh… right." Clyde chuckled sheepishly. "Makes you nervous though, right?"

Bishop looked over to where Clyde's voice came from, shining his flashlight on the younger man's face. His pupils shrunk and he covered his face with his arm. "What makes me nervous?"

"Cut that light out, it's gonna make me go blind. Shit man."

Bishop moved the light away from Clyde's face and back to what lay in front of him, which was nothing, of course. Like always.

"I meant the atmosphere, you know?"

"You mean the part of sitting out here, not being able to see two feet in front of your face, vulnerable, and on top of that, being way too quiet? While added onto the fact that anything could be lurking in those woods, ready to maul us?" If he meant that, then yes, it did make him nervous.

"Yeah…that."

Bishop could almost feel the guy tensing up. Bah, the kid would get over it."Don't worry about it, you'll get used to it. You start to feel a lot less paranoid when you've done this multiple times."

"Y-you're absolutely right. Nothing to worry about at all…" Clyde breathed in deeply, feeling like the forest itself was watching him. He grasped his rifle harder, and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. "H-hey, about that Absol group back there- it was huge! Sucks what happened to David and Luis though. Less shares right?"

Bishop chuckled to himself. "Damn right. And yeah, that group was enormous, especially for rare pokemon like Absol. Got a lot of good horns and forehead gems to sell on the black market though. With that shiny and the eggs? Hoooo, just thinking about the cash is giving me the shivers."

"What're you going to do with the money? Send some to the folks?" Clyde didn't really know anyone very much, since all everyone cared about was the job. All he knew of the others were their names and their attitudes, which didn't bother him actually. Some of them were zubat-shit axe wielding crazy. Like that psycho Kenton or that guy, Dan. Bishop was tame compared to them.

"Nah, no family. No time for kids and my old man kicked me out for getting into too many fights at school when I was a teenager. Like hell I'd send him cash. As for what I'm going to do with it, maybe I'll go spend it all on a cruise or something."

"Vacation? Sounds good."

"Or maybe I'll spend it on some girls in Goldenrod," Bishop said lustfully.

Clyde scoffed. "Such a horndoom, you always thinking with your dick?"

"Not always. And shit, what do you care? I spend months out here with a bunch of dudes. I need to get some once in a while."

Clyde rolled his eyes, "I guess. I gotta take a piss. Don't go anywhere, this forest creeps me the hell out."

"Whatever, just hurry up."

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Bishop was getting tired of standing up, feet starting to ache rather considerably. Clyde had gone to take a piss a _considerable_ while ago. Pisses didn't take five minutes. The kid hadn't come back yet and he kept seeing this red glow in the dark that kept appearing and disappearing in different places. It was very odd and he was starting to get a little unsettled.

"The hell did he drink, a sea?" Bishop went over to where Clyde's lookout spot was, shining a flashlight on the ground. There were some foot prints leading into the forest. "Goddamn kid. Does nothing but run off. If I find him messing around, I'm gonna introduce him to my fist."

He kept following the foot prints, leading to some thick brush. Shining his flashlight on the dirt, he noticed the soil was stained darker than usual. _Seems like this is the place where he did his business... Now where did he go?_ He looked behind the bushes, seeing as how they looked roughly disturbed.

It was then that he saw Clyde. The kid was on the ground, reclined against a tree stump, rifle in his lap, covered in blood. The blood was all over his jacket, pants, and floor. Bishop knelt down beside him, panicking. "Clyde! What the fuck! How did you- whose blood is this?"

It was no use, the kid's eyes were unresponsive and nothing coherent came from him, only gurgling and choking noises. Bishop moved his neck, jumping back as blood seeped out of it. That's why Clyde couldn't speak, his throat had been slashed open. The kid lay there, slowly choking on his own blood; it even leaked out of his mouth and ran down his cheek. On his forehead the word "one" was written, completely in crimson fluid.

Bishop heard rapidly approaching foot-falls and shot to his feet, frantically spinning around, shining light unto the surrounding forest. Nothing but darkness and trees in all directions, with not even a single pokemon in sight. He held onto his rifle as hard as he could, breath picking up, heart pumping faster. The forest was completely silent and plunged in total darkness, save for the dying sounds of the young Clyde.

"Where the fuck are you?" Bishop demanded, beads of sweat running down his face. His heart hammered in his chest and his legs felt like they were made of paper. Paranoia crept in, expecting anything to come out of the bushes and viciously murder him. He nearly had a heart attack when he walked backward into a tree, before sighing in relief. "Oh, fuck me. It's just a tree. Just a tree…"

Just as he was about to go warn the others, something grabbed his left shoulder with an infernally strong grip, and he saw only one glowing red eye stare back at him. Bishop couldn't move, couldn't speak, he couldn't even scream.

"_Two_."

* * *

Dan stared out at the darkness ahead, concerned. "Yo, Mic. Shouldn't Clyde and Bishop be back yet?"

"Yeah… they should. That's weird. Bishop always comes back on time, don't know about the new kid. Hey, someone go check it-" Mic abruptly cut himself off as he caught a glimpse of a figure slowly coming into view from the darkness, dragging something along with it; it was hard to tell what it was but it looked hunched over and white.

Kenton stood up, squinting. "What the fuck is that?"

The figure stopped, faint outline barely visible before stepping back into the darkness. All five men around the fire picked up their rifles, and slowly walked away from the fire to investigate. The figure's abrupt appearance act was downright creepy, and left every hair on the back of their necks standing straight up.

As they neared the edge of the fire's light, they spotted what the figure had dragged out. It was Clyde and Bishop, throats sliced open, completely drenched in blood. A look of utter terror was etched into Bishop's face, like he had seen something he shouldn't have before it killed him. What a gruesome sight.

Richard jumped back. "Oh, fuck! That's…"

"Holy shit," Kenton muttered in disbelief.

"Keep it together," Mic cautioned, holding them back. "If you freak out right now, you won't be able to hit a damn thing if it decides to attack us."

Ross gulped. "What was that thing? Was it a Zangoose?" The slash wounds seemed very similar to those caused by Zangoose claws. Whatever made those lacerations was really sharp.

"I have no idea what the fuck it was, but if it was, it was tall for its species. I don't care if it's the biggest Zangoose I've ever laid my eyes on, we're going to murder it if it gets close," Mic said, eyeing the surrounding forest for the figure. "Bishop was a good man, been on my team for years."

"Hell with this." Kenton loaded his gun and aimed it into the darkness, attempting to scare whatever it was away. If it was a pokemon, it would probably have run off by now, but in case it wasn't... "Come on out, you little skulking bitch! I'm not afraid of you! In case you didn't notice, we got guns. Your big, sharp claws won't count for shit!" He taunted, cackling.

Ross spoke up, a little more than rattled after looking at the corpses' mutilated throats once more. "Kenton, don't antagonize it, you want it to come after us?"

Kenton whipped around, pointing his gun at Ross. "Shut the fuck up! Man up and we'll get together, find it, and kill it." He turned back around and held his hands up in another mocking fashion, spitting out insult after insult with that foul mouth of his. Nothing came out, and the forest remained dreadfully silent. Kenton scanned the part of the forest he could see, figuring that it was gone. "See? Must've scared it off."

Dan's gut was telling him to run, run as far away as possible because shit was about to hit the fan. "I don't think it's gone. Stop fucking taunting it, dumbass."

Kenton laughed. "Oh, please. It probably ran away with its tail in between its legs, like that Absol that got awa-" A whistling sound was heard through the air, and the next second, Kenton had an arrow through his neck.

He fell on his knees, desperately trying to breathe, struggling for air. He fell onto the floor, a look of utter panic in his eyes. He held his hands out, trying to get someone to help him. But it was no use, no one there had any medical expertise, and he had an arrow stuck in his throat with no way of getting it out. He kept flailing on the ground, like a Magikarp out of water, begging for air when another arrow sang through the air and found its mark in Richard's calf.

"Fuck!" He cursed, dropping to the floor like a shot Taillow. The men fired a volley of shots in the direction where the arrow originated.

"Shit! You alright?" Dan asked.

"I have a fucking arrow in my leg! Do I _look_ ALL-FUCKING-RIGHT?!" He tried standing up, only to fall again after feeling the pain. "I-I can't walk." He snapped the shaft and tried pulling out the arrow, but groaned in agony instead.

Ross was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. His rifle felt like it weighed hundreds of pounds. He wanted to run but his legs didn't budge. "Fuck, we're gonna die, we're gonna die…" He repeated, hoping his death was quick.

Mic turned to Ross and smacked him as hard as possible. "Get a hold of yourself, you little scared piece of shit. You think we're not scared? Least we know it's not a pokemon now. They don't use arrows. Let's get back to the trucks and get our gear then-"

Suddenly, more clouds formed overhead, and let loose a downpour of rain. The fire burning behind them was put out swiftly, leaving them in the middle of pitch black darkness and pouring rain, making it difficult to distinguish footsteps, let alone see anything.

"I can't see shit," Richard cursed, still clutching his injured leg. "Why did it have to start raining now?"

Dan swallowed, grimacing in the dark. "That's no natural rain." The clouds formed too fast and the rain was coming down too hard for it to be natural.

"Rain dance," Mic said grimly. "A pokemon's doing this." Clever stalker.

"Yeah."

"R-rain dance what? W-what does that mean?" Ross stuttered.

"It means whoever that was, has a pokemon that knows rain dance. Or this is just one big fucking coincidence. But I doubt it, since it conveniently took out our lights and impaired our hearing. Shit, this ain't good. We gotta stick together and find our way back to the trucks. They're behind us, so let's turn around and start walking," Mic explained, feeling around, finally catching Dan's arm. _Besides, I don't think it can see in the dark either. Can it?_

"W-what about Kenton then?"

"Nothing we can do." Everyone knew it was true. The guy had an arrow through his neck, there was no way he was making it. His noises had stopped a few moments ago too. "I'll get Richard, stay close."

Dan grabbed Richard's hand, dragging him through the muddy soil as the four slowly walked back in the opposite direction, pelted by the pouring rain. He cursed as the arrow caused him more pain, each bump jarring his leg.

A spine-chilling cackle came from behind them. They instantly turned around, unloading several shots into the darkness, the muzzle flashes briefly illuminating the surrounding area for a few seconds. They just finished reloading when the same deranged laughter came to their left, then right, and in several directions afterward.

"S-stop playing games! Face us!" Mic bellowed, voice piercing through the shrouded veil of darkness. No response, only the steady drumming of rain overhead. He swallowed nervously, starting to feel the anxiety.

"What the fuck man…" Ross whimpered. "This is fucking psychological warfare. W-where are the trucks, man?"

They had blindly followed the voice's noise, being whipped around in different directions, losing the direction in which the trucks were. What were they going to do now? They didn't have any flashlights with them and it was damn near impossible to see.

"Fucker confused us," Mic said under his breath. Ross' breathing was heavy, the guy was stressing out. Richard remained on the floor, grunting and groaning. Dan was silent. "S-stay alert. Don't let your guard down. We keep moving forward… wherever that is."

Dan spoke up, voice only slightly wavering, "come on, we gotta get Richard to-" Pain erupted along his arm as something sharp slashed across his forearm, cutting deeply into his flesh. "Motherf-" He turned around and fired several shots in the direction of the attack, bullets blasting into trees further ahead, striking nothing remotely pokemon or man. Everyone else followed suit and unloaded in the general direction.

Ross was about to put another clip into his gun when he was reeled back by the collar of his shirt and onto the muddy floor.

_Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Gotta get up, gotta get away. Please, god help me!_ He shrieked as he felt the coldness of metal against his neck, threatening to slice it open should he struggle.

A soft, menacing voice whispered in his ear, _"Shhhh, don't worry."_

He screamed louder.

"Ross!" Mic shouted. Ross' voice was getting further away, being dragged through the mud. He fumbled for another magazine, dropping it onto the ground.

Ross' screams grew fainter but were still clearly audible. He had been dragged deeper into the forest, pleading to be spared, seeking to see his mother. His cries appeared to echo throughout the dark. Begging. Pleading. Hoping.

Desperate screams all but stopped.

The sounds of rain continued on, erasing the fact that a man's dying pleas had been silenced. It was as if the darkness itself had swallowed him.

Mic, Richard, and Dan were rendered immobile. They stopped breathing for a few seconds, acknowledging what was happening.

They were being hunted down. Played with, toyed with. Like a horror movie, where the killer silently picked off people one by one, moving through the shadows, appearing and disappearing at any moment's notice.

Richard broke. He started to yell and curse, dragging himself forward through the mud, crying out in horror. It was supposed to be a simple job, with no danger. He didn't want to die, he didn't…

"Richard! Don't!" Dan cautioned.

The desperate poacher continued dragging himself along the muddy ground when something grabbed onto the arrow shaft sticking out of his leg, and brutally twisted it, tearing through more tissues inside. He screamed in agony. Tears leaked out of his eyes, and he looked up, seeing _only_ a single red eye above him as rain pelted his face. Watching. "MONSTER! AAAUUGH! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! AAAAAHHHHH!"

Mic and Dan pointed their rifles in Richard's general direction. All they could do was shoot wildly, since aiming was useless when you couldn't even see the gun's sights.

"No, guys! Wait, plea-" A hail of bullets shot forth into the dark, several of them making contact with Richard's body. He barely survived, breathing his last rugged breaths, violently coughing up blood.

"Did we get him?" Dan asked, feeling guilty over shooting his teammate.

"I don't know…" Mic replied grimly. "You got a spare?"

Dan remained silent. Grave news. They were out, not having enough time to grab spares from their gear.

Richard's pained gasps were heard, just barely louder than the rain. "G-get him, k-kill the bastard. Avenge me." This was as far as he went. Those bullets were hollow points, specifically designed to fragment inside the body, causing as much internal damage as possible. Even if there was a medical team there, he wouldn't survive anyway.

Suddenly, the sound of metal being sharpened was heard farther away, followed by deliberately heavy squelches of a foot being slammed into the ground. The metallic zing slowly got closer and closer.

Mic and Dan could only listen in horror as the metallic sound of a blade being sharpened grew near. It became louder and more pronounced, completely evaporating any shred of courage they had left, only to replace it with despair.

"_Five."_

The metallic sound ceased and the sound of Richard shrieking in pain filled the air. Then his wails became gargled noises, followed by silence shortly after.

_Richard's gone too. Ross, Kenton, Clyde, Bishop._

"THEY'RE ALL FUCKING DEAD!"

Dan charged, terrified and frantic. His mind was beyond rational thought, on autopilot, driven by pure instinct to get rid of a threat, no matter how futile the effort may be. He was stopped as a knife plunged into his right quadricep and a hand caught him by the throat, pushing him into a tree. An evil red eye bore into his own, like seeing the devil himself stare back at you.

"_Six."_

A knife slashed in the dark.

Mic stared wide-eyed into the darkness, frozen in fear. Alone. No ammunition. No light. Nothing left to protect himself. He was completely helpless, at the deranged mercy of a demented killer.

He started to run as fast as he could, fumbling and crashing into trees and bushes. With every collision, his paranoia soared, seeing red eyes in every direction imaginable. His eyes could not help him, with his mind fabricating hallucinations of the red eyed demon.

It was everywhere, all around him.

"Help me! God! Please! ANYONE!"

Something grabbed him by the leg and he fell flat on his face, erupting in eardrum shattering shrieks. He was dragged face first along the floor, getting mud and dirt inside his mouth, until he was thrown into something metallic hard enough to leave a dent.

* * *

Mic's eyes fluttered open. The rain had stopped and there was a lantern light on the floor, giving him some light. He tried to stand up when he noticed a figure garbed in a white fur coat, face obscured by a hood of sorts. The fur coat was stained with blood, his crews' blood.

His breath hitched and a familiar chill came down his spine. He was staring directly, at the _thing_. It looked human, but it wasn't. It couldn't be. Whatever killed the guys couldn't be human. It had to be a demon, something supernatural, not of this world. He tried to muster up the strength in his trembling legs to run.

"_Don't run. You won't get far_." The figure sat down across from him, the white of his coat being the only thing that allowed Mic to make him out in the dim light.

"P-please don't kill me!"

"_If you do anything stupid, I will."_

"W-why the hell are you doing this?"

"_Because of this,"_ he said, taking out a blue sickle-shaped horn. He stood up and grabbed Mic's face, placing the edged point at his cheek. "_You know what this is, don't you?"_

"W-what?"

He slashed Mic's cheek with the horn, giving him a small cut. Not deep at all, but it would be enough to get the effect he desired.

"AAHH!"

There it was.

"_Tell me what this is. If you do not answer me, I promise the next cut will not be so small."_ This time, the horn came within centimeters of the poacher's eye.

"I-it's an Absol horn! God, get it away!" His lips quavered. "Why? Why did you take out my men? WHY!"

The weapon lowered, and a relieved sigh escaped the terrified poacher.

"_You killed the Absols. Innocent pokemon who tried their best to stay away from humans. Fathers, mothers, pups. It made no difference to you. You and your team slaughtered them for nothing but your own selfish desires. Nearly extinct and you did nothing but laugh and boast. Not even a shred of guilt."_

"It wasn't personal! It was just a job! You've gotta understand!"

The figure's red eye flashed underneath the darkness that shrouded its face, exuding malevolence and cold fury. "_Oh, I understand. Thing is, to someone, somewhere, it will _always_ be personal."_

He raised the horn, point first.

"_Enjoy your three mil_."

"NO! WAIT!"

And buried the horn into the poacher's heart, inch by inch, watching intently as the body slumped to the floor.

Riven stood still for a full minute, with a thousand-yard stare hinting that he wasn't all quite there at the moment. He broke out of it shortly after and turned around to face a muzzled and captive Sarim.

"Let's get you out of there," Riven said, face completely blank, as if nothing happened.

Getting rid of the lock on the cage was fairly easy. It shattered with a good strike from a large rock after Sarim froze it with an ice beam.

The Absol eagerly leapt out of the cage, no doubt dying to ask how his mate was doing. Last he knew was that she left to go find Riven and Haona. Judging by what the human had just done, she had.

"If you're worried about Iara, she's back at the cave. Go see her. She was injured badly, and I don't know how she is at the moment. Tell the others the issue has been resolved and stay there until I arrive," he ordered, picking up the crate of Absol eggs. "I'll take these back and catch up with you later. When you get there, make sure Haona is safe as well."

Riven flicked his eyes in the direction of the cave. _Go._

The dark type nodded and took off.

Riven arrived at the grotto some time later, placing the eggs near the hearth. His pokemon lay sleeping near Iara, still on the rock where he placed her, which looked less like rock and more like bloody slab. The knife wounds that once bled profusely were replaced by burn scars, meaning that Aine had succeeded. Sarim stood by her, speaking softly to her sleeping form.

Sarim noticed the black-haired human and turned to face him. _"I talked to Haona already."_

"How's she taking this?" Riven asked, removing his blood stained coat and washing off some of the blood in the small stream in the center of the cave. The rain had helped, but not nearly enough.

"_She's still shaken but… responsive at least. She just needs time,"_ he replied, watching her breaths rise and fall as she slept on Baron's lap.

Riven gave a curt nod. "Iara?"

Sarim's eyes filled with sorrow. _"She's fine, physically. But Korek's murder- she's devastated."_ He closed his eyes, holding back tears.

"Physical pain is brief. Psychological pain stays with you forever, no matter how hard you try to forget," Riven said with slight sadness, still washing his coat. "You try and try but the memories are still there, waiting in your dreams. And there isn't a damn thing you can do about it but carry it around with you. It's a... terrible feeling."He glanced at Sarim, who seemed to get worse with every passing second. "And you? How do you feel?"

"_How am I supposed to feel?"_ Sarim asked pathetically, having lost the entire group, save his mate and dozens of eggs. He sat miserably down on the ground, head low, wallowing in guilt and sorrow.

It was a painful sight, to see a once proud Absol in such a state. He was a failure, a pitiful excuse for a leader. He had protected no one and in the end, he was the one to survive. He wasn't worthy, he should have died. If only he had foreseen…

Sarim was brought out of his thoughts when a berry hit him on the head. He snapped his head up to see a bored human sitting across from him, munching on his own berry.

"_What?"_ Sarim questioned. "_What is this?_"

"Pecha berry," the human said flatly. "They're only found just about everywhere."

The Absol looked it over like it was poison. _"But why are you giving it to me?"_

"The sugar helps with the shock. Looks like you need it." He huffed in exasperation, and steeled his voice. "You need to quit blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault. It's foolish and achieves nothing," he replied callously.

"_But it was my fault! I failed to-"_

"Stop."

The Absol complied reluctantly, catching the icy glare Riven that compelled him to _sit and listen._

"It being your fault isn't true and you know it, you just don't want to accept it. What could you have done? You are only one Absol. They had guns and a team. There wasn't much you could have done if they caught you by surprise. Which they did." His hand slashed through the air. "I saw the aftermath, don't tell me they didn't. Even if you did kill all of the poachers, some- if not most- of your group would have died regardless, and you'd blame yourself anyway. You were going to lose someone, it was inevitable. But you survived. And so did the eggs. That's what matters now."

Anger welled up inside of Sarim. _"You want me to forget?! IS that it? Just forget that they got slaughtered and move on like they weren't important? Like it's that easy? You're just like them. Heartless and selfish in the end,"_ he snarled, flashing sharp teeth.

"Forget? No. Think of me what you will, but don't you _ever_ forget about what happened here today," Riven hissed coldly.

"_Then what are you trying to tell me!"_ A large green blade extended from his horn. Riven didn't even move a muscle. Not even a wince as the blade stopped centimeters of his throat, ready to behead him at any moment.

"I'm telling you to _use_ that supposed 'failure'," Riven continued, unfazed. "Turn it into your strength, so that you fight harder to protect those you care about. Use it as the fuel that drives you. To make sure that what happened here never happens to anyone else again, and if it does, you will vow to personally tear whoever is responsible to _pieces."_

Sarim froze. And thought. He flinched, feeling a hand on his head. His mega horn dissipated as rage slowly slipped away.

Riven ruffled the shiny's fur, just like he did to Haona at times, when she was being illogical. It always seemed to calm her down. "Just don't give up. Keep fighting, no matter how many times life decides to beat you into submission. You stand back up and laugh in its face, even if you're broken and battered inside, because as long as you live, you honor their memory. Remember that." He took his hand off the Absol's head, turning his gaze elsewhere. "You should rest, if you can. It'll do you some good."

_"Why did you do it? Why didn't you just walk away?" _Sarim knew it wasn't the human's problem, he could have easily left. It's not like he even liked the Absols either, he was fairly indifferent to them, so we did he do it?

"Because it reminded me of home," Riven replied simply, and walked out of the cave with clenched fists.

* * *

Riven stood in front of a large tree, hammering away at the trunk with his fists, each blow splitting and cutting his knuckles further. Blood ran down his hands and forearms.

_Smash. Crack._

_Smash. Crack._

"_That isn't good for you, trainer. You're going to need those."_

About to slam another fist into the tree's bark, Riven stopped and noticed the gray cloud floating behind him. He turned to face his newest team member. "Boagrius?" His awareness must have been completely shot if his Castform was able to sneak up on him like that.

Boagrius closed his eyes in recognition.

Riven averted the Castform's line of sight awkwardly for a good thirty seconds. He was the only one of his pokemon that saw that… display. He didn't know how he would take seeing his trainer hunt down other humans and viciously killing them. He could handle others hating him for it, that was expected, but not his own team. "You, uh- saw everything, right? I mean, it was dark so I don-"

"_Yes." _The pokemon's voice was calm, not booming like its usual tone was. Even his eyes reflected a degree of seriousness that his trainer had not seen on the pokemon previously. "_I saw what you did, and while it was extremely unsettling, even by human standards, I believe your actions were justified. The fact that it troubles you is a very good sign, not just for you, but for the rest of the team,"_ the Castform stated truthfully, omitting nothing.

"Wait, what?" Stunned wasn't the word he'd use to describe it. He didn't expect anyone to _agree_ with what he had done. Needless to say, the pokemon's response came out of the blue. "Shouldn't you be lecturing me right now? Or roaring at me? Maybe both?"

Boagrius eyed him curiously. "_Why would I do that?"_

His trainer shrugged. "I don't know. It's just… every time I do something, someone is there to lecture me or try and feed me their moral beliefs, even if the world is better without those bastards." he admitted. It was certainly beyond aggravating but he knew that times were different. People were different. Customs were different. A war wasn't going on and people weren't murdering each other, as much at least. He couldn't really blame them, just like he couldn't blame Steven; he was right, in a way.

The weather pokemon turned around, looking towards the entrance to the cave. _"If I didn't know any better, I would, because murder and death is no small thing. But I am no young fool of a Castform. Out here, in the wild, things are different. There are no rules for us. We survive, and do what it takes. Death lurks everywhere here. Humans come here often, to hunt as they did. I have lived here all my life, and have seen what those poachers have done to others. I do not wish it on anyone. And what happened to those Absol, should never happen again. I am glad to have helped you, no matter how vicious your ways are. I've seen worse, from a dragon."_

Riven blinked._ He just compared me to a dragon. That's pretty awesome actually..._

Boagrius just knew that Riven was thinking about being a dragon and cleared his voice loudly, breaking his trainer's train of thought. He continued on,"_If there is anything I have learned here, it is that the price of true justice is always high. There are consequences for every action, more so for taking the darker path. Especially in front of others. To take upon the mantle of justice, we must deal with those consequences, no matter how severe."_

The Castform turned to face him again. His tone was not arrogant or obnoxious, but wise and understanding, if a bit cautious.

"_That is what most trained pokemon don't understand. What most humans don't understand. They are afraid to act, afraid to be hated, persecuted. However, hard decisions must be made, whether we want to make them or not. Such are the fates of trainers who use us for battle; they just don't realize it yet. But it's important that you never lose sight of who you are when you do. And you, have not."_

Yet. There was always a risk. The brain was a fickle thing, easily influenced.

"_However, you must be careful. Removing evil does not bring about good, and going too far could turn you into that which you despise. Tread carefully, trainer. Depravity is easy to fall into for the vengeful. Do not lose yourself, because you may not be able to return."_

Both pokemon and man had lines, lines that couldn't be passed. No one was exempt.

_Once you cross that line, there's no going back, _Riven winced, recalling the old lessons from his training_. _The point of no return, the event horizon. He stared down at his hands, thinking over the Castform's words. "How do you know that I haven't already become what I despise? That I haven't already crossed the line?"

"Oh, y_ou have _already _crossed many lines others do not dare touch in their entire lifetime. Most humans don't have the gall to shoot an arrow into a Swellow's head. And yes, I saw that happen, I observed you for a while before I approached you."_

"That's not strange at all," Riven deadpanned. Then realized something, and threw a horrified look at the Castform. "Did you... watch me bathe too?"

_"Yes, I had to observe you thoroughly before I chose to make you my trainer."_

Riven twitched furiously.

_"That was poorly worded."_

"Very much so."

_"AHEM! Back to the matter at hand... What I'm saying is that you walk on thin ice, trainer. As for how I know that you haven't fallen? It was the sincerity of your words to Sarim."_

Mismatched eyes widened. "You heard?"

"_Every word."_ The Castform smiled warmly. _"It was an adequate speech. Did you write it down before hand? I could give you a few suggestions next time for a much more uplifting and compelling speech_." Maybe a bit more emotion would have had a better effect. But for the love of Arceus, his trainer needed to do away with that dreaded monotone! He needed charisma and VIGOR!

Riven snorted. "Sorry if it wasn't magnificent enough for you. I'm not that good at it yet. Still got a ways to go before I can part seas with words like you. You're way too melodramatic. Can't you do simple for once?" He teased gently, lightening the mood.

The Castform recoiled, pretending to be hurt. Riven chuckled and sat down against a tree, staring up into the sky, feeling a light drizzle flow over his face. He sat in silence for a few minutes, Boagrius floating alongside him.

"Boagrius?"

"_Yes?"_

"How old are you?" He didn't exactly know how pokemon ages worked, so naturally, he was fairly clueless. "You sound like one of those wise old men right now. Not voice wise but, you know, you just have that wisdom-y vibe," he stated, unable to find a better term. Wisdom-y? His vocabulary was failing him. He blamed Brawly.

"_Wisdom-y? HAHA! I am only nine as a matter of fact,"_ Boagrius responded proudly. "_And perhaps I overdid it a slight bit on the mysticism. I don't want to sound old_."

"Nine?" Riven did a double take. "Wait, you were faking that seriousness?"

"_Well, not exactly. I meant what I said. Buuuuuut…" _The Castform beamed. _"It was good, wasn't it? Very convincing, yes? I thought it would add extra tension to the situation at hand."_

Riven frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. That bastard. It should have been no surprise though. What else could he expect from a Castform with a penchant for dramatization and flair? "I'm _so_ glad you and Charles can't understand each other."

"_Such a pity, I'm sure he is a wonderful fellow,"_ Boagrius mused, spinning in place. _"My unbelievable talents aside, I am nine. Which is about…thirty or so in your years."_ He waited intently for the reaction.

His trainer's jaw dropped."WHAT? But- you're so- how?" He remembered the picture of the Castform in the pokedex, and mentally compared it with his pokemon's. There was no difference. "My brain hurts."

"_Ho ho ho_. _Careful, you don't want your jaw to fall off. That would make it hard to speak, trainer._" Boagrius grinned. _"By the way, I lied about the thirty part."_

"Never would have guessed. Now, just let me pick up my jaw and gather the pieces of my brain that were just blown to tiny bits."

Boagrius laughed lightly. _"I think it's better this way, though. You need someone figuratively older to watch you in case you do anything particularly…human again. Baron can't be the only one that has to look after you. Considering your history with other pokemon and unfortunate accidents, you _definitely _need a voice of reason that _doesn't _deem_ _swinging across chasms with some rope as a perfectly acceptable activity." _Baron had told him of the story previously, and while hilarious, it raised _important_ questions about his trainer's sense of reason.

Riven couldn't help but snicker. "And what do you mean by, 'particularly human'?" Now Boagrius was taking potshots at him?

"_Humans do stupid things. Often. That's what makes them interesting to watch."_ Boagrius had seen other humans come to Forina. Once, he saw some of them try to create an abomination of Groudon using Jirachi's power. And Arceus did that fail spectacularly. It recklessly killed half the plant life too, something the Brelooms hadn't forgotten at all. And the other wild pokemon didn't take kindly to being swallowed either. Luckily, the humans found a way to undo their mess and Jirachi was returned safely. Still, it spoke volumes about how intelligent humans really were, versus how they claimed to be.

The black-haired trainer scoffed, definitely potshots. "I can't guarantee you that I won't do something 'human' again. After all, stupidity is a trait we have in spades, Boagrius" he joked light-heartedly. "Still… why did you go out of your way to give me life advice? Violent tree therapy is very effective."

Boagrius blew a light powder snow at him, covering a part of Riven's hair in frost. He blinked and shook it off.

"_Someone has to cheer _you_ up too. People who brood upset me, even if they try their absolute best to hide it from everyone else. Which is something a certain human seems to be a master of." _He gave him a knowing wink and his trainer reddened.

Boagrius rose high into the air.

"_For you see, there must be JOY! And HAPPINESS! Not sorrow and pain." _He made an exaggerated frown. "_And you kept beating that poor tree. Not only were you engaging in self destructive behavior-just look at those hands- but you were disturbing the Seedot living there too."_ Boagrius gestured upwards with his eyes. _"I had to do something. Bullet seeds can leave nasty bruises."_

"Huh? Seedot?" Riven glanced up at the branches of the tree, finally seeing the three irritated Seedot glaring holes into him. "Oh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that." He stood up and backed away from the tree, excusing himself.

"_Rude. Stupid human. Go away. Doesn't realize some of us are trying to sleep," _they berated him reproachfully, and shut their eyes to go back to sleep.

Boagrius chuckled lightly, following his trainer as he walked back to the cave. _"What will you do now? Train?"_ That was all his trainer ever did anyway. Well, he did have two fighters. Made sense really, those pokemon lived for battle. Sometimes, he wished he was a fighter. But having the power of the heavens at his disposal wasn't a bad thing either.

"Not this week."

"_Hmmm?"_ No training? That was odd.

"I think I'm going to bury them," the trainer said thoughtfully.

"_The Absols?"_

"Yeah."

"_Why is that?"_

"Leaving them to rot would be disrespectful. And it would help Sarim rest easier if they were put to rest the proper way. Maybe make a memorial too. That's what most humans do for their dead, I don't know what it's like for wild pokemon. But it's a good start."

"_I see. Although it is strange, it is an excellent idea! I approve, trainer."_ The cheerful pokemon smiled widely. "_You do possess a heart after all!"_

"Hah. I'm glad you approve, Boagrius." The Castform bobbed in the air, as if nodding. Riven ran a hand through his hair, and sighed deeply. "That's a lot of work to do before Gale comes back though." Now if only he had a shovel…

"_There are too many for just yourself. Will you tell the others of what you plan to do?"_ He couldn't dig up twenty-seven graves with just his fingers. But with humans, no one ever knew. _"Baron's psychic can lessen the work load significantly," he suggested._

"Yeah. I'll talk to them tomorrow." Right now, he felt like resting. Some peace would do well for him. It had been a tough day, to say the least. For some more than others.

"_Good, good. I will be there to provide NECESSARY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT!"_ Boagrius declared brightly.

Riven shook his head with a faint smile. "Sure thing. And thanks for the 'emotional support' by the way. It saved me from the fury of the dastardly and almighty Seedot," he said with light sarcasm. "Night, old man Boagrius." He waved and disappeared back into the cave, heading to get some rest(or try at least).

Boagrius remained outside, smiling.

_It seems I chose well. Baron doesn't have to worry much after all._


	31. Inkblots

**I replaced this chapter with another accidentally. Whoops. Fixed now.**

* * *

"Will you be all right? I need to go soon."

Sarim stood in the center of the circle of mounds arranged around him, staring at the single horn implanted into the tree directly in front of the burial, a look of sadness in his face. _"I do not believe I will ever be fine. But I'll continue on, like you said. It's my duty now, to be a father to these eggs. Twelve pups at the same time, however… that is going to be a little rough."_

Riven chuckled, bringing up memories of the Rustboro school and the swarms of children. "Just a little?" He shook his head. "I don't think I could ever take care of kids. They're terrifying." Just thinking about taking care of _twelve_ of them made him twitch.

Sarim stared up at him, curiously. _"You hunt down poachers with those weapons that shoot sparks and metal, yet you are afraid of harmless children? You make absolutely no sense."_

"You can't punch kids into good behavior. They're also difficult, noisy, clingy, and ask way too many questions. Children are handfuls, more often than not," he scoffed. "And baby pokemon are by_ no_ _means_ harmless." Being able to cause third degree burns with a hiccup could testify to that. Or encase someone in a block of ice, pick your poison really.

Sarim gave him a frown. _"Ah well. Regardless, having a family is a way of life. They stop being completely unpleasant after a few months as they grow,"_ Sarim said. Korek would restlessly prance around in the night and freeze things for fun. He always woke the others up, resulting in quite a few complaints and groans from the others. Sarim still missed him, and just thinking about his pup made his heart ache, forcibly holding back tears.

Riven snorted lightly, "Hmph, lucky for you. Your toddler age is a few months, ours is a couple _years_." It only took a few months for _pokemon_, perhaps less with battle, judging by how fast his team had grown. Humans? Not so.

"_Hmmm, I forgot how long it takes humans to grow… Slow and weak? I guess it is only fair that you possess the intellect you do, otherwise your kind would be useless." _

Riven crossed his arms. "Some of us are geniuses. A majority of us are _not_. Most pokemon have human-like intelligence too, so we really aren't that special. We _are_ having a conversation like two people would." Humans were like pokemon, just much more ambitious, corrupted, and hilariously weak. It was like the fantastic creator upstairs decided to make them out of the worst possible material, on _purpose_. Even a Zigzagoon could break a rib with a tackle. A Zigzagoon!

"_I suppose." _Sarim flashed a toothy grin. _"However, maybe on your travels you will meet a beautiful potential mate, and then you may wish to settle down and start a family of your own? Of course, you would need to engage in _certain_ activities first…"_

The look sheer horror on the human's face drove Sarim to laughter."_You are far too easy to tease, my friend!"_ Laughs settled. "_Speaking of which, do you not have an appointment with a female today?"_

_He did that on purpose_.

"Wipe that smirk off your face. You're making it sound like it's a romantic thing. It's just a mutual favor for past services," Riven protested, a little flustered. "And yes, I do. I just wanted to check up on you before leaving to make sure you haven't lost your purpose."

"_I regained it, thanks to you,"_ Sarim smiled gratefully._ "I can only wish you luck finding yours, which is all I can give you for helping me, at this time."_ The human had mentioned he was still searching for his calling, having had it taken from him due to unforeseen complications out of his control, most likely involving legendary pokemon. That was all Sarim had to know, one did not trifle with legendaries and escape unscathed. This human either did something incredibly stupid, or was just incredibly misfortunate. Perhaps both.

"That's more than enough for me," Riven said, waving good bye to the Absol. "I'll come back sometime and see how the little ones are doing, alright? Need to get going, she's probably irritated from waiting so long." He whipped back around and ran into the forest, out of sight.

The shiny Absol shook his head and sat down, watching him go._ I see why humans have reached such a level now. For all their flaws, and all of their shortcomings, they just keep getting back up. Raw tenacity. That's what makes them so dangerous. Trainers even more so than that. Is that why pokemon bend to their will?_

He thought it over, watching a stray pecha berry sitting idly on the floor, and stretched out a paw.

_They're even stranger than the legendaries themselves…_

* * *

"Look, that's the clearing. Let's land there, right next to that pecha berry tree." Even if the berry tree had been picked clean, it was still very much pecha. Easily recognizable landmark.

Gale touched down in the area where Riven had mentioned he was _supposed_ to be in. At first, she looked around for any people but saw nothing. When you tell someone that you're meeting them somewhere, you better damn be there after they've traveled three days to come and get you.

She nearly shouted when her Swellow shoved her, throwing off her balance.

"Hey!"

The bird shook its head slowly. Short for- _unless you want things to come after us, don't make your presence known_. The flying type didn't specify _what, _not that she wanted to find out, really. Could be anything, Forina wasn't known for tame pokemon.

"We'll do it your way then," Gale said, plopping down on a decently sized rock to just wait. After twenty minutes of doing exactly that, she groaned in exasperation. The sun was starting to burn and it was getting uncomfortable, Forina was humid so the sweat didn't evaporate much either. Conditions like that made for nasty stickiness, not preferable in the least. "Well, where do you suppose he is? He sure is taking his sweet time. If he doesn't come soon, I'm going to lea-"

A familiar voice replied, "Right behind you."

Gale jumped and crashed into Kyne, placing a hand on her chest from the scare. She could have sworn there was no one there a second ago. Her Swellow absorbed the impact, lost its footing, and toppled over with an indignant squawk. Gale shot to her feet, as red as a tamato berry.

"H-how did you do that? And what in the world are you wearing? " she asked, looking over his long pokemon pelt thing that people made when they were living in the wild. _It must be a downright creepy sight during the night_…

He looked down at himself, feeling the texture of the fur with his fingers. "Zangoose pelt. Really warm. It was handy during the winter, not so much now though. It gets stuffy when it's hot out. Now that we're headed to warmer climates, I won't need it anymore," he explained. Hoenn was fairly tropical and the heat got _very_ uncomfortable at times, so the thing would be useless. Selling it was impossible, since he doubted anyone would want a crude coat drenched in months of sweat and blood, even if it was washed recently. He wasn't a very skilled tailor or craftsman, so it wasn't of very good quality to begin with.

Gale reached out to touch it, with slight hesitation. It was, indeed, very fluffy and soft. "Wow… I can see why rich people like this sort of thing."

Riven took off the coat, along with the hood, tossing it to the side. Getting rid of that thing was liberating, since the sun had been making that pelt really stuffy.

Gale stared at the young man before her with a scrutinizing look. "Your hair got longer. Now it's _really_ shaggy. You really should invest in a brush, it's a mess. Even if it is a trainer staple." It covered his eyes and almost went down past his shoulders, scruffy-galore. She tried to flick a section of it but he dodged out of the way.

He sighed, backing away from Gale's attempts to straighten it out. "I had more important things to do, like hunting for food. My pokemon are terrible at it and scare away all the Swel- I mean Sevipers," Riven corrected himself, pretending to look innocent as Kyne laid a suspicious eye on him.

Gale reached out and grabbed his chin with her hand as he was distracted, noticing that he had no facial hair whatsoever. "But shaving was a higher priority? When I think of people disappearing into the wild, I picture them coming back with a full man beard, if you know what I mean." Some of the backpackers that disappeared into the wild came back with HUGE beards, it was pretty cool.

"Hey, you have no idea how annoying facial hair really is," Riven stated flatly, swatting her hand away. "Nigh-impossible to sleep facing down. I bought a mirror in Lavaridge and I had a very sharp knife, so why not?"

Gale held a look of surprise. People cut themselves with razors while shaving, and those were baby blades. Shaving with a knife more suited to murdering things? Not exactly for the faint of heart. Any small slip and, oops, accidental exsanguination. "Isn't that really dangerous?"

"You have to take it slow, you see, or you might sever something important. That… wouldn't be very fun."

"No kidding," she said, taking a pokeball out.

Riven stared at her strangely."Pokeball? You're a trainer now? That's… unexpected." She definitely didn't have those before. Did she suddenly find a new inspiration in life for battling immature ten year olds with dangerous creatures capable of bringing down a house?

"Oh, no. It's just they're really convenient for carrying pokemon around in. Your trainer belt gave me the idea, so I went to Lavaridge and bought two of them for Emile and Kyne. Makes things so much easier, especially since I don't have to sweep up so many feathers anymore." She blew out a breath. "Having to sweep multiple times a day was irritating."

Riven shrugged indifferently as she threw the ball out. That's what she got for having birds. At least Aine burned away all of her feathers. No mess, just some ashes that blew away with the wind. Her randomly setting things on fire was a problem though, Quil probably rubbed off on her far too much to be healthy.

The ball opened in mid-air and let out a content Emile. He had had a long nap in that pokeball, fairly rejuvenated and ready to go about his day. Took in the surrounding scenery and tensed, not unlike that of a Linoone spotting a wild Mightyena. The bird frantically scanned the skies and stretched its wings, going into flight mode, prepared to bolt at any sign of territorial dragons coming to have a little "chat".

Riven crossed his arms with a smug grin. "I think you spent a little too much time with me. You're picking up my habits," he sneered. The Pidgeot stared down at a familiar mess of black hair, took note of the mismatched eyes, made a shrill sound, and pecked him on the head. Gale held back muffled giggles.

"Nice to see you too, overgrown pidgeon," Riven ground out, holding his head. _That one hurt._ "Ready to travel with disaster again?" He asked, putting on his translator to understand what the annoyed flying type would say.

"_Ecstatic. After all, evading dragons with fire hot enough to agitate rock pokemon is always fun. Who needs skin anyway?" _He said sardonically. _"Having a rope swinging trainer on my back with no flight skills and an unhealthy streak of crazy makes it just _that _much better." _

Riven frowned and suddenly remembered why he didn't like the Pidgeot very much.

Gale's mouth dropped open and forcibly jabbed Riven in the arm with a finger. "You got into a fight with a dragon!?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it a fight…" He protested sheepishly, trying not to look her in the face. "It was more of a run like hell situation, really." As if that made things any better. It probably didn't, but he hadn't _purposely_ agitated it, at least.

She crossed her arms and scowled deeply, shooting a glare at her Pidgeot. "And you! Why didn't you tell me this?"

Riven raised a brow. "You didn't tell her?" Surprising, considering the bird managed to get stuck with him for seven days, had to outmaneuver a murderous Salamence, fly for three more days without regular meals, and worst of all, got his tail feathers singed. Most people(and pokemon) would be _slightly_ pissed off after something like that. The only upside was having one hell of a campfire story. "I distinctly remember you boasting about it after I got launched into a tree."

Gale briefly glared at Riven, before going back to burning holes through Emile with her eyes. She would question Scruffy about it later. _Getting launched into a tree? What in the?_

Emile shrunk, feeling the fury of the brunette's gaze. _"I kind of forgot? I was so hungry I couldn't really think straight. After that, I fell asleep and the next day it slipped my mind. And the next, and the day after that…"_

Gale's Swellow snickered_. "Oh, you're getting it when we go back home, Emile. She's giving you the look."_

"_Shut it, Kyne!" _ Emile screeched. _"You're not helping!"_

Riven chuckled briefly, slightly entertained. "So, Gale, we going yet?" he asked. His gear was packed and ready to go, the event thing was only a week away, and they had some considerable flying to do. He wasn't enthusiastic in the least though; the mere thought of the word "flying" made Riven's stomach churn.

Gale snapped out of her gaze-earning Riven a grateful look from Emile- and nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here. In case any pokemon that _Emile_ doesn't want to tell me about comes here to kill us." The bird edged away, slowly. "Anyway, hop on Emile and we'll get going. Got lots of ground to cover!"

Riven climbed onto the bird's back and settled himself in, nervous energy collecting in his gut. He breathed in deeply and unknowingly tightened his grip on Emile's feathers.

Gale winced at his reaction. "Still scared of flying?" Nearly five months and he was still tense? She didn't mean to give him a flying neurosis.

Riven grimaced and exhaled deeply again. "Not scared…just, a little uncomfortable." Took another breath, slow and steady. Getting taken on a joy ride while being nearly incinerated by a very ticked off dragon would give anyone a bit of nerves. "Gah. Maybe more than a little," he said as Emile jerked slightly.

Emile rolled his eyes. _"There you go grabbing onto my feathers like a Kingler. This is why I dislike this guy,"_ he complained, nudging the human on his back. _"Can we just-"_

"Quiet," Gale scolded. "It doesn't matter if you like him, unless you don't want any more spicy pokeblocks, you will behave."

"_Fine,"_ the bird grumbled and stretched out his wings.

Gale looked over to Riven. "Come on, let's get skyward. I heard while in Lavaridge that there's a group of poachers around here. We wouldn't want to get caught up with them, they're notorious for murdering trainers who try to stop them or get in their way."

Riven flicked a glance towards her, face completely impassive, as usual. "There _were _poachers," he replied simply, patting Emile on the head, much to his annoyance. The Pidgeot lifted into the air, flapped his wings, and began to ascend. "You coming or what? I don't know how to fly very well, you know. And I have no idea where Meteor Falls is!"

Gale was a little perplexed. _There were? What does that mean? _Shaking her head, she gave Kyne the approval for flight and quickly joined Riven in the air, who looked green in the face and about ready to throw up. _Must be nothing, _she figured.

"You might want to put on your goggles now!"

"Forgot about that." Riven took out his desert goggles from his trainer bag and attempted to put them on.

That's when Gale caught a glimpse of the highly noticeable black bags under Riven's eyes as he moved his hair out of the way to put on his goggles. It looked like he hadn't slept in a week!

"Riven!"

Her shout startled him and he nearly dropped the goggles. "Huh, what?"

"Have you been sleeping? Like… at all? You look like one of those Slateport university students. Poor guys are completely overworked all the time."

Riven frowned, rubbing his eyes. "Just a little insomnia. Nothing to worry about. Really." In actuality, he felt like he was about to break apart, his sleep deprived eyes felt like someone had dunked them into a pool of water and left them in for too long. It had been a hellish week for him and for his pokemon. Hopefully he'd be able to sleep better being away from Forina.

"That's what you said last time. Insomnia isn't just anything to shrug off you know. Been getting those nightmares lately?" She recalled his fidgeting when they would rest in between flights, and that frightening time when he nearly attacked her. Even worse than a Whismur when it came to jumpiness, and that was saying something.

"They've been a little relentless this past week," he said. "Something reminded me of things I'd rather not remember. And don't ask what it was, I won't tell you."

"Alright, I won't pry but, I hope you're okay. Being way too tired can affect your battling. Are the dreams that bad that you can't sleep?"

"They're pretty… vivid," he said, trying to be vague. "A bit intense too."

Gale raised an eyebrow and bit back giggles.

"What did I say?" he asked, missing the point. There was nothing wrong with his statement, in fact, it was perfectly acceptable. Why was she laughing?

"Nothing, it's just the way you said 'vivid' and 'intense'." She caught the puzzled look on his face and snickered even harder. He was a teenage(almost adult) boy, it was perfectly understandable to have _those_ kinds of dreams. That probably wasn't what he meant, judging by his cluelessness, but it was hilarious anyway. _Dork._

Riven ignored her giggles. "Right... I'll just try and get some sleep. Hopefully. Tired. Wake me up sometime, not suddenly, and no dive-bombing either. I will throw up… on you." Paused. "Forcefully," he warned, and buried his face in Emile's feathers. He was out in seconds after that, sleeping like a rock, breath rising and falling steadily.

Gale shook her head and turned her attention to the other matter she had pending. "Emillllllllleeeee."

"_Yes?_" he asked nervously, fearing Gale's fury.

"Tell me everything, right now. Every little detail. I'm up for a little amusement," she grinned devilishly. "If I even get a hint that you're withholding information, no red pokeblocks for a week."

The bird swallowed._ "Arceus, help me."_

* * *

Riven lay flat, looking up at a dreary white sky, arms and legs stretched outwards. He sat up straight, seeing the endless white void go on for what seemed like forever.

_Strange place_, he thought, shuffling ahead. The ground was a solid black, in contrast to the stark white of the sky, mixing into a dull grey beneath him.

"This a dream? Or something else?" He wondered, looking down at his clothes, also colored a dull grey.

_Both. _A figure rose out of the black, right eye glowing red. Its entire body was covered in black shadows, darkness whipping back and forth around it. _Hello, Cerul._

Riven glared at it, blue looking back into red. "You."

_Hmph. That's all you have to say?_

"What are you, and what have you been doing to me?" This was the voice in his head that had been pestering him at odd intervals. And shoving thoughts into his mind he'd rather not carry out. The white streak of hair, that seemed to get larger over time. _His fault_.

A distorted laugh, not quite human. _Nothing. I've been doing nothing, lately._

Riven didn't believe it. "Stop messing with my head," he bristled. "My eye stings whenever you do that… whatever it is you say you are. Those thoughts, those emotions. They. Aren't. Mine." The anger, the rage, held back by willpower and control. The unexplainable impulse to stab someone in the neck if they pissed him off; it scared him, in more ways than one.

_They're not?_ _You didn't have a problem with those before_, it cackled, smiling widely. _What's wrong, engine changed to a new fuel? Don't fool yourself, Cerul. You thrived off them in the past. You certainly didn't object a few nights ago, either. And that was all you. You claim to hate hypocrites, yet the irony of being hypocritical right now is very amusing._

It held out a pitch black, clawed hand, staring at it like a person would their nails, then clenched it. _As for what I am. You should know, after all, I've been with you since birth. Every battle, every memory, everything. Including this… alien world. I thought you wanted to get rid of me, in that fire. But it turns out I was wrong. You've still got it in you._

Riven's eyes narrowed, "I have _what_, in me? Insanity? Depravity? Rage?"

_You'll just have to see soon enough. You probably won't remember anything anyway. Have fun, and try not to die. If I have to save you again, I'm not going to let go that easy, I promise you that. _

"Wait! Come back! Answer me!" Riven snapped, rushing towards the shadow of himself.

The figure broke out into a vicious grin, flashing sharp black teeth, sinking back into the darkness.

_When will you awaken, Cerul? The wait is killing me._

* * *

A sudden jerk woke the sleeping young man, almost throwing him off Emile. He briefly took off his goggles to rub his eyes. The sky had darkened and was now a dark orange, meaning that nightfall would arrive soon. He slept more than he should have, it had been around mid-day when they took off, which implied about seven or eight hours of rest. Nonetheless, it was a very fulfilling sleep long overdue. He stretched and cracked his back a few times, enjoying the rushing wind against his face.

"You're awake. Finally," said an annoyed female voice. "Sleep well?"

"Great, actually. Haven't slept in five days and man did it feel good," he replied with the most laid-back tone Gale had ever heard him use. He stretched, yawn indicating that he had, in fact, slept like a baby. However, something pulled at him, like he was missing something important, something… he'd seen. But couldn't recall what.

"Well, I'm glad you finally got your sleep," she said, with fake calm.

"Why do you sound so irritated?"

"Your Castform," she replied simply. _He should understand that perfectly, it's his pokemon anyway_.

Riven's nonchalant face quickly devolved into a deep scowl. "Did he break out of his ball? Wait, don't answer that. Rhetorical question."

"I had to snatch his pokeball from your belt to return him." Very dangerous thing to do while flying, but it was worth it to get the pokemon to _shut up_. "He's… eccentric, and unbelievably loud," Gale noted, not quite being able to formulate the correct word for: annoying, loud, demanding, arrogant, dramatic, and charismatic at the same time. Bombastic? Boisterous? She didn't know. "Does he always talk like that?"

"Most of the time. Sometimes I sit down and think about why I let him come with me in the first place. I think I've suffered some hearing loss from listening to one too many of his speeches. He's not that bad though." Riven shrugged. "Castform seem like good support pokemon. They have rain dance, sunny day, and weather ball, among other things. Boagrius and Aine are a powerful team with sunny day, makes even her _ember_ a force best not trifled with. Still need to find a use for rain dance in battles though."

_It already proved useful before, but Gale doesn't have to know that._

"His name's Boagrius?" Gale asked, trying not laugh. Just saying the name made Gale feel more masculine, and she was a girl.

"Doesn't quite fit does it?" He grinned. That was his reaction when he first heard it as well.

"Appearance wise? No way. Personality wise? Oh yeah," she agreed. "You didn't name him _that_, did you?" Gale's judging glance was upon him.

"No. If it was up to me, I'd probably name him something else. Short, not a mouthful and not ridiculous." He chuckled. "Some trainers call their pokemon Fifi or Rex. It's even worse when said pokemon happen to be _Arcanines_ or _Swamperts_. I saw a Dusclops named Ghosty in Slateport."

"Poor pokemon," Gale agreed, letting out a giggle. Dreadful indeed.

"Yeah…"

Having nothing else to really say, Riven let the conversation drop. Awkwardly so. The wind helped mitigate the stagnant silence, if but a little. Gale seemed to be waiting on him to say something, frequently switching from looking at the setting sun, to back at him.

"So, how long is the trip to Meteor Falls?" He started, trying to eliminate the awkward silence and Gale's strange head turning.

She put a hand on her chin. "Couple days. We'll arrive there in time for the festival!" She announced with excited glee, raising a fist in the air. She looked over back to Riven and noticed that he did not share her sentiment, and looked more confused than anything, blinking a couple of times.

"Festival?"

Gale threw her hands up, prompting a squawk from Kyne. "Oh you've GOT to be kidding me! You don't know what a festival is?" She was very much starting to think he was raised by Mightyena or that he actually _did_ live under not a Geodude, but a mountain of damn Golem.

Eyes shifted back and forth through the goggles.

Gale couldn't help but sigh, not out of irritation, but pity. "Do you know what the meaning of _fun _is, at least?" What did this guy even consider to be entertainment?

Emile made a loud, mocking chirp. _"His definition of fun is being in danger or in a fight. When you said he was an adrenaline junky, you were right. Except for him, it's only fun when he can actually control the outcome."_ The bird jerked deliberately, causing said human to tense up immediately. "_See?"_

"You don't know that for sure," Riven said dismissively, attempting to divert the topic. "It's not like you're a psychic."

"_Don't need to be. It's in your eyes, you crazy human. It's all there. When that Salamence was chasing us, you felt alive. Don't bother denying it. You had that spark, just like all those other trainers that go off and do dangerously stupid things for the thrill of it."_

Riven frowned in defeat.

Gale grinned. "I had him tell me the whole story while you were busy having your 'vivid' dreams. My sides nearly split open, I was surprised you were that deep in sleep. Must have been a _good_ dream." She giggled, and knew it would go right over his head.

"Wait. How can you understand him if you don't have a translator?"

The brunette stopped laughing and held up a scolding finger. "And _you're_ supposed to be the trainer. Didn't the more experienced trainers tell you that if you spend enough time with a pokemon, you eventually get to the point where you can practically speak to them? Translators are for lazy people."

His frown deepened, if that was even possible. "Other trainers don't usually talk to me and I only talk to them when I need information," he explained matter-of-factly, pointing a finger to his face. "Guess why."

Gale bit her lip."Yeah, I can see why that's a problem. Well… No one really knows how or why it happens, but most people and trainers usually, kind of develop this. Some scientists think it's because humans are sort of _really, really_ toned down psychics, and have some sort of extremely weak telekinetic ability. It's all science babble really, but the reason I know what Emile and Kyne are saying is because I've been around them since I was a little girl. I've recognized the way they make their sounds and gestures, it's like second nature at this point." She stroked Kyne's head and he responded happily.

"Psychics… that's… really weird," Riven muttered, thinking deeply.

"Hmm?"

"No, nothing. Just something I just remembered. Don't worry about it."

"You know, you saying don't worry about it is getting a little annoying." Don't worry about this, don't worry about that. It made her _want_ to worry about it, just to spite that saying._ Boys. Never wanting to talk about their problems. _

He shrugged once more. Gale rolled her eyes and instead focused on the road(err, sky) rather than pay attention to a guy that had never had any fun in his life, and whose facial muscles weren't strong enough to form a sincere smile.

"Let's land and get some rest. Well, the rest of us, anyway. You can keep watch," she said, with a cheerily forced smile.

He nodded in acceptance. _Graveyard watch huh? I'm up for a little nostalgia._

* * *

_So many colors._

Riven and Gale had arrived at the festival in time, walking inside and paying for the tickets(Riven's wallet was crying). Still, everything was so… colorful. And vibrant. Kids and other trainers rushed around, going to as many stands as possible. Every single food item was shaped like a dragon head he'd never seen before. It was even worse than Petalburg's obsession with the color red and pink. The high-pitched squeals of children didn't make things any better, either.

It got annoying, walking to everything Gale set her eyes on, but at the same time, the cakes and food were delicious- understandable too, after five months of tasteless Seviper and Linoone, anything with a sliver of taste was delicious. Even his pokemon couldn't stop shoveling food into their mouths. Everyone in the immediate vicinity stared like they were watching a pack of feral mightyena feast, but it didn't matter. It tasted _good_, etiquette be damned.

As they made their way through the place, Gale informed Riven that the festival was organized by Drake- one of the elite four. Apparently, it was a big deal for dragon trainers that came from different regions since there was a race where they could compete for a chance to get the golden dragon claw- which distinguished dragon trainers as good flyers and trainers. This year was Hoenn's turn, explaining why it was way out here in Meteor Falls, instead of Mt. Silver, where it was held last year in the Johto region.

The race had been pretty exciting to watch, and he had Charles scan several of the new dragon pokemon he'd never seen before; like Dragonite, Hydreigon, Garchomp, Druddigon, and Noivern. He also saw one of the Kanto starters- Charizard, as well. It wasn't a dragon, but it definitely looked the part.

After the winner had been announced and the golden claw was awarded, everyone headed back to the festival grounds.

"That was awesome! Did you see the way the Flygon trainer whipped up a sandstorm and used fire blast to create glass?" Gale gushed. She had been pretty happy with the result since she had bet on the Flygon trainer in the first place. Still, that combo? Way awesome.

"It was creative and effective, really well played. The other racers were great too," Riven agreed, strolling along with the girl among the booths once again, looking for anything of interest. "You're lucky you picked the dark ponyta of the race and won. That was a lot of money on the line."

Gale beamed, flashing several bills in his face. "Twelve plus three zeros." A wide grin and a twirl, as if taunting him.

"Stop that before my wallet makes me snatch your money. It has been very convincing lately," he said flatly, feeling how light his own was_._

"Going to assault me now?" She asked playfully, smirking. "Forcefully?" She giggled and edged closer. His face was already starting to show signs of discomfort, which made it hilarious for her.

Riven backed off a healthy distance and pointed to a random booth. "Look, win a pokemon egg!" He announced with fake enthusiasm, and rushed over. Gale burst out laughing and went to go join him.

The booths had plenty of games and prizes, the best prize being a pokemon egg. Riven eyed the eggs suspiciously, noting something off about them. He wasn't a breeder or anything but they seemed out of place. It could just be paranoia, after all. They were just eggs, it's not like they'd try to kill him. "A bit large, aren't they?"

The man behind the counter picked one up with some difficulty and set it in front of him. He adjusted his glasses and rubbed his chin. "Hmmm. Don't tell anybody this, but they are bigger than last year's. Much bigger actually. Wonder what pokemon they got in 'em. Must be something pretty strong by the looks of it- and expensive. Drake outdid himself this time it seems. Guess he wanted to top Clair. That Dragonair synchronization act had him raving mad for days, hehe."

"You don't know what's in them?" Riven asked warily. He could give away an egg to a kid lucky enough to land a coin in a bottle. Said egg would hatch- into something potentially dangerous, given the size. Baby pokemon were by no means harmless, as he'd told Sarim. An inexperienced handler of a baby pokemon could cause serious injury, and children were not good handlers despite everyone believing it to be _just fine_ to let a ten year old have a fire starter. If the baby pokemon was startled and was either an electric or fire type- well, it wouldn't be pretty. Quil came to mind. Will had gotten _lucky_.

"Well, I do but if I told ya, you 'experienced' trainers would probably laugh and walk away. What would be the fun in that?" He smiled knowingly. "If I told you that it was an oddish, or a wingull egg, would you still do it?"

Riven thought about it, and shrugged in acceptance. "That's true." They were pretty generic, and from what he'd seen, most trainers had fairly grand delusions of having a team of awesome pokemon. He had received so many jealous looks from people after they saw him with a Kirlia, Combusken, and Absol. If anything, he had lucked out there, especially when Baron and Haona came together.

"Want to try winning one anyway?" The man gestured to the bottles, holding out a coin. "First fifteen shots are on me."

"Think I'll pass, eggs wouldn't have a very good chance of hatching with me," Riven declined quickly. He was always moving, so it wouldn't be ideal to be carrying an egg around. With all of the crap that happened to him rather consistently, the likeliness for an egg to hatch was essentially nothing, adding on to that.

"I'll take the free fifteen," said a shorter, blue-haired boy, standing next to Riven.

"Okay! Here you go. And good luck." The booth keeper handed him fifteen coins and sat back happily.

Riven cocked his head, noting the teenager's vaguely familiar face. _I've seen you before… but where?_ He brought up countless images in his mind but he had no such luck. He knew he'd seen him somewhere but he couldn't for the life of him recall where. _It doesn't matter, I'll just watch his attempt for some amusement, I guess._

Nine shots later, and the teenager landed a coin inside the yellow bottle.

Gale's eyes widened. "Wow! He actually got it!" She congratulated the guy, who just rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "Nice aim! I've been trying to land one but no dice, hah!"

The teenager reddened, "it was nothing, really…"

The man behind the counter brought up the egg and gave it to him, with a wide smile. "Here ya go, youngster. Ya earned it. Raise it well ok?"

The boy held the egg, happy smile plastered on his face. The same as-

A light lit up in Riven's head as he caught a glimpse of a trainer belt. _I know where I saw him before!_

The guy nodded and was about to turn away when Riven tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up at long, shaggy black hair with a streak of white and a face better suited on an official. Growing a bit nervous, he asked, "Errr, can I help you?"

"I've seen you before."

Seab's face burned, ready to bolt or reach for his pokeballs- this guy looked questionable. He decided to do this calmly and prevent a freak out. "Where exactly, did you... um, see me?" Backed up a step for caution. Trusting guys like that wasn't wise, you never knew if they were packing something dangerous.

"At Brawly's gym, the Lucario trainer right? That Lucario is one tough bastard."

Seab breathed, exhaling relief. _He's a trainer, thank god. "_Oh, yeah. Ren is really determined. Were you one of the gym trainers?" Sad as it was to say, gym trainers were really forgettable. No one ever knew their names.

"No, I was just a trainer that spent some time in Brawly's gym until the ferry arrived, mostly watching others battle," Riven replied simply.

"Ah." He held out a hand. "I didn't catch your name. I'm Seab, nice to meet you."

He shook Seab's hand firmly. "Likewise, I'm R-" About to introduce himself, he was whirled around and slugged across the face. The blow made his head spin for a moment and a familiar tang of metal filled his mouth. Trickling blood, he whipped around, brow furrowed, ready to strike.

Anther fist came at him_\- Smaller_ _than usual. Not male?_ Reflexes kicked in and time seemed to slow down.

_If it's a gi- no, it doesn't matter. They attacked me._

Catching the fist, he tightened his grip and _twisted._ His attacker let out a high-pitched gasp of pain, only then did he look at her. Green eyes, blonde hair tied up in a spiky ponytail.

Gale freaked, "What the hell! You just sucker punched him! What is wrong with you!" This crazy girl just went up and punched Riven in the face, with not so much as a shred of _why_. Normal people didn't punch other people for no reason. She reached for her own pokeballs while taking two out of Riven's belt.

Seab reached for pokeballs too, seeing how badly downhill this situation could go. The noticeable pain in Amy's face from the amount of force that the guy was squeezing with looked painful. _Dammit, I know she's reckless, but that's no way to challenge someone! I can't let this escalate any further. It's like _I'm_ the one protecting _her_._

Pokeballs flew and thirty seconds later, blades were at necks, birds were circling in the air, and electricity crackled and sparked, ready to strike at any moment's notice.

Riven and Amy stood in the center, in a stalemate. Baron's blade was at her neck, and Veer's own was at Riven's.

Rage settling in the older boy's head, he stared into green, surprised. "Amy? What are you doing here and why the hell did you punch me?" He demanded, feeling the blade press up even closer to his neck. He growled, but the Grovyle didn't budge, regarding him with wary eyes.

Amy's brow furrowed. "I don't have anything to say to you." She tried to free herself from his grasp, but his hold was firm.

"At least explain why you assaulted me," he said with strained patience, still licking at the cut in his gums. He shot a glare at the Grovyle, who coolly stared back, with no hint of discomfort or worry.

"Or what? You going to kill me? Because that's all you know how to do," she spat venomously.

"What are you talking about?"

"Playing stupid is that it?"

"About what? I haven't seen you in a year or more and the first thing you do is sucker punch me? If anything, the one who should be answering questions is _you_," he got out through grit teeth.

"You know each other?" Seab and Gale asked in unison. Honestly, they were confused. Apparently, it hadn't gone well. Couple perhaps? They both thought about it, then dismissed it quickly; there was a higher chance of winning the lottery than those two forming any sort of relationship, let alone with each other.

Amy didn't remove her glare from Riven's face. "Unfortunately," she said with pure disgust. "I wish I didn't."

"What the fuck is wrong you?" He snapped, knowing that he didn't say goodbye to her on such hostile terms. "Why are you acting like this?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Let. Me. Go."

"No."

The leaf blade at Riven's neck drew a small trickle of blood. "Tell Veer to back off, or things will get ugly. I don't want to hurt you and cause a scene," he warned, expression growing dark. They had already attracted a crowd of onlookers that were just now realizing that this was no show. "I've already been in-" He shut his mouth quickly.

"-Trouble with the law? Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. Right, _Gray_? If that's even your real name," she hissed, like a Seviper about to strike.

Hearing the name made Seab's spine melt. This was Gray? THIS? The one in the- He backed up warily. "Ren, hold an aura sphere, don't let it go. Grum, if he moves, paralyze wave him." The guy didn't even need a pokemon to murder someone, letting him get close was a death sentence.

_I'm staring at a killer. This is bad... _

"Not so fast buddy," Gale interjected. "If your Lucario so much as twitches, Emile is going to make sure he stays down. As for your zap happy buddy there-" She released another one of Riven's pokemon, a Combusken.

"Busk!" Aine cried, settling into a stance, exhaling flame.

Riven shifted his gaze among the onlookers, hearing murmurs in the crowd and whispers of Petalburg. _Does she want to draw official attention?_ "_Not_. _Here_. There are children, you stupid girl." Amy finally looked around to see multiple children witnessing the scene, wide-eyed. Riven lowered his voice, "do you really want to scar them for life? Let's resolve this somewhere else, somewhere quieter and more secluded."

"So you can get rid of me?"

Riven remained silent, and straightened, pushing Veer's leaf blade away with his hand, careful not to cut himself. He nodded and Baron backed off as well, retracting his own blade.

Baron leaned in to hear Riven whisper something to him. Understanding, he turned his gaze towards Amy, eyes glowing blue.

_Meet us at the edge of the festival, near the equipment storage. We don't want to harm you, but if you do, we will not hesitate to take you down, even if you were his friend, once. Got it?_ The Gallade warned telepathically, extending a blade for emphasis.

Amy scoffed. "Fine. We'll settle this there." She beckoned to Seab, Lucario and Manectric following close behind. "Let's clear out before Drake and the other organizers come here."

* * *

"Who was that?" Gale asked, studying Riven's hard expression.

"She... helped me when I first started out as a trainer. We split ways in Petalburg, but- well, she didn't seem that hostile when we did. I haven't seen her since then. I wonder what could have set her off." _Maybe her mother relayed the message. No, that wouldn't warrant a punch to the face. Or would it? Irene, what did you tell her?_

"Sounds like she's crazy."

"Everyone's insane," he replied dryly. "Some more than others."

Gale frowned at him. Normally, she'd joke around, but in this instance it didn't seem appropriate to do so. Instead, she absently stood next to him and waited. "So, were you two a… you know, couple?" A very personal question, but she was curious. She doubted it, but surprises did happen.

His left eye _twitched_.

"Forget I asked."

"That'd be best." He huffed. "I didn't know her for very long. But she was the first- friend, I had. Here. If that makes any sense," he explained, with a hint of melancholy. "I'm from a place that's… really far away. Can't go back, and she was the first person I sort of felt- you know what? That's not important. Point is, we're just acquaintances. That's it."

Gale stayed quiet. She had a feeling there was a labyrinth of understated information there, but she didn't think it was her place to ask._ He'll chose what he wants to reveal. I'm just his flyer for the time being. It's not my business…_

Two people came around the line of equipment, the crazy blonde, and the mild-mannered blue haired guy from before.

Riven straightened and his reminiscent expression completely lost all readability. _He means business. _It was a look reserved for law enforcement, or people that had seen a lot of things. Many officials looked like that, and seeing it was never enjoyable.

The pair came to a halt before them.

Riven noticed Seab reaching for a pokeball. "No, pokeballs." At that distance, he could easily incapacitate the kid. He wouldn't even have time to get a second pokeball out; factoring in the egg, he'd be down before he could get one off. "Let's talk. It works a lot better than _surprise attacks_," he hissed, looking directly at Amy.

"Because, apparently, you're a silver tongue with the charisma of a champion," she retaliated. "I thought you'd feel much more in your element shoving knives into peoples' chests."

Gale swallowed. Not good. This was going to devolve into violence again. They were already exchanging venom and it had only just started.

_Only_ _a matter of time before pokeballs start flying again._ Her finger brushed past Kyne's ball. _He's doing too, s_he noticed, watching the boy with the egg doing the same.

"What. Is. This. About?" Riven's tone was steel, stopping short of intimidating.

Amy caught his look and part of her resolve seemed to crumble. That look. Definitely military or something of the sort, no other people could pull off glares powerful enough to shake others into submission. She resisted and willed up the courage to face him. "You lied to me."

"About?"

"I don't know, everything?"

Cold eyes didn't waver. "You're going to have to be more specific."

"First off, you didn't even tell me your name. Gray is an alias, and don't tell me it isn't." Amy looked over to Gale, who looked confused as to why she was calling Riven, "Gray".

"True. That isn't my name," he confirmed bluntly.

"Then why did you give me a fake name when I gave you mine?"

"Let me tell you something, Amy." He stepped forward. "Do you honestly think that total strangers are trustworthy? That they would all be the grandest of people and that they wouldn't harm a single golden hair on your beautiful head?"

"I never-"

"It doesn't matter _what_ you thought, or said. You expected a complete stranger to trust you?" He cut through, raising his voice. "The world isn't a good place. There are others who wish to harm you, whether you know it or not. You can't trust people after you first meet them. Someday, sometime, someone or something will want you dead or maimed. It would be a horrible _tragedy _if it was someone you trusted. Get it through your head. This is the _real _world, Amy."

_She isn't this petty, though._

"What's the real reason behind this?"

"The Petalburg incident," she said grimly. "That was you." Green eyes seemed to burn, like emerald flames. "You were the security guard, weren't you?"

Riven's eyes widened and his jaw clenched. Blood seemed to freeze in his veins. _How did she-_

As if reading his mind, Amy continued, "The news report was everywhere. And the recording of it was caught by Kalos television, which means that not only was it broadcasted to all of Hoenn, but Kalos too. They're scared of you, and you have no idea how much a mentally unstable trainer with a penchant for violence and willingness to commit murder _does_."

Riven looked like death had given him a hug.

Gale gasped. _Riven's… him? No, he wasn't- There _were _poachers_, she recalled, words falling into place. She edged away from him, in what seemed like shock. "The poachers, you-"

Brown and blue sadly stared back at her, in silent confirmation. "I don't - I don't want people to be afraid of me. I've never wanted that. It's a horrible feeling. But that's the price for doing what has to be done."

Amy's look softened. "Then why do you do it if it hurts so much?"

Riven turned back to her, grim. "Someone has to." He clenched a shaking fist. "Those poachers... they killed nearly all of the Absols, Gale. If I left them, they would go and kill more. And what did they ever do to them? Nothing. I couldn't let them do it again."

"You didn't have to do anything," Seab said quietly. "You could have left them to someone el-"

"NO! Of course I did! You _weren't there_. You don't have an Absol. Do you know what it's like? Seeing so many of your kind die in front of you? _She. Did. _Her face. Her expression. I never want to see that face again, not on my pokemon, not on anyone's. And you know the worst part? They laughed about it, joked about it, like it was a fucking game." Knuckles white, anger crept into his mind, before he willed it back down. "So I hunted the bastards down. They won't be hurting anyone else, _ever again_."

Silence.

"I wouldn't imagine you would understand, anyway. Trainers- no, people. All of you live in a sheltered bubble of delusional safety, rules, and regulations. Hard decisions have never been forced on any of you, so you don't know how to react when one does. Morals? Those go out the window, because it isn't black and white, or it wouldn't be so difficult, would it?" He regarded Amy, speaking about Petalburg again. "I only had seconds to make a decision. Do I kill them, and get rid of the problem, sacrificing my own image? Or do I let her die, and live with the guilt of failure, risking everyone else's lives in the process?"

Amy pursed her lips, struggling.

"So I chose the first, because it was my job to protect her. I had a task, and I completed it. I was not going to let her die. I did what I had to do to in order to carry out my task. Even if it meant resorting to lethal force."

Seab analyzed the man before him with a new perspective. He wasn't a cold killer, or a raging psychopath. The thought came as a relief, but at the same time, it was confusing. It was easy to condemn an insane killer, because they were complete monsters, devoid of sympathetic feelings, only wishing to destroy. He wasn't, and that made things _hard_.

Amy averted her eyes and shook her head solemnly. "I'm sorry."

Rage and anger dissipated. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault. Things happen, if we want them to or not. That's just the way it is."

"It's just…"

Gale spoke up softly, "-hard to believe. Right?"

"Yeah... It looked bad. On TV. Really bad. Maybe not to the people in Petalburg, but to the other cities, they see something else," Amy said levelly. "Contests aren't the same anymore. Everyone's scared, and jumpy. People got discouraged. A lot of coordinators retired. And they're looking for you, the guy in the video."

"But _why_?" Riven asked. He had left, he wouldn't cause anyone anymore problems like that. "I'm not going to do anything to them."

"They don't know that. Sinnoh's fault," Seab added quietly. "What happened there… gave trainers a negative stigma. People are wary of them now. That's part of the reason I came to Hoenn. There's less nasty looks." He shuffled his feet, not knowing how to proceed. "Trainers that are… _lethal_\- they're on a watch list. For better or worse, in case that ever happens again."

"I'm on a watch list?"

The younger boy gave him a silent "yes". "If it happens again…" Cut himself off abruptly, glancing towards the floor.

_Death._

Riven knew that was what he meant. Whatever happened there, was drastic. Enough to make them resort to immediate deadly action. _Kill_ _first, ask questions never_. Which implied that they seriously believed that trainers were extremely dangerous, no matter what. Given what he'd seen pokemon do in his time, Steven's warning made a lot more sense. _And those pokemon weren't at the champion level. If they were… _

Riven shuddered at the thought.

Gale looked like realization slapped her in the face as well. "That explains why there's so much Sinnohan immigrants these days," she pointed out. "Since about two or three years ago, a lot more Sinnohans have come to Hoenn. Mostly in the port cities, I hear. The biggest concentrations being in Lilycove or Slateport. Although, Mossdeep is gaining popularity."

Riven looked at her curiously, "How do you know that? You live way out in the plains."

"Does that mean I'm dead?"

_Argh. _"Point."

"Gray," Amy called out, voice level.

"Yes?"

"What's your real name? No bullshit. I don't want to find out more nasty secrets about you. One was enough."

_There's way more where that came from._ "Riven. Riven Cerul."

"Okay, Riven. How do I say this…" She waited for a few seconds. "Be careful. You don't know who you may have pissed off. And you might want to avoid the authorities, they don't know who you are yet, but they will if you fuck up enough times."

Riven nearly smirked, but held it back. _Too late for that_. Lavaridge made sure of that. The authorities must have kept it under wraps- no media coverage, or else everyone would know. And he would be thoroughly screwed. The fact that an army of officials hadn't subdued him yet was a good indicator he was still in the clear. "Thanks, Amy."

The blonde sighed, mentally vexed. "I'm not sorry about the punch, though. That felt good."

Riven smiled slightly, "I'm sure it did. I can still taste the iron." His stance relaxed, not on the edge of his toes anymore. "So, we... how do you say it- square?"

"Rematch me sometime and we will be," Amy grinned, punching his chest.

Seab and Gale couldn't help but smile also.

Even if Riven had done all of that, even if he had killed those people, deep down, he wasn't all that bad. Didn't change the fact that it was unnerving knowing that he had taken a life before, though. Still. It was best _not_ to get on his nerves, even if he wasn't as psychopathic as Seab envisioned.

"Well then. Should we go back to the festival, get some food, and introduce ourselves?" The Sinnohan suggested.

Three nods solidified the decision, and they were off.

* * *

**That, was a long chapter. Sorry for the delay, university and all. Expect chapters every 2-3 weeks. Maybe less if I get enough downtime from school. Except during finals. Because finals.**

**Regardless, I just wanted to say that I appreciate that _you_ are reading my story. Taking time out of your day to pay attention to a little known fic lost in the sea that is the pokemon section touches the soul. It's not about fame, or praise, but flexing the imagination and sharing it with others. I think that's great. In a way, reading stories is like picking a person's brains, it's quite something.**


	32. Crimson Impact

"When is this going to end?" Riven groaned quietly, glancing ahead to the other three. He looked at the female flyer with slight irritation. _When she says it does, unfortunately._

Gale mingled with Seab and Amy, incessantly going on and on about flying, breeding, and other pointless subjects they deemed were fun. He only stared in dull disinterest and silence as they blabbered, growing bored rather quickly, resorting to counting his steps just to entertain himself.

At this point, the group was simply walking aimlessly around the festival grounds as nothing more than an excuse to talk. While counting his steps, Riven started noting the stands he had passed before.

_56._ _Pokemon face painting area_.

"Yeah! You really have to know how to use the air curr-"

"-wow! That's so-"

_124\. Games._

"Well, it's really cold there and the gym is-"

"Red hair? Awesome!"

207\. _Food stands. Pastries. Not bad. Pecha berry cake, delicious._

Growing tired of counting his steps, he dug through his bag for his holo caster and dialed Ben, seeing as there was practically nothing else to do apart from listen to the other three's chatter. With luck, the backpacker would pick up and allow him to retain some of his steadily dwindling sanity. Without luck, he'd keep counting his footsteps until he decided to stab something repeatedly or smash his forehead against a wall multiple times until his cranium shattered.

A voice came through the device few rings later, extremely surprised. "Yo! You called me! That's a miracle in itself. What's the occasion? You _never _call me."

_Maybe because every time I try calling, it goes straight to voicemail?_ "I, uh, need something to do. Anything. Bored out of my skull here." Cringe worthy excuse, despite being wholly true.

"You're bored dialing me? _Really_?"

"Just a bit?" Riven replied sheepishly.

"Jeez. Am I worth _that_ little as a friend?"

"You seem to think that value was high in the first place."

Ben chuckled, he could almost see Gray's tiny smirk in his head. "Ass. So, where are you? Lots of noise in the background. Kind of hard to make out what you're saying." It actually sounded like a bunch of kids and laughter, probably a large crowd. Maybe he was in a town square?

Riven cupped a hand over the device and turned in a circle, glancing at all the scurrying children and pokemon, as well as the vibrant colors of the stands; the decorations full of reds, pinks, and blues. "I'm at a festival right now. Meteor Falls, lot of people. Kids. Games. Pretty good cake. A little cloudy, nice breeze out."

"You _have fun_?" Ben sputtered. "Whoa." He made an explosion noise over the phone, as if his mind had exploded into a million tiny pieces. "Is that even possible?"

A deep scowl formed on Riven's face. "Hanging up now."

"Wait! I was just joking!"

Riven huffed loudly. "Why does everyone assume I think fun isn't allowed? I'm not a statue that just so happens to be alive, you know. Contrary to popular belief, I do, in fact, feel joy. And smile when appropriate."

_Appropriate being never?_ Ben mused mentally. "Might be because you look ten shades of pissed all the time? You kind off give off the vibe."

Riven sighed, more or less a half growl than anything.

"Relating to that, how's it going with the _ladies_, by the way?" Ben asked curiously. "You drowning in skirts yet?" He was mocking him of course, the dude was about as blunt as a dropped hammer, and as tactful as a raging Fearow.

"You know that girl I told you about?"

"Some blonde, was it?" Ben guessed, vaguely remembering a tidbit about a blonde with a temper and something or other.

"Well, I met her again," Riven said calmly.

Ben scratched his head. It didn't sound proud, the way a good alpha male would be after an encounter like that. Then again, this was Gray. That guy's way of speaking was about as expressive as his name. Maybe he was a robot. Who knew?

"And?" Ben edged him on, already forming a smug smile. His hope for the gloomy trainer began to rise, like a blooming flower in the spring. "Did you score yet? Get down and di-"

Riven cut him off. "It was_ fantastic_, I assure you."

"Oh?" Ben insisted. "Like what? Did you get it-"

"I got punched in the mouth, chewed up over something unsavory and her Grovyle nearly decapitated me," Riven deadpanned. "Absolutely _riveting_ experience."

_Nevermind._ The blooming flower might as well have been eviscerated, lit on fire, and dumped in a tank of acid. You could practically paint walls with the sarcasm in that last statement. "Man. I didn't think you could screw up _that bad_. I mean, I did but wow." Ben cracked into a wry grin, holding laughter back as hard as he could.

"Stop mocking me. And wipe that shit-eating grin off your face."

Ben gasped. "How did you know that? I was trying my best to hide it. That's it. You are a hex maniac!" Gray liked dark colors, hex maniacs liked dark colors. They were serious and a little creepy, so was he! Therefore, Ben figured that he was undeniably a hex maniac. Maybe had some weird psychic powers thrown in there too. "No wonder you scare people and small pokemon."

Riven gripped the bridge of his nose. _Hold up_ _hand. Shove into face_. "I heard Sharpedo think of human meat as a delicacy," he said flatly. "Do you want to test that?"

A nervous chuckle. "Erm- for what exactly?"

"Science."

Gray? A scientist? That was pure unbridled nightmare fuel. "That's not funny."

"I think it's brilliant." A deliberate pause. "And a little hilarious. Watching you flail around…."

_Yeesh_. Why was he friends with this guy again? "Your sense of humor could kill a child… or three."

Riven snorted, "Roxanne told me the same thing. All of her students are still alive." Sure, it was as black as a bottomless pit but he blamed his time knee deep in bodies and blood for that. Humor helped make things a little more bearable. Anything that helped remedy the nightmares and despair was welcome, or else he'd have gone insane a long time ago. More than he was anyway, which by today's standards, was absolutely zubat-shit insane.

_Yeah… that isn't spine chilling at all._ "You're creepy and she's the, uh, Rustboro gym leader right?"

"Correct."

"She's pretty cute, to be honest …" Ben immediately flinched, almost picturing Gray's best look of disapproval.

Riven frowned. "Don't you have a 'girlfriend' whatever they call them? Won't she get jealous if she heard you say that? That's what couples do right?" At least that's what Riven overheard from passing conversations in the pokemon centers he'd been in. Although, he knew to take whatever preteens said about relationships with a _sea_ of salt.

"We're not five. Besides, Madelyne isn't here right now. Well, she's at work. Slateport bank. Stressful job. Poor girl comes back half dead every day."

"Don't you have a job too?"

"I actually got out an hour ago. I work in the museum. Pretty solid pay for such easy work." He paused. "What about you? Do jobs still sneer at you?" Ben briefly entertained the thought of Gray working in a pokemart, greeting customers with a smile- and swiftly banished the ludicrous image from his mind forever. _If that guy ever met a snotty customer, he'd probably feed them their teeth. He bristles like a sandslash above ground, with the same amount of paranoia._

"Sneer? Hmph. Soon they'll pick up weapons," Riven mentioned wryly."That… hasn't changed. I've been beating trainers for money but… they're getting pretty tough. I need to find a steady income source, sometimes the money just isn't there. Or it's too risky."

Yup. He was still shit out of luck. There was an alternative though. Ben thought it over, weighing pros and cons. "Hmmmm. You do have pokemon…. I guess...maybe. Could work out. Seems fitting…" Ben rambled to himself, barely audible over the phone.

"Ben?" Riven called out. "You there?"

"Still here. Anyway, I wouldn't advise this to just anyone, _especially_ not like 99.99% of most trainers since there's an _extremely_ negative view associated with it, but it seems to be more of your element." Ben lowered his voice, and looked around the restaurant he was in to make sure no one was hearing him. "You can try merc work," he pointed out, a hushed whisper.

Some trainers, if a miniscule amount- with military experience, usually- did become mercenaries; while the ones without military experience usually worked for professors that studied pokemon. After all, many with romantic thoughts of becoming champion never even made it past Victory road. _They never did say it would be easy._ _There's only one champion and four Elite Four. And those positions don't have a high turnover rate. Unless your region happens to be Sinnoh…_

"Merc work?"

"Mercenary work." There was a small 'oh', over the line. "But yeah, you can try that. _Amazing_ pay, but incredibly dangerous, and your employers may not be… the best of people, so to speak." In fact, he had no idea what most mercenaries actually did, he only assumed shady things. And violence, lots of violence.

Riven's interest seemed to increase slightly. "Define… _incredibly_ dangerous."

"My god. You've turned into an ace trainer. I feared this would happen."

"Details or Sharpedo," Riven said casually.

"Wow, you're serious." Ben whistled lowly. "Uh, let's see… if you get caught by the authorities, you're essentially fucked. And people _may_ just want to rid you of your life should you mess up. Forcefully. But that goes without saying."

Riven briefly thought about authorities, trouble, and people wanting to kill him. He shrugged. Nothing new. If they _weren't _trying to kill him, he'd be concerned. Very concerned indeed.

"As for location, I heard LaRousse is a good place to start. You wouldn't expect mercs to run around in a place all neat and nice like that, but you'd be surprised. As for what they typically do- well, that depends if you're fine with lots of violence. But I probably don't even have to ask do I?"

The line was silent for a moment. "Ben, how does a backpacker and mountain explorer know all this?" Riven asked, voice laced with paranoia. The facts just didn't line up. "And why do you think I'm fit for the task?"

A hearty laugh came through."I talk to people. Listen to them. A skill that comes in handy. You really should try it sometime. And you showed me the swords. You do things others don't. I could take a picture of you, frame it, and post a caption saying: _mercenary material- _and everyone would believe me. Yet, you wonder why people think you're a hardass? You _really_ need to smile more, it's glaringly obvious."

"I've been trying!" The exasperated trainer huffed. "It's just- hard. Being nice… to people. Smiling. It doesn't feel real." Smiling for no apparent reason was a waste of energy. All for "image?" Such future nonsense.

"That's just the way it is. I don't know where you came from, truly, or why it's perfectly fine to be stone faced serious all the time but you're in Hoenn now. It's peaceful and has good weather. Smile!" Ben replied, somewhat understanding. The people in Littleroot were extremely friendly, Gray was not. Started his journey there, perhaps, but he _must_ have come from somewhere else. There was no way someone like that grew up in sweet old Littleroot.

Riven bit the inside of his cheek and reluctantly accepted the fact."All right, fine. I'll head to LaRousse one of these days. Thanks for the advice, and for allowing me to keep my sanity."

"Sure thing."

"Bye."

"Wait!"

_Huh?_ "What?"

"This… uh, might be a strange question but, by any chance… did you find anything in the cave?"

That _was_ a strange question. "What cave?"

"The one back in Dewford? Anything, I don't know, shiny? At all?"

Riven hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should tell Ben. He wanted _that_ to stay hidden, in case someone came after his contacts for information. There was the fact that he wanted to know what it did before he told anyone apart from Steven about it; it could be dangerous. Will might have gotten lucky. Someone else might not be so fortunate."Nothing… why?"

Overcautious, perhaps. But what Ben didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Ah, okay."

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious, that's all. You never know what kind of interesting _things_ you might find in a cave. Anyway, I'll see you later, lady killer!" Ben hung up, leaving the young trainer fairly confused.

Huh. If that wasn't extremely suspicious, Riven would hug a Muk. He shook his head and slipped the thought into the back of his mind, choosing instead to think about the other things Ben had told him.

_Possible military related work.._. The thought vaguely enticed him; having something similar to what he did _the_n would probably do him good. However, he didn't want to work for someone whose name he didn't even know. Hired swords ran a dangerous life. Even more so than soldiers. At least in the military, no one tried to stab you in the back when things didn't work out. His paranoia was bad as is, he didn't need any more to add onto that.

_But it's an option_, he admitted truthfully. _At least consider it if things go wrong. _Then again, around him, when did they ever _not_?

Focusing his attention back to his group, he noticed he had fallen behind, and jogged to catch up to them. They were huddled in a crowd around the platform area, where the festival organizers were giving some sort of speech. Riven assumed the man in the middle was Drake. He waded through some of the crowd, stopping next to a familiar brunette who was trying to see over the crowd.

"What's this about?" He whispered into Gale's ear, who jumped at his sudden appearance.

Turning tamato red again, she jabbed him in the stomach, pushing him back slightly.

"Gah."

"Don't do that!" She scolded. His breath against her ear had felt extremely weird. Granted, it was the only way to actually speak to anyone in the crowd's noise, but still, it made her shiver. She breathed to calm herself down. "Drake's going to introduce the dance event, I think."

"Dance. Event." Riven echoed, catching the same mischievous glee he'd seen on Baron's face far too many times. The same look that always preceeded something that would either hurt or embarrass him. Often both.

_Oh no. You are not thinking what I think you are._

"Partnered," Gale mentioned sweetly, gently swirling her index finger, knowing he would rather jump off a cliff than dance.

"_Partnered. Dance_." He repeated once more, upper lip twitching in disdain_._

The brunette smiled widely, giving him a look capable of rendering most men defenseless. Why did just _thinking_ about saying no to her feel like he had cut an arm off?

_Argh. Must be the eyes. "_No. Even if your smile could melt _glaciers_, I'm not doing it. I've already paid a hefty amount to bring you here, I am _not_ going to dance." Crossed his arms and glared at her. He _would_ rather jump off a cliff. Or rush into a cave without any repels.

Actually, that last one he probably wouldn't try again, because zubats.

Her smile stretched even wider. "I'll fly you to Petalburg for _free_." She stood on her tiptoes, getting closer to his face, with the same smile.

_Bait. Bait. Bait. Not falling for it._

Riven shook his head furiously. "I'm going back to the stand with the pecha berry cake," he said quickly. Hastily turned on his heel to rush back, but was stopped by a hand, pulling him back by his hood.

Amy stood behind him, holding onto the hood tightly. "Oh, no you don't. You're not escaping this one. I want to see you dance, or die of laughter seeing you try. Dance with the lady, it's only _natural_ for a gentleman to do so," she said, grinning from ear to ear. "I guess you're the polar opposite of gentleman, but you get the idea."

Riven looked back at Seab, like a growlithe puppy that had been caught shredding the sofas, and about to be _punished_.

_That pleading look. Poor guy_, Seab mused. "Hey, egg here. You're on your own." Mouthed "good luck", as the girls dragged the guy over. He knew he didn't want to be in Riven's position. _They're going to step all over him._

Sitting on a bench, he watched in amusement as Riven was basically dragged along the platform by the girls, all the while looking _completely miserable_. It was even more hilarious some time later as the older boy shuffled his way back to the bench where Seab was sitting, looking like he was about to hit the floor and pass out.

"How was it?" The younger boy teased. He didn't really need an answer, from what he'd seen of the older trainer's performance.

"Ugh… don't remind me. My feet feel like they're going to break," Riven groaned, moving his foot in circles.

The Sinnohan burst into snickers. "No offense, but you really suck at partnered dancing." It looked less like dancing and more like human mop. "They were practically using you to clean the floor."

Riven chuckled and waved a hand. "None taken. That's the reason why they let me go. Good thing too, I don't think I would've lasted much longer." He looked back at the stage, seeing Gale and Amy dancing with each other, laughing joyously. "At least they're having fun."

"Yeah." Seab noticed the way the other trainer stared at the two; oddly observant and reflective at the same time. The two watched in silence as the dancers kept going, smiling and generally just having a blast.

"You're from Sinnoh?" Riven asked out of the blue, still looking at the platform. "Heard you talking about it with the two evil females over there."

"Uh, yeah." Seab confirmed, shifting the egg in his hands. "Snowpoint City."

"It's that city that's icy and snowy all year, right?" Riven assumed. It did have snow in its name, it only made sense. Unless it was misleading. "A friend of mine mentioned it briefly."

"That's right," Seab nodded. "It's always cold or chilly, and it's really quiet. Well, it used to be…"

"Used to be?"

"Before… a couple years ago." A solemn, downcast look came over the blue-haired boy's face.

"The Sinnoh incident, was it?" Riven acknowledged. He'd heard about it from Steven and numerous other people, but they never actually got into details. "People keep talking about it but never seem to have the decency to explain anything." _Pretty infuriating, to be honest_.

"Most people don't know the full story." Seab shook his head. "_I_ don't even know the full story. I was like nine or ten. The only thing I remember was our teacher not showing up anymore. Then there was a funeral. Then… came _everything_ else."

Riven raised a brow. "Who was your teacher?"

"The gym leader," he said quietly.

"Ah. How did he die?" A blunt and insensitive question, but dead was dead. If it was taboo to speak about the dead, how could anyone move on? He missed Nemos and all his other comrades, but they were gone. He accepted that already.

"It was a she. Nice too. Everyone liked her. But she got caught in a fight between a trainer and a really violent pokemon. She… didn't make it," he said solemnly. "She was the first gym leader fatality..."

Riven's eyes widened. "You mean to say, there were _more_ gym leader deaths?" Surely, that was no accident. Gym leaders might hold back often, but in a real fight? They were no pushovers. Flannery had completely changed outside of the gym, holding back several pokemon, even with type disadvantages. That easy gym leader thing was nothing but a ruse to give trainers inspiration; at least the earlier gyms. The leaders were _good_. And in real battle, they weren't afraid to show it.

"Three others died. And a lot of trainers. So many…" He made himself breathe, and continued, "pokemon centers got more and more empty, and these crazy trainers starting doing horrible things. It was really scary. The officials were useless, the champion was gone. Everything sucked. The few gym leaders left resorted to picking out experienced trainers and eventually, things got resolved. But not without a lot more people dying."

Riven bit his lip. _That sounds like every day in my world, but this time is different. These people didn't grow up in a war…_ "Is that why you hesitated to become a trainer at ten? You were at the correct age then, right?"

"Yeah. Most parents refused to let their kids start out, after reports of young trainers dying everywhere. My mom was willing to sit on me until the crisis blew over. At its worst, my parents thought about moving. Somewhere safer- like Hoenn." He looked up at the sky and the clouds. "I always wanted to see what summer was like. Snow gets dull when you see it every day."

"Hoenn has a little too much summer, if you ask me." Riven smiled faintly. He exhaled a quiet, controlled breath. "At least that passed. Hopefully, it doesn't happen again." He knew he'd probably eat those words soon enough; life had a nasty knack for… unpleasant surprises. "But the world seems to be trying its best to prove me wrong," he said, looking at his hands.

Seab turned his attention to Riven, who looked melancholic- and guilty. "It wasn't your fault. The media… just makes things look bad," he reassured."You were just doing your job, right?"

"I wish I could believe that," Riven murmured, low enough to be drowned out by the music and the crowd. That twisted pleasure. Bloodlust. It wasn't him; it was darker, alien. It was the very same feeling from Lavaridge and Forina. The most terrifying part was how it felt. _Good_. Damned _good_.

He clawed his hands and shook away the chill of the thought.

Seab stayed silent, leaving the other boy to his own thoughts. Petalburg was much more recent, and now he was on a _region's_ watchlist. It was one thing to be caught up in the crisis, it was another to _be_ the crisis.

Averting his eyes away from the platform for a brief moment, he noticed many of the organizers speaking to one another. More came. It was hard to notice with the music and the people on the dance platform, but Seab had good sight.

Standing up, the teenager jabbed a finger into the air, "look, over there."

Riven broke out of his thoughts and looked in the direction of the finger. _Festival organizers. Frantic. On edge. Running, not walking._ "What are they doing?" Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"I'm not sure. But I've seen it before."

"Where?"

Seab glanced at him, deliberately silent.

Riven nodded grimly in response. He noted what the younger boy hadn't said and put two and two together. "Shit. They're trying not to raise mass hysteria," Riven murmured, voice grave. "This _is_ going to suck."

Both trainers gulped, feeling a lump form in their throats.

Seab shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "But there's nothing out here." There were no pokemon in the immediate area, outside of the trainer pokemon. And people had to pay to get in the actual festival.

Riven watched as one of the organizers whispered something into Drake's ear, prompting the elite four member to drop whatever he was doing and rush back with some of the organizers elsewhere. _The worst things happen when you least expect them_."If it's enough to scare an elite four… I don't think we want to know."

The two exchanged glances and looked back to the stage, crowded with oblivious people.

Riven clenched his jaw, a feeling of dread washing over him. "I just wish we never find out_."_

Unfortunately, the universe never did favor him.

* * *

Two festival organizers rushed up to Drake, struggling for breath. They waited a few moments for their breathing to level out and eyed the surrounding area. "We have a situation, sir."

Drake raised a grey brow and scanned around, seeing a few wandering eyes. "Lean in and tell me, we don't want to alert any people to anything that could cause panic."

The man leaned in and whispered, "Distress call… rangers. Trouble. Utmost urgency." He pulled away, looking back at the dragon master.

Drake appeared heavily perplexed."Rangers? Why would they be calling here?" This was a festival, not a damn regional official office. He was an Elite Four member, sure, but that was no excuse. Couldn't they find someone else? He was busy.

"Sir, they're trained to call the nearest authority, that being you," one of the organizational staff at his side explained. "And…" He shifted uncomfortably, and his lips became a thin line. "This is a code 2A."

Drake's brows climbed, and nodded. "You three, let's go. Back to the organizational building. We'll discuss things there, there are people watching us," he said warily, noting two curious trainers observing them from a nearby bench.

_Code 2A… but why?_

"Sir, you've arrived." A female official announced. "We tried to notify you as fast as possible, the rang-"

"Yelena, what's the meaning of this?" Drake asked. "I hope this isn't a prank."

The official shook her head."Rangers don't prank. As the others probably told you, we received a transmission from a ranger outpost not far from here, outpost MF1- distress code being 2A. Here." She pointed a finger on a map, towards the northwestern edge of Hoenn, right at the heart of…

Drake's eyes widened, worry replacing the steady calm of an experienced ship captain and battler. Needless to say, it unnerved everyone in the room. "Are you sure? That's…"

"Incredibly close. And as for the validity, it certainly didn't come from the outpost in Fallarbor, we _checked." _She moved her finger a slight bit southeast. "This is us, we're only a few miles out. A flying type could easily get there. Or _here_."

A phone rang, and Drake picked it up on the first ring.

"Is this ranger outpost MF1?" Drake asked desperately. "Answer!"

"Yes, sir! This is head ranger Kilic. We sent a distress signal a few minutes ago, requesting assistance," the ranger answered. "There just aren't enough of us to contain the situation. It's getting worse."

Drake shook his head. "We can't send you anything. There are only two other officials here with me, we're overseeing the dragon festival!"

"Festival? Excuse my language, but damn, this is so fucked! This has never happened before and we have no idea what in the hell we're supposed to do! We need back up or things are going to get _ugly_."

"Calm down, Kilic. Tell me what's going on." Drake demanded.

A ragged breath. "No disrespect sir, but I don't think I have to answer that. Protocol dictates that outpost MF1 is only to transmit a distress call when one: the outpost is overrun, or two: there is a pokemon related emergency." He exhaled deeply, desperately willing down nerves. "There's only _one_ pokemon on the MF1 watch list."

Drake swallowed, hard. "No, no. They're not supposed to do that. It's not in their nature!" Meteor Falls had been peaceful, even throughout the Magma and Aqua crisis. Not once did the pokemon there act up. Why today? Why now?

"This is _happening_, sir! This is not a hypothetical situation!" The ranger continued, "we sent two rangers to scout the area. They haven't come back and the cries are getting worse. They're beyond pissed off."

The elite four took off his hat and scratched his head, wiping nervous sweat. "How long ago did this start?

"About ten minutes ago, all at once. You could hear the roars from _anywhere_ in the falls. Yesterday is when there was the most commotion though. Explosions. Electricity. Everything!"

Drake tried to piece things together, but it was as if they handed him random pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with mismatching edges. Nothing fit."But… that doesn't make any sense." Proud pokemon like that _never_ joined forces and attacked in unison. _Never_. It wasn't in their nature to do so. He would know, considering he had spent a majority of his life with such creatures. "What could get them riled up enough?"

"The eggs," said one of the booth keepers, voice almost a whisper.

"The what?"

"The eggs," he repeated. "It's the eggs!" His eyes shifted back and forth between the dragon master and the other two officials. "A trainer noted that they were unusually big. Too big for smaller children. I also noticed the difference from last year's branch of eggs. And the markings… they're completely different."

Drake turned to organizer Hayel, "You're were in charge of the pokemon eggs, where did you get them? Did you have a hand in this?"

Hayel seemed to shrink in the presence of the elite four member. "N-no! I placed the order f-from the usual company! Except this time, the eggs were extremely cheap! I thought it was too good to be true, until I met the delivery guy and he showed me the real deal."

Official Yelena glared at him. "What did he look like? And when were the eggs delivered?"

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, short hair. Kind of put me on edge, something just felt off about him." Hayel lifted his gaze slowly up to match Drake's. "They were delivered… yesterday, I think. No, it definitely was yesterday."

A sharp intake of breath was heard throughout the room, the only sound in the room coming from a ceiling fan overhead.

Drake turned to Yelena. "Call that company! I want to know what eggs were actually shipped. And who the hell this delivery man is. This ain't good." To say it wasn't good was an understatement. This was absolutely terrible.

Two minutes later, Yelena set the phone down, hand trembling slightly.

"What did they say?"

She swallowed. "Yesterday, the truck delivering the eggs was hijacked. The original Horsea eggs were stolen, but the truck still made the delivery. And they _don't_ have an employee by that description. The order of the eggs amounted to nearly fifty."

"I counted fifty eggs yesterday," Hayel said, placing a hand over his mouth.

Everyone paled, including Drake.

"Those… are _Bagon_ eggs_? Fifty_ of them?!" A nervous organizer croaked. "B-but why? Why would hijackers replace them with expensive bagon eggs?"

Drake growled, low and fierce. "Who said they bought them? They were stolen from the Salamence dens themselves. Whoever they were, their intention was to purposely anger them. Mothers are fiercely protective of their eggs, and will chase down _anyone _who takes them. Usually, taking one or two doesn't do much. Daring trainers have done it before, myself included, when I was younger and able. All of them however…"_ Taunting dragons? What's the _point_? Suicide?_

"DRAKE! SIR!" Kilic yelled.

"Boy! Calm down!" Drake ordered. "This isn't time for pan-"

"They're moving out!" He cried desperately. "Oh my god. Oh my god! DON'T LET THEM SEE YOU! CHRIS! GET INSIDE!" A loud blast was heard as wood splintered and cracked.

"KILIC! HOW MANY ARE THERE!" Screams. "HOW MANY!"

Several explosions followed. Then someone picked up the phone.

The ranger's voice was shaky, and full of pain. His breaths were shallow, as if he couldn't get enough air to breathe. The ranger was sobbing.

"Kilic, is that you?"

"N-no. Kilic's dead."

Drake wanted to curse. Badly. "How many of them, ranger?"

"_All of them_."

The line went silent as flames crashed down once again.

* * *

Amy and Gale left the dance stage to go meet up with the boys. They were just… sitting there, thinking hard about something, like they were pondering the meaning of life.

The blonde walked up in front of them, and waved a hand. _It's like they're in a trance._ "Hey." She snapped her fingers, breaking them out of their thoughts.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Pretty deep in thought there," she said. Not unusual for Seab, he always seemed to prefer thinking over talking. And well, Riven was Riven. Never said much apart from sarcastic quips anyway, even when she first met him. _Still, they should be having fun!_ Although, Rivy here already had his fair share, which was still hilarious.

Seab nodded. "Yeah, it's just- we just saw some of the festival organizers all jumpy and nervous. Didn't seem right." Of course, organizers were almost always stressed in order to keep things running smoothly, but this felt different and familiar at the same time, and _not_ in a _good_ way.

Gale tilted her head to the side. "That's odd. Nothing seems out of place."

Riven chuckled darkly. "It never does. Trust me. You'd never expect an _assassination attempt_ in broad daylight after a contest, would you?" His smirk fell. "Things are going to get _hectic._"

Amy exchanged looks with Gale, then with Seab. "I don't think I like your definition of 'hectic' very much…" His definition of hectic sounded awfully closer to "shitstorm" than crazy.

That was when they saw organizational staff scrambling, _sprinting_ in every which way. Drake came into view, yelling orders at the top of his lungs. He flung pokeballs out of his coat, releasing his team.

All four of them watched the commotion, and a sinking feeling completely changed the mood.

"What the hell is going on?" Amy asked, green eyes wide. "Drake is freaking out. Drake. Is. Freaking. Out." It wasn't any old panicking official with a shred of authoritative power. This was Drake. The second strongest in the _region_, behind the champion. And he was panicking. She had to admit, it was making her worry too.

"Astute observation." Riven said dryly- and shot up, scanning the area, looking for any threats. Suspicious people, weapons, unfriendly pokemon. Anything_. Something_ had to be bothering them, he wanted to know what it was, so that he could run as far away as possible, dig a hole, and pull it in after him.

"I'll going to go ask," Amy said, running ahead to one of the frantic organizers.

She returned less than a minute later, slightly irritated.

Riven raised a brow. "Let me guess, he told you _everything_ that's happening in a calm, collected manner?" He said sarcastically.

Amy scowled.

Seab bit his lip. "We can't rely on them. They won't tell us a thing, 'to not cause panic'. As if that has ever fucking helped anyone!" He said harshly, uncharacteristically angry. "We need to do this ourselves."

"That's all good, but… we aren't _Sherlock Holmes_, Seab." Gale gave him a weak smile. "Even if we tried, what could we possibly find?"

Everyone stood silent. Even Amy. Gale had a point. They weren't going to magically find clues to the puzzle and figure out what was going on. And if the organizers refused to tell them anything, they wouldn't get anywhere, no matter how hard they tried.

A woman in an official uniform headed towards them, face grave and pale.

"You four! Get inside one of the booths and bring as many people there as you can! Make sure nothing can see you from the skies! Got it?" She commanded, putting on her best authoritative voice.

Amy stepped forward. "What's going on? And why are we going to _hide_?" Hiding from the sky? What?

"Don't argue with me, young lady! As an official, I am ordering you to do it! This is for your safety, please understand." The woman dipped her head and ran off.

Riven pulled the blonde back. "Let's listen to her, we don't need officials breathing down our necks." _God knows I don't. Lavaridge was enough. _He practically owed the _champion_ for that. Chances are he wouldn't forget it any time soon. _Steven certainly won't._

Amy reluctantly stepped back and went with the others to a nearby booth, where other people and trainers were gathering. The center was cleared out, providing ample space to sit and stand. They organized several people inside and told them to sit tight, and not panic.

She exhaled, patience wearing thin_. Don't panic. Yeah, right_. Why of course, having an Elite Four in distress and then herding people up like Mareep without telling them anything wasn't going to make _anyone_ in their right minds panic. _So perfectly reasonable! Don't freak out because you shouldn't freak out_. _Stupid officials._

A younger trainer tugged on her sleeve- about eleven or twelve years of age- and asked, "do you know what we're here for?"

Amy smiled, "I don't know for sure. Sorry."

"Okay…" He had a mudkip beside him, who seemed far more busy trying to bury itself in the dirt than pay any mind to what was going on.

She clenched a fist and wrestled with the thought of _acting._

Minutes later, concerned trainers and festival goers began to ask questions. They also noticed the more experienced trainers and dragon tamers weren't with them. They were running around with the organizers, with _every _pokemon out of their balls. They were poised, ready. As if preparing for something.

_The calm before the storm._

Riven instinctively brushed Haona's pokeball with his fingers. He nearly took it off his belt, before steadily pulling away his hand. _I don't want to use her yet. She still needs time, but her disaster prediction would come in handy right about now._ He turned to the side, to see Gale eyeing his hand.

"Jumpy, aren't you?"

He chuckled faintly. "You're not? Look at those dragon tamers, they're waiting for _something_. I don't want to get caught by surprise and _regret it_. I was thinking about using my absol as a warning device but… I'm not sure that would be kind to her."

Gale cocked her head. "Why is that?"

"She was there, remember?"

_Oh, right_. _The poachers_. She nodded, bringing her out to fight before she was ready to face it again would be unkind. _Rather thoughtful of him. Some trainers don't even pretend to care about their pokemon's feelings._ "I see. Well, I guess we'll have to find out. Or if we're lucky, we won't," Gale said calmly.

"You're _surprisingly_ level-headed," Riven mentioned. She looked completely peaceful, in contrast to himself, whose body was practically flaring with alert signals, ready to fight or run away as fast as he could.

"Really? Because I'm pretty nervous right now." She showed him a slightly shaky hand. "All these people are making me nervous. I guess it's just the atmosphere. As a flyer, you have to be really calm, because if you mess up, it can mean the end. That's what my dad said all the time. He did some pretty crazy things to teach me control."

_I think I need some of that_. "Like what?

"He threw me off his Pidgeot and told me not to scream, only then he would go get me," she said levelly, a slight smile on her face. "It was scary at first, but then it felt pretty good."

_Maybe I don't need that._

"Crazy runs in the family then?"

She put on a half-smile. "I can revoke that free ride to Petalburg, you know." She wouldn't though, out of sympathy for that embarrassing attempt to dance on his part. He tried, at least. And it was fun, maybe not for Riven but it sure was fun for her.

"I mean, uh," He met her gaze, and gave up. "Damn." Meekly, he apologized.

Gale laughed and poked him in the stomach again. "Dork!"

"Can you please not-"

A volley of roars rang throughout the air, cutting through any and all chatter like a hot knife. Children didn't dare move. Even the dragon trainers remained fixed to their positions. The roars got closer, sending chills down the spines of every human and pokemon on the ground.

Seab looked around, seeing peeks of the sky. "What. Was. That?"

As the roars came closer and more pronounced, everyone began to panic, some even started to cry. Desperate people jumped over the booth desk and took off running. The organizers tried to calm the crowd, but there were simply too many people. In the midst of the panic, Riven remained anchored to the floor, eyes wide, skin pale; he looked like he had seen a ghost.

Gale and Amy shook him, snapping their fingers to get him to respond.

"Riven!"

"Is he broken?"

"I don't know!"

Then, Riven opened his mouth, wetting dry lips. "Those roars. Shit. Shit. Shit," he whispered under his breath. He knew that roar. He knew it all too well. After facing _one_ of those, he couldn't ever forget it. That battle cry wasn't, _I'm-in-charge_. It was, _I'm-going-to-obliterate-you-from-existence_.

Amy looked bewildered. "You know what pokemon is making that noise?"

Riven's fingers felt like water and his spine felt like it had turned into a fine mush. "That's not just one pokemon," he said ominously. "And I know _precisely_ which one_ that_ roar belongs to. And let me tell you, it's out for blood." He clapped a hand to his head in disbelief and nervously ran fingers through his hair.

Seab swallowed. "Which pokemon is it?" he asked, fearing the confirmation to his hunch. If he was right… they weren't in a good situation at all.

"Salamence," Riven affirmed. "Which means, a lot of those people out there are going to die if they don't find cover soon. Those were _a lot_ of roars." Not one, or two, or three- maybe ten, fifteen, twenty of them? Either way, those were fully grown _wild_ Salamence. Not many things made him want to throw everything down and head for cover. A pissed off dragon? Definitely one of those things.

Seab, Amy, Gale, and everyone else still in the booth with him seemed to shut down.

That's when the first explosions were heard. The hollering of orders from trainers were heard, and the jets of fire began to rain down. Across from them, they saw a Garchomp hurling rocks and shooting blue flames out of its mouth, supported by a Golduck shooting ice beams into the air.

Within a minute, the sky and earth became a battleground. Booths and tents were being set on fire and some unfortunate people were caught in the crossfire. The screaming is what got to Riven.

Memories and pain slammed back into him, and he huddled into a corner of the booth, holding his head in his hands. _No, not right now. Not now. Can't. Have to stay calm. It passed! This is different! _Cold sweat. Shaking hands. _Need to breathe! _He gulped for air and slowed his breathing, fighting tooth and nail not to succumb to memories of the past. But the fire and the screams made it _so hard_…

Amy closed her hands into fists, and nearly vaulted over the booth table when Riven fought through the memories, shot up, coiled an arm around her waist, and planted her back inside.

"What the fuck are you doing!" She yelled angrily.

_Keep calm. Control_. "What are _you_ doing?" He shot back, eyes narrowed.

"I'm going to go help the other trainers! There's too many Salamence for them to handle! They need help!"

Riven shook his head, ignoring the piercing migraine he was getting. "With what? Your Mareep and a Swablu? Veer is useless against them."

"Mila's an Altaria now. And Jak is a Flaffy," Amy clarified. "Mila can help, she knows dragonbreath."

"And how long ago did she evolve?"

"Three weeks ago."

Riven _stared_. "You plan to take on several, fully grown, _experienced_ dragons- with a newly evolved Altaria and a Flaffy? What a _fantastic_ idea. Did you make sure to pick out what color of burial urn you wanted? Because there's no way you're coming back from that unless you're a pile of ash."

The blonde slashed the air with her hand. "Let me go!" She said fiercely. "I'm doing what needs to be done! That was your excuse! You did what you had to then, and so am I! I have to do this!"

Riven gripped her shoulders before she could take off again. "That's different!" The situation was leagues different than what he had done. Those were people. These were _dragons_. That could breathe fire and fly.

"Of course it is. You don't think I can do this, do you?"

"That's not what- dammit, Amy." He paused, picking his words carefully. "In Forina, I ran from a Salamence on Gale's Pidgeot. I _narrowly_ got away, but not without being launched into a tree by a hyper beam, which absolutely _leveled_ a section of the forest. Don't even mention the rest that got set on fire. Emile couldn't even outrun it. That was _one_ dragon, Amy. _One_." He looked up, peeking up towards the sky, seeing familiar red and blue fighting it out with the other trainers' own dragons. Shot a finger in the air. "There are about thirty or more up there. I don't want to be the one to tell Irene that her daughter is dead." He held her firmly as she struggled. "Don't. Do. That. To me."

"But we have to do something!" Amy pleaded. "We can't just stand around while people die!"

"Maybe so! But if you just rush off like an _idiot_, I will have Baron fetch you, bring you back, and sit on you until you see sense," Riven warned. "I can't believe I'm even saying this but- if you're going to be a hero, don't be a _stupid one_." Risking your life for someone else's was already a brainless move, having no plan while doing so made things _that_ much worse.

"He's right," Seab added sternly. "You can't just charge in there thunderbolts blazing, Amy. We need a plan or we aren't going to save _anybody_."

The blonde shot a heated glare to the Sinnohan, and relaxed. "Do _you _have a plan then?"

"No. But we need to see what we've got to work with first. We can come up with a strategy from there," he explained, unfazed. "As it stands, the only pokemon of remote use in my team is Grumpy. Ren is weak to flying and fire, and Comet couldn't do anything against a dragon if he tried."

"I have Mila and Jak."

"Dragonbreath and more electric support, yeah. You, Riven?" He asked.

The black-haired trainer thought about his team. "My Combusken won't be of any use. I have an Absol too. Apart from that, I have a Gallade with thunderbolt and a Castform who knows powder snow."

"Does your Absol know ice beam?"

"Yeah, but I doubt she'll be able to hit anything with it. She can only use it ten times before she has to rest. I wouldn't count on it too much, flying types are hard to hit normally, and Salamence are faster than most," Riven reasoned.

"I can help too," Gale announced, determined.

"What? No. Both of your pokemon are flying types. They'd get killed easily, whether it be dragon claw or dragonbreath. And having Emile out right now? Not a good idea. You saw how paranoid he was in Forina." If he saw the amount of red wings up there, the bird would probably die of shock.

Gale's determined look fell. "Oh…"

Riven put a hand on her shoulder, and shook her slightly. "Stay safe, leave this to… us." He still had some difficulty acknowledging that what they were planning to do was extremely and utterly stupid, as well as in vehement opposition to his personal code of survival. "You're a flyer, not a trainer. You should stay back."

She sighed, and nodded.

He turned back to the others. "Still, even if we combined all of our attacks, our pokemon can't possibly make a dent in more than a few dragons before they get winded. Especially with few type advantages to exploit. It'd be like trying to break a wooden door with your fist." You could probably make some progress, or you'd break your hand trying. Either way, it was going to hurt.

Seab grimaced, thinking. Ice blue eyes were cold and calculating.

Riven noticed the boy's face, knowing that dozens of scenarios and plans were circling around in his mind, evaluating what would work and what wouldn't. He couldn't help but shudder. _A tactician's look. That's what that is. My father looked like that whenever he made plans. You're a little genius aren't you? Maybe there's hope after all._

"Riven, does your Castform know rain dance?"

Raised a black brow. "Of course, but water is just going to tickle them."

"That's what you think." The blue-haired boy smirked, and turned back to Amy. "You remember what they said in school?"

"About what?"

"Rain dance and lightning. When it's out-" He cut himself off, allowing her to finish.

The point clicked in Amy's mind, and the blonde broke out into a determined grin. "-_thunder never misses_." The combination was well known, but difficult to pull off in a conventional battle. But this wasn't a _conventional _battle.

Riven remained skeptical. "A thunder powerful enough to hit all the dragons at once? Is that what you're getting at? It might just work, but your pokemon would have to be at the champion level or hell, even legendary to pull that off." There was no way Jak or Grumpy could do that.

Seab flashed a wry smile."You ever heard of lightning rod? It's an _interesting_ ability. But first, we're going to need some help."

He called out to the other trainers, and began discussing the plan.

* * *

**A/N**

****Also, you may notice a bit of references to a certain popular fanfiction about a certain trainer and a numel starter. This is sort of a fanwork of a fanwork, and I probably won't use any of that author's characters out of respect, only allusions to events that occurred in the story. Hint: It's the second most reviewed story for the pokemon section and starts with a letter P(also on my favorites list) and is by a certain _Digital Skitty_. I highly recommend you read that _first_, or you will be very, _very_ lost. It's a great read too! ****

**The plot will began to rear its head much more from now on. Or so I think. Could be I'm writing as I go along or I actually know what I'm doing. Mystery, really.**

**Anyway, sorry if this released a little later than anticipated. Midterms are **_**delightful**_** and learning calculus on your own again is 5068708078695868974695% fun.**

**Sarcasm aside, thank you for taking time out of your day to read. Favorite/follow/review at your own leisure. Oh yeah, almost forgot. Happy Halloween everyone!**


	33. Lightning's Dance

Steven Stone sat at his desk, looking over notes and reports made by the scientists downstairs. A glass of wine lay next to him as he flipped through the pages. Running a hand through his slightly disheveled hair, he reclined on his chair, trying to make sense of what he was reading.

"This is... how is that? What the..."

Shaking his head, he took the wine glass and gulped it down.

The elevator to his office dinged and the doors opened, revealing a cheerfully familiar champion. Wallace gracefully made his way inside, completely ignoring the caches of pretty little stones he'd seen many times before. His favorite was still the water stone, because water pokemon were more majestic. He could argue for ice but eh.

Steven eyed the approaching champion and slowly set the wine glass down, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, as opposed to his usual mannered way via handkerchief. The former champion had black bags under his eyes and looked like he'd been up for _at least_ two days straight.

The champion frowned. _He looks terrible. _Although, that was pretty normal for Steven. Wallace often wondered how the shut-in was still alive. Let alone how the busy-body found any time to eat.

"Wallace, how many times have I told you not to come into my office without an appointment? It doesn't look good, you know," Steven said, massaging his temples. "There's a procedure to these things."Wallace already came in three times before, and Steven nearly got his ear chewed off by Barbara about it. She was very strict about procedure.

Wallace laughed and held up a hand. "But I'm the champion! And your friend. Can't I visit my friend?"

Steven gripped the bridge of his noise, trying to rein in a headache. "This is a business. The shareholders couldn't care less if you're the champion. It doesn't look professional to have people barging into my office uninvited," he said dryly. "Wait, why _are_ you here anyway?"

"Why, I just came to visit you!" Wallace cheered, flashing a bright smile. "I just thought, gee, why don't I check up on my good friend Steven Stone and see how he's doing. Maybe go eat dinner, have some fun. Because he kind of needs-"

"You're shirking your duties again aren't you?" Steven cut him off. He refilled the glass and took a sip. "You wouldn't come all the way from Ever Grande to see me look at rocks. Considering they bore you to death." Honestly, he was just waiting for the eccentric champion to start complaining about how rocks were dull and how it was better to go out and have fun. Which meant watching Wallace create ice sculptures in the lobby. How great. If only he knew how much the janitors hated him for that.

"Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone," Wallace said, looking around suspiciously. Then sighed, knowing he wasn't fooling anyone, especially not someone as sharp as Steven. "I _really_ need a break, Stevey. I thought being a champion was about battling the strongest challengers in the region, not acting as a glorified desk attendant. My pokemon have been getting so restless lately." He clawed his fingers and flicked his bang dramatically.

Steven attempted to sit straighter, _trying_ to be polite, but he was far too tired to do that. "More damage reports?" The paperwork during his time as champion had been certainly daunting, with the Magma and Aqua crisis. But considering he was raised to practically run a business, it wasn't anything new. But for a coordinator and beauty crazed battler like Wallace? Absolute nightmare.

The normally cheery man turned into an exasperated and frustrated wreck, ranting. "Whole berry fields being razed to the ground by fire! Damage reports! Property damage! Of all things, that! Even complaints in the cities are flooding the league offices. Apparently trainers are being blamed for it, which means _we_ have to deal with it." He huffed and had to pause to catch his breath. "Glacia's been so cranky lately."

Steven raised a brow, surprised. A stressed out Wallace was never good. He might just take him shopping to release the stress. And _that_, was one thing Steven definitely _didn't_ want.

"That's odd. Aren't berry fields purposely situated farther away from the routes so that fire starters don't accidentally set fire to them? And aren't battles prohibited in public areas in the first place?"The berry fields were found in central Hoenn, near Mauville, due to the fact that storms brought rain often, in addition to the naturally fertile soil found there. Usually, mid level trainers were common there, so most of their pokemon hadn't even learned the strongest of fire moves yet. It was highly unlikely for an ember or a flamethrower to reach that far.

"You want to try and tell the people filing these complaints that?By god logic!" Wallace said sardonically. "Battles are prohibited in town squares and there are big, _visible_ signs posted near the fields specifically warning trainers of a hefty fine should they be found battling there. But oh noooooooo. When in doubt, blame the trainers." He sighed. "Unfortunately, we don't have a better explanation."

"There are frequent thunderstorms near Mauville," Steven pointed out. "A stray lightning bolt could have started the fire." He recalled a particularly nasty one he'd been caught up in while visiting the city. The fact that Manectric and Electrike made their homes near there was fortunate, or else there would be too many fires to deal with.

"Name one time that's ever happened."

Steven raised a finger, about to respond, and promptly set it down.

"Exactly! Not once! Electric pokemon attract the lightning bolts, so nothing ever gets lit on fire. If fires start, they're probably intentional or accidental. But accidents are highly unlikely…"

"Conspiracy?"

"Don't be ridiculous Steven. You're starting to sound a little crazy." Wallace waved a hand, letting go of the issue. "Anyway, that's enough about my woes, what about you? Still looking at rocks? Avoiding the sun? Other living beings?"

Steven frowned again. "I'm not a vampire. And yes, more rocks." He picked up the wine glass and drank some more. "Although, this rock is less rock and more sphere."

"Hmmm." Wallace noted the wine bottle on the desk and picked it up. _Mossdeep Brewery_."I didn't know you drank." A drunk Steven… he'd like to see it. And record it.

"I don't. But it's the only way to convince myself that this makes any sense," he said, stabbing a finger at the paper on his desk. "I think the alcohol's been helping. It doesn't hurt my head as much." _I really should sleep soon, my eyes feel like lead._

Wallace set the bottle down and picked up the report, flipping through the pages with a serious expression. Skimming through the pages, he set it down gently and crossed his arms.

"Crazy isn't it?"

A brisk nod."Of course."

"You understood that?"

Wallace laughed loudly and flicked a bang again. "Absolutely nothing!"

Steven refrained from slamming his palm against his face. Why did he even ask?

"Would you kindly put it into layman's terms for me, dear Stevey? Assuming it's even remotely interesting." Knowing Steven and his rock obsession, probably not.

Steven exhaled irately and picked up the paper. "I'd have to explain too many scientific concepts. I know you don't particularly care for many of them so I'll spare you the headache, you're stressed enough as is. Basically, it's about this." He set a small blue sphere with white markings on the table, a soft blue glow emanating from its interior.

Mesmerized, Wallace reached out to touch it. Steven slapped his hand away.

"No touching. I know it's certainly entrancing but please, keep your hands to yourself."

Wallace pouted, and straightened. "Okay, I won't touch it. But what is it? It's beautiful! So majestic! So… perfect." The epitome of beauty! Perfectly spherical azure sphere, with the brilliance of innate white carvings, no doubt made by a master. Oh, just dazzling!

Steven glanced at it and grimaced. "A complication. Something that has been sitting around undiscovered for a very long time. You remember the boy that got hospitalized in Lavaridge?"

"You mean the one whose room you came fuming out of? That was a nasty piece of work," Wallace said apologetically. "The council hasn't shut up about that, you know. Luckily, they've kept it under wraps but if anyone finds out, ho boy." That would mean political wildfire and dwindling support for the already unpopular league and even more pressure from the council. Which for Wallace, would be _just dandy_.

"Yes. Well, he gave me this. Said he found it in a crevice in Dewford while he was exploring a section of Granite Cave," Steven explained. "Also, he alluded to something in the desert. I believe it was the lights that Wattson observed in Mauville."

"So you think they're related?"

"More than just a little. He was _there_, Wallace. And now he probably doesn't want to talk to me anymore. There go my chances of getting any details out of him. He has a tendency for understatement and… unbelievable story telling." But it didn't seem so far-fetched anymore, given what Lorence had discussed with him. However, the rational side of him appealed to gathering more evidence before making outlandish claims. To even think that his time travel story was feasible had Steven thinking the lack of sleep was affecting his rational judgment.

"A little too harsh on him back there, huh?"

Steven shook his head. "No, he needed someone to open his eyes. But I admit, I could have gone about it more… tactfully. I haven't had a good record of that with him. I've no idea where he is now." Honestly, in the several months since then, the young man could practically have gone anywhere. He'd guess Fortree, but really, he had no clue.

"Have you tried calling him?" Wallace suggested. _For all of Steven's etiquette, when he blows up, it's as harmful to others as it is to him. Just keeps everything bottled up under that mask of politeness. Can't be healthy._

"Never answers his caster." Steven had tried calling him many times, but the answer machine kept saying the number was unavailable. Either Riven was intentionally avoiding him-most likely- or he never remembered to charge his blasted phone.

"He is a trainer. Maybe he retreated into the wilderness? They seem awfully fond of doing that, despite the increasingly hostile pokemon lately." The champion paused to think. "You don't think he's… you know?"

"No. That kid's as tough as nails. He got thrown through a window by a machoke and kept on going." That should have easily smashed his ribs to pieces, and possibly cause massive internal bleeding. But the boy had walked away with fractured ribs and very minimal amount of time in the hospital. Too little in fact. Almost inhumanely fast. Not unlike that of a…

The water specialist winced. "For a trainer, he's pretty scary. He doesn't even need pokemon. He could probably win all his gym battles by himself!" Wallace joked, making fighting poses.

Steven was _not_ amused_._

Disapproval face. Uh-oh. "That… was in poor taste wasn't it?"

"Yes. Yes it was."

Wallace chuckled nervously. That boy was deadly, and he knew it. And Lavaridge wasn't anything to sneer at. The gentle atmosphere of the town had been _completely shattered_ in one day, and something had spread. Unofficially. Through the trainers. Not to mention how Flannery was taking all of it. "Ha-ha, so erm... the sphere?" He diverted awkwardly.

Steven cleared his throat and organized the papers on his desk neatly. "Back on topic, the peculiar thing about this sphere is its age. It dates back to about twenty thousand years." Wonder danced in his eyes. "The clincher? The ruins in the desert date back to roughly the _same time_ period."

"The same time period?" Wallace questioned, stunned. "But Dewford is so far away from the desert! How is that even possible?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell myself," the rock enthusiast replied. "And there's another thing. This sphere is remarkably similar to two stones. One every trainer is familiar with. And another only found in the distant kingdom of Rota near the Kanto region."

For the first time ever, Wallace was interested in rocks. Well, he liked evolutionary stones."Go on."

"Pull up a chair."

After Wallace had sat down, Steven continued. "All right, first, let's go back to the archeology. I dug through some records of digs located in the desert and came up with very _intriguing_ results. They appear to be coincidences, but they are too perfectly related to this to be 'just coincidences'."

He took in a deep breath.

"The ancient civilization estimated to have existed twenty thousand years ago were rumored to be the ones who built the gigantic pokeballs, as well as the creators of the Claydol. I'm sure you've heard of them. Largely speculations, but there have been evidence of Claydols protecting the ruins located there and archeologists have found remains of the gigantic pokeballs. Still, the oddest part of it all is the fact that the civilization disappeared suddenly and without explanation."

They practically vanished, all at once. For no discernable reason. Scientists and archeologists were still baffled by it, despite many times trying to find out what happened to them. They didn't even disappear due to food shortages, like many other civilizations they had observed. One second they were there, and the next- gone.

Wallace held up a finger. "I heard about that. It's one of the mysteries of the world, right?"

"Yes. Based on what I read from several scientific journals, they estimated that the civilization disappeared about twenty thousand four hundred years ago, give or take." He picked up the sphere and stared at it in awe. "Using several other tests, Devon scientists determine that _thi_s was apparently created during that time frame, at twenty thousand four hundred and fifty-seven years."

"You can't say that those ancient people created this. There could have been two separate civilizations at the same time." Wallace figured. "Dewford and the area near Mauville? There's an entire sea between those two!"

"Not when they have the same stylistic markings and engravings." He took out a photo of some carvings on walls found in the desert and compared it to the markings on the sphere. "See this photo? Those were some of the markings found near the Regirock ruins and some other crumbling structures in the desert. We had no idea what they meant or what they were used for. Until now, I assume."

"Oh…well. That's… how? They're-"

"The same." Steven grinned like an idiot. "And that brings me to the second thing, the similarities between stones. This sphere here largely resembles the composition of a water stone but _also_ of the crystals found in Rota. Like a mix between the two. Except, in Rotan legends, humans have been able to manipulate the energy within the crystal using a special wavelength of 'lifeforce', known as _aura_."

"So it's like an evolution stone?" Wallace pieced together, a little lost.

"It might be more than just that, it could be an energy source and possibly even something else, if it's able to be manipulated." Steven summarized, with a slight severity to his voice. Tapped his finger on the table. "Evolution stones hold massive amounts of energy in them, and only react to certain pokemon, right?"

Wallace nodded.

"Well, I don't think this was meant for pokemon. These people… they could have used these spheres for energy. Or even creation and…" He stared intently at Wallace. "_Destruction_. Maybe something else entirely. The potential is there. My contact warned me not to touch it, in case it did anything. We brought in an eevee in which to test it on, to see if it was, indeed, an evolutionary stone."

The water master's interest peaked again. "And what happened? Did it become a magnificent Vaporeon?"

Steven shook his head ruefully."Nothing happened. The stone lit up brightly and the eevee's body began to glow but then it just seemed to die out. As if there wasn't enough. It was certainly peculiar."

"Huh. A dud?"

"No, I suspect that whatever occurred in the desert used up a massive amount of its stored energy, rendering it relatively inert," Steven theorized.

"Please, Steven. Layman's terms?" Wallace urged, not a scientific man in the slightest.

"It means it had a lot more energy before. Energy that could be used for evolution. Maybe even a _different_ form of evolution. Who knows."

Wallace's brows climbed. "Like mega-evolution?" That had peaked the interest of scientist and trainers alike. Apparently they had opened mines in Kalos looking for the rare stones, as well as an increase in popularity for the pokemon capable of mega evolution. Smugglers trying to catch Absol were becoming a problem. There wasn't many of them to begin with.

"Possibly, but not quite. Those stones draw directly from the legendaries themselves, who hold unimaginable power. Those stones can't be reproduced. But this… This is entirely manmade. And that's the crazy part. We haven't been able to manufacture evolution stones, despite our best efforts. But _how_ could an ancient civilization twenty thousand years into the past be able?"

Wallace was stupefied. "Whoa."

Steven grabbed his friend by the shoulders, shaking him."This is huge, Wallace. Huge!" He said with the most glee Wallace had ever seen on the shut-in.

The champion fell into deep thought. "But then, why did the people disappear right around the same time? This had to have something to do with it, right? It had to have been hidden for a reason"

Steven reclined back into his chair and considered the thought. "You know, I never thought about it like that. That's… interesting. This may require a little more research."

"A _little_?" Judging by the mountain of papers to the bottom right of the hermit, a little more meant waterfalls more. Wallace shuddered thinking about it.

"Regardless, isn't there something you should be doing, Wallace?" Steven said, furiously digging through a pile of papers. "Like looking over damage reports?"

Wallace shivered, picturing Glacia's icy glare and the amount of reports he had left on his desk. "Sometimes, I wonder why I'm doing this. Drake must be having fun with his festival."

* * *

"What am I doing, Charles?" Riven asked, holding his pokedex while trying to ignore the fierce sounds of battle.

"Well, sir, considering what you told me of the situation and aptly naming it, 'shitstorm'. I want you to tell me how you would describe what you are about to do," Charles replied, cool as ice.

"Let's see," Riven said, counting with his fingers. "Stupid. Reckless. Suicidal. Altruistic. And did I mention completely stupid?"

The pokedex was silent for a moment. "Yes, you have outlined all of the necessary qualifications."

"For what?"

"What you are doing, of course."

"Which is?"

"I believe it's called, according to popular culture, being a 'big damn hero.'" Charles concluded. "You fulfilled them all to a T. I suspect you're doing it to prevent a certain idiot and or idiots from getting themselves thoroughly murdered?"

Riven groaned and dragged his hands down his face. "I'm going to regret this. A lot."

"For all your grievances towards heroic behavior, you seem to love contradicting yourself, sir."

Another groan.

"Shall I gave you a percentage of success?" Charles suggested. "It can help you feel better."

"There's thirty plus Salamence up there."

"Nevermind..." the AI said quietly.

"Yeah, I figured as much. On the curious side though, how likely is it we'll succeed? Scale of one to ten." Riven asked, slightly dreading the answer.

"Screwed," Charles answered, not even a second of hesitation.

Riven nodded. "Thank you, Charles. Your optimism is uplifting."

"Glad to help," Charles said, light humor in his digital voice. "It's been nice, sir."

"That it has." Riven smiled faintly and shut the pokedex. "Even if you were a bit of a snarky little pokedex." He grimaced and walked up to Seab, who had gathered a quite a bit of electric pokemon at his side. Plusle, Minun, Electivire, Luxray, Flaffy, Elektrik, and a Galvantula.

"So, what's the plan?"

The blue-haired boy looked up at him, determination in his face. "Let me gather everyone else." He called to the other trainers. Once gathered, he straightened and breathed. "Okay, this is how it's going to go. Grumpy is the only electric pokemon with lightning rod here, which means every other pokemon that knows an electric move is going to pour _everything_ they got into him. But he's going to need all the help he can get. I already had another trainer's Luxray set up electric terrain, which should boost the power of all electric moves by a good margin. Secondly, every electric type that knows charge will use the move to boost the power of their attacks, which should feed even more to Grumpy."

Turning to the two electric mice, he said, "Plusle. Minun. You two are to use helping hand on Grumpy while adding your own thunders to him." Looked back up to Riven. "Then, on my signal, your Castform is going to use rain dance. Grumpy's sparking should create its own thunderclouds to help him."

Riven exchanged a subtle glance with Amy. "Are you sure Grumpy can handle that much energy on his own? That's a hell of a lot of electricity." Sound plan but…

Amy gave Seab a sober look. "He can overcharge if it's too much. That can be fatal for electric pokemon. My dad's seen it far too much. Especially with the electrike near Mauville. He's taking a big risk."

Seab's determination seemed to falter. "I-I didn't know." He glanced at the Manectric standing beside him.

Grumpy snorted and shoved his trainer with his snout. "Manec! Triiiiike." The pokemon flashed a toothy grin, saying _I can do this, just watch me_.

Seab trusted his pokemon, and steeled his voice once again. "But we have to try." He looked away from Amy and Riven, back to the others. "There are risks though. For everyone, not just Grumpy or the dragons. Having rain dance, electric terrain, and thunderclouds overhead can leave anyone caught outside extremely vulnerable to lightning bolts. With all the energy being poured into Grumpy, he can't be precise enough to pick his targets. Anything caught in the thunder path is going to be either obliterated, or severely injured."

"What about the dragon trainers out there?" Gale asked, concerned. "They don't know what we're doing. Their pokemon could be at risk." No center or hospital for miles. An electrocution of that caliber…

"That's why I need a runner. Someone fast enough to warn Drake, then he should be able to tell everyone else to return their pokemon and take cover," Seab explained, knowing what kind of danger the runner would be exposed to.

Heads turned but voices were silent. Most of the trainers were barely out of their teens and others were family members and little kids. Amy and Riven were two of the oldest trainers there, excluding Braig, the Luxray's trainer and Megan, an ace trainer.

"I'll do it," Amy said, nervous under that fierce exterior. "I can run and warn Drake." She had the speed, she could do it.

Riven held out a hand and put it in front of her. "Stop. This was your idea in the first place. You stay here and coordinate the attack with Seab. I want you to get back to Irene in one piece. You have a family, make sure you get back to them. Irene cares about you."

Amy tried to interject, but Riven's piercing glare robbed her of any intention of doing so.

He turned to the strategist. "I'll be the runner. It's stupid, dangerous, and insane. Nothing I haven't done before. And I'm faster than anyone here. I'll get that message out." _Besides, I've got nothing to lose._ _These people have families. People that care about them. I don't. I'm expendable. Might as well make it count._

The Sinnohan gave Riven a silent, unspoken look of approval. He held up seven fingers.

_Seven minute window. Awfully close. Too close. But we're out of time. It'll do._

Riven took a deep breath and let out Boagrius, not even bothering to put on his headset. There was no time for talk, the battle was getting even more intense overhead. They had to take out the dragons before any of them wised up and used hyper beam. If one of those leveled a section of the forest, what could thirty do? He wasn't going to find out. He needed to _make this work._

The weather pokemon materialized and shrunk in on himself as he heard the sounds of all too familiar roars."CAST! FORM!" He protested, demanding what was going on.

"Boagrius, listen. I need you to do something, all right?"

"Form?"

"Stay here and do whatever this boy tells you, alright?" Riven instructed, pointing to Seab. "On his signal, use Rain Dance. Just do it." He went over to Gale, handing her a pokeball. "Return him when Seab gives the signal. Don't fail me now. I'm expecting that free ride to Petalburg."

Gale took the pokeball and shook her head. "Come back and we'll see. Emile would miss you."She smiled faintly.

Riven smirked. "Oh, I'm sure of that." Gave one final glance to everyone, and set his jaw. "I'll be back… Maybe." Waving, he vaulted over the booth desk and sprinted off, leaving his pokeballs behind.

Seab watched him run in between faint jets of fire and debris, finally disappearing into a cloud of dust. _Good luck. I hope he makes it. If he doesn't… a lot of innocent pokemon and people are going to get hurt. Please let this work._

Swallowing, he announced. "Everyone! We're enacting the plan! All non-electric pokemon are to surround the area and form a perimeter. Drive away any dragons that are approaching, boosting Grumpy is going to take some time. We need to make sure they get it!" He wet his dry lips. "Riven's Gallade is going to team up with Mila and fight off any Salamence above us. As well as Braig's Braviary with Ren, and Amy's Grovyle with Megan's Togekiss . The other pokemon are to provide cover for the rest of us!"

The other trainers nodded and pokeballs flew.

* * *

_Fire. It's always fire, isn't it?_

The sounds of battle and the roaring of dragons were heard from all directions. Panic, fear, the imminence of death…

_Familiar. _

In a sense, welcoming; while also terrifying. But he wasn't afraid of death. Never had been. Right now, running between booths and avoiding the fierce creatures above was his only focus. The Salamence seemed far too preoccupied with the other dragons and pokemon to even notice him. But eventually they would. After all, things always got worse. It was practically the natural tendency of the universe. _Things will always get worse_. Such comforting thoughts.

Taking cover from a stray dragonbreath, he peeked out into another section of the festival grounds, towards the game areas. _More fighting that way. _Which meant more trainers_. Drake should probably be there as well, if those battling Salamence are anything to go by._

Still, it was a considerable distance. With all the dragons directly above him, he was certainly going to be spotted.

Beyond the open space between him and the other side of the festival area, he spotted a tight knit row of booths, forming a long corridor. _I can cut through there, minimize my image. But there's so many. Damn. Guess there's no other way._ Gathering his courage, he sprang into the open, picking up the attention of several dragons. _Four of them? Universe _really_ wants me dead this time._

Approaching the other side, a blast of flames licked his heels and compelled him to run further, ducking into one of the booths under the cover of passing flames. He just hoped that the booth wouldn't catch fire. He let the dragons fly off and moved onward, trying his best to go unnoticed.

_Almost there. Keep going. You're doing good._

A shadow flew over him and barely managed to duck before the booth in front of him was sliced in half. No time to stop. He kept moving, despite having narrowly been decapitated by a dragon claw. The dragon was behind him again, about to strike, blue claw glowing in anticipation.

Riven forced himself not to think of the impending doom and a rush of adrenaline pushed him forward. That was when a screeching Flygon dropped out of the sky and tackled the dragon behind him headfirst. The two dragons crashed into a nearby food stand with a large crash.

_Saved me there. Wonder what's ne-_

His sprint grinded to a halt as another Salamence dropped onto the ground in front of him, blue fire flickering in its mouth.

Everything slowed down as he flicked his gaze around the area. No cover, no open space. He was in the middle of a section of _very_ flammable booths. If the dragonbreath didn't kill him, the fire they caused would. And there was no way he was going to charge that dragon.

The Salamence reared its head back and flames erupted.

Cursing under his breath_, _Riven raised his arms- a pathetic attempt to shield himself. Closing his eyes, he prepared for the worst.

Rock shot forth from beneath the ground, blocking the flames and missing the black-haired trainer, who only felt the passing heat of the flames. Had that rock not blocked that attack, he'd be a nice pile of blackened dust.

Looking around incredulously, Riven peered over the extremely hot surface of the rock to see the Salamence get trapped by pillars of rock. Rock tomb? But who?

"You! Civilian! Get over here!"

Riven whipped his head towards the voice and rushed over to hide in the booth. As he got closer, he noticed it was the woman from before. The official that warned them to go hide.

"What in god's name are you doing here? Do you have a death wish?" She asked in disbelief. "We drew the dragons over here so they _wouldn't_ target the rest of you!"

Riven breathed in deep, trying to settle nerves enough to speak without coming off as a total incoherent mess. "I need to find Drake. I have to give him an extremely important message."

The official _eyed_ him. "He's currently fighting off multitudes of dragons and you want to give him a _message_?"

"Yes. Thanks for the save but I don't have much time."

Yelena held him back. "What is this message?"

Riven grimaced. "Let's just say Salamence aren't going to be your primary concern a few minutes from now. Someone I know has a plan that could take them all out at once, but if I don't get this message across, it's going to be even worse than it is now."

"What can possibly be worse than dozens of dragons?"

"Dozens of dragons, Manectric thunderclouds, cloud to ground lightning, rain?"

Yelena's gulped. She tried to piece that together in a ways that made sense. She didn't like any of them. "Why Drake?"

"I can't make it to everyone else. But if I warn him, he can tell everyone. They'll listen to him. He has authority. It should work," Riven responded impatiently. "Need to go."

"Wait up, kid."

Riven stopped and tilted his head.

Normally, Yelena wouldn't listen to any young trainer that wasn't a victory league hopeful, but one thing was for sure. They were desperate right now. They could take any help they could get. And if this crazy kid had a plan to take all the Salamence down… well, it was better than _hold-them-off-until-we're-dead_. Making up her mind, she called out to her Flygon, who just finished its struggle with the Salamence from before.

"My Flygon can help. Loras, take him to Drake. Go!"

The Flygon flapped its wings and directed Riven to get on.

Riven frowned as he got on the dragon's back, and felt a familiar nausea. _Flying. Wonderful. I hope there's no-_ The pokemon shot forward, leading him straight to the absolute chaos that was the central games section. It looked like a vortex of red wings, fire, and beams. Any sane soul would turn back. But Riven had a job to do, if he could prevent himself from hurling all the sweets he had eaten.

Spotting Drake, he waited for the Flygon to descend before jumping down next to the dragon master.

Drake watched a young man drop down from the sky and went back to directing attacks. Then did a double take. _Civilian?"_What in hell's name are you doing here boy? Get yourself to safety!" He retreated next to a piece of cover while dragging Riven by the collar with a tight grip, staying out of the Salamences' line of sight. "Speak."

Riven gulped as the dragon master released his grip."Drake, listen. I know it isn't my place but I need to tell you something important that you _need_ to listen to."

"In case you forgot about the angry pokemon up there, I'm a little busy at the moment!"

"Just hear me out! We have a strategy!" A crazy, utterly insane one, but still a strategy. He glanced at the sky, and felt like grinning darkly. Perfect timing.

_It's going to be soon._

"Oh really? What sort of strategy?" Drake demanded. He'd dealt with enough trainers to know if their plans were any good.

"_Lightning's Dance_. I believe an _elite four_ should be familiar with it," Riven said, voice silk over steel. And pointed a finger directly upwards, a vicious smile slashing across his face. "Don't believe me?_ Look at the sky._"

Thick black clouds approached, moving in swiftly to block out the sun.

Drake's jaw dropped.

* * *

"Another one!" Baron shouted, slicing another dragon's belly with a psycho cut.

"How many of them are there?!" Mila shrieked, diving down to avoid a dragonbreath.

"Does it matter? We need to keep them off until Grumpy can fire." Judging by the amount of sparks and electricity down there, it was going to be soon. The electricity was visible from all the way up there, and it wasn't even at its strongest yet.

"Assuming we don't get caught in the crossfire!"

Shooting a thunderbolt from his fingertips, Baron began to feel the droplets of rain splash onto his skin. _Rain dance. Not much time left._ "Mila! We need to get lower, Grumpy's sparks are going to attract the lightning clouds. The higher we are the riskier it is!"

"You think I don't know that? But before we can do that, you have to keep those bastards off of me!" Already flying with a burn, she was flying slower than normal. It would take some time for her to heal the wing, considering the size of it. Ren had been firing aura spheres to keep the dragons off their tail but he just didn't do enough damage. Soon enough, those Salamence would catch up. One dragon claw could mean death. "Speaking of which, there's one right behind me!"

Baron turned around and let loose a blast of psychic energy, causing the angry dragon behind them to flinch, spewing fire awry into the sky, evaporating the drops of falling water on contact. A pink wind slammed into the larger creature, sending it careening down to the ground. "Thanks!" He called out to the Togekiss, who nodded and flew off. _Fairy type defeats dragons. Who knew?_

Holding off more dragons with blades of psychic energy, aura spheres, and fairy winds, the first clap of lightning was heard overhead from the clouds. The sun had been completely blocked out, rendering the festival grounds and the skies above a dark sky that flashed with the impacts and explosions of battle. The only thing providing enough light was the sheer amount of electricity below, which started to rise into the sky, like a pillar of yellow light. Deadly, beautiful light.

Even from up in the sky, Grumpy's roars were unmistakable. Baron and Mila didn't know whether those were screams of pain or determination. It didn't change the uneasiness they were feeling. Or maybe it was the fact they were currently flying out in a soon to be active thunderstorm. Probably that.

Landing, along with the other two flying teams, they retreated to a considerable distance as the electricity around the Manectric surged, almost blinding. Electrical pulses ran throughout the soggy ground as electricity traveled along the electrified terrain, if anything was on the ground and within twenty meters of that electrical surge, it would have been _toast_. The other electric pokemon weren't even visible anymore.

Even the Salamence began to back off. The foolish ones found out the hard way that attacking a large spear of electrical energy wasn't wise. They probably weren't getting back up any time soon.

The electricity continued to build. That was when Grumpy's roars got even louder and more… painful. Everyone hiding within the booths winced.

Baron couldn't help but glance at the Manectric's trainer, holding a somber look. The boy was tearing himself up in knots. Even if his emotional sensitivity had decreased dramatically since his evolution, he could still feel overwhelming emotions. Guilt most of all. Recognizing it was easy. Riven had no shortage of it, despite his best efforts to hide it.

Guilty about what? He didn't know. He never said. And that's what worried Baron. He always worried. Just like now.

He clenched a fist, and tried to calm his mind. He had no idea if his trainer was safe. He was always getting into life threatening situations; in fact, worry wasn't a strong enough word for what he was feeling. That stupid human! _Always risking your life. Why? Do you really think it matters so little?_

* * *

"Are you utterly _insane_?" Drake bit out. Stark raving mad most likely. He knew trainers did stupid things, but this was _outrageous._

"Do you really want me to answer that?," Riven replied blankly. Running through a field of raging Salamence and directly into a battleground should cover insane pretty well. Or maybe that time in Forina would do it. Or wandering into the deepest section of the Petalburg woods…

Drake stuttered, baffled by the sheer insanity of the plan. "A massive supercharged thunder into a sky full of rain and thunderclouds? And an electrified terrain to boot? Do you _want_ to kill us all?!"

"That's why I came to warn you!" Riven growled. "If that thunder goes off, anything caught out in the open, whether it be sky or ground, is going to end up a blackened husk. A lot of dragon tamers and their pokemon are out there. The Flygon and Garchomp should be fine, but the rest? Not good." Eyes narrowed. "You need to go tell them to return their pokemon and get into cover."

Drake was about to respond when he saw a pillar of light in the distance, shooting up into the air. "Mother of- what the hell is that?"

Riven hmphed. "Told you. Which means, we have a few minutes or so before things go boom. Strip my badges if you want but we need to go _now_."

The Elite Four member was no longer skeptical, that electric death pillar was evidence enough. These trainers were absolutely cracked. Nonetheless, the boy was right. They couldn't just hold off the dragons, and bringing in official rescue teams would lead to a lot more injured. Especially with what little time they had left.

Drake breathed in deep, and bellowed for the other trainers to return their pokemon, with a commanding voice honed by years of barking orders on a ship. The trainers seemed to hesitate, but did as they were told.

Unfortunately, no pokemon fighting the Salamence meant they had just become targets. Evading fire and claws certainly helped them oh, you know, not die; but it also meant that most of the useable cover had been burned or cut in half.

Rolling out of the way of a passing steel wing, Riven crouched next to Drake along some partially intact booths, drenched head to toe from the pouring rain. "Didn't expect them to attack us," the young man admitted, chuckling darkly. "Most of the cover's gone." Shrugged. "At least death by lightning's fast."

"Dammit boy, this is your idea of a plan? We're destroying our own cover evading _their_ attacks!"

"Wasn't _my_ plan," Riven deadpanned.

"Not the-"

"Sir!" A female voice called out.

Drake's head jerked up, seeing a figure approaching in the pouring rain. "Yelena? Where've you been?"

The official, wet from head to toe and bleeding from a shoulder gash, waved a hand. "Salamence tried to grab me. Fine, sir." She took a glance at Riven. "I see you got the message through."

The black-haired boy nodded.

Yelena looked out to another section of the sky, seeing the tower of electricity building up in the distance. She glared at Riven. "Is that what I think it is?"

"A quick death?" Riven quipped, a bittersweet smile on his face. He sniffed the air, dark humor rising again."With toasty Salamence too."

The official shot daggers at him with her gaze.

"Is your Nidoqueen still good to go?" Drake regarded Yelena. "We can use her to give us cover from that insanity over there."

Yelena blinked. "What are they doing over there? That's a hell of a lot of lightning! What do they have an army of electric pokemon out there?"

"Think about a lightning rod boosted attack," Riven said. "Now multiply that by about thirty, and add in a thunder that won't miss with the rain clouds up there."

Yelena's eyes widened, and sputtered.

"Told you it was urgent," Riven said flatly.

"Quiet," she hushed. "Sir?"

"Lightning's dance," Drake said calmly. "'Fraid he's telling the truth, Yelena."

"B-but! T-that's! INSANE!"

"Insane doesn't begin to cover it. Which is why I need you to assemble all the other trainers here, and why we need your Nidoqueen."

The darkness and flashes of lightning made it extremely difficult to locate everyone, but Yelena managed. Gathering most of the other trainers-who were scared out of their wits and probably painted their pants brown at this point-she headed back to the area where Drake and that crazy trainer were.

_Whoosh. Whoosh._

The sounds of the swooping Salamence made her nervous, but they were probably affected by the near pitch black darkness as she was. The only thing that served as a marker was that enormous lightning pillar, which helped her find her way back.

"She's back," Riven pointed out, sticking a hand out in the dark.

Yelena couldn't fathom how he could see in this darkness. "How did you-"

"Not important," Drake reminded. "Did you assemble them?"

Yelena confirmed with a simple yes. "However, some of them I couldn't find. I'm not sure if they're fine or…"

Drake winced. _Or. Damn it!_ "There's no time. Listen up everyone, anyone with a pokemon who knows rock tomb, summon them now!"

Pokeballs flashed and Garchomps and several other pokemon appeared. The dragons overhead noticed the flashes of light and charged.

Seeing blue glints of light in the sky, Drake's blood nearly froze. "ROCK TOMB NOW!"

Riven tried to keep his balance as the soggy earth under him shifted and rose, forming protective spears of rock, encasing them in a cage of earth. Blasts were felt as streams of blue fire slammed against the earthen shield. Everyone inside instinctively stepped back. "Great, they're all focused on us now."

A dragon trainer touched the edge of the shield, noting how uncharacteristically hot it was. "How long will this hold?" He asked nervously.

Yelena grimaced. "With luck, a minute or so."

"We're going to die," Riven swore under his breath_. Fire it is then. Universe? You're a bastard._

The surface of the rock began to turn red hot due to the heat on the other side. Even despite the rain. Multiple flamethrowers focused on the same spot created a cloud of steam as the blazing flames effortlessly turned water into gas. Those Salamence were damn determined.

"It's getting hotter!" One of the dragon trainers cried, backing away.

Drake remained rooted in his place, face grim. "Nothing we can do but hope it lasts."

A few moments passed and all activity stopped, only the drumming of pouring rain could be heard.

Yelena sighed in relief. "They're gone." Everything was going to be-

A massive blast hit the shield.

Rock shattered into spears and rubble, before thunder split the sky.

* * *

Seab, Amy, Gale, and the others covered their eyes as Grumpy discharged, turning the sky yellow for a brief moment before the sky roared and lightning crashed down.

It was like a scene from a movie. As if a god had unleashed his wrath. Enormous bolts of pure energy cracked throughout the area, exploding parts of the ground as they touched down. A nauseating smell of burnt wires followed. But the thing that struck them the most was the small objects the lightning bolts struck in the darkness. They could still see them sparking as they hit the floor. Salamence.

But the storm didn't stop. The thunderclouds Grumpy had summoned continued to spit deadly blasts of electricity, as if daring anyone to step outside and face the wrath of nature. And that was the scary part. He had created a storm. He- a sixteen year old boy, had created a storm more powerful than any Amy had seen in her lifetime. The sight was terrifying, yet romantic at the same time. Such power.

Riven's Castform used Sunny Day, in an attempt to get rid of the thunderstorm. Light broke through the mass of black and spread, dissipating the clouds and pouring rain. When the clouds cleared, the group rushed out to check on the electric pokemon.

The others were fine, simply drained from using so much electricity. But Grumpy… He wasn't moving.

Seab kneeled over to him and reached out a hand, but recoiled when he received a jolt of electricity powerful enough to leave a burn. The Manectric sparked, red sparks crackling from his mane, a symptom of overcharge, exactly what they had feared.

Amy held him back before the boy touched his pokemon again. He was holding his hand in a fist, no doubt trying to fight through the pain. "Seab, we need to call the officials or someone! Grumpy needs attention fast or that pent up electricity can kill him." She turned back to some of the dumbstruck people. "Can some of you go check on the others? They were supposed to be on the other side of the festival grounds." _I hope they found cover…_

The Sinnohan gasped in pain. Amy helped him to his feet and took out a phone. "I'm going to notify someone to call the officials, we have to get these pokemon and people treated. If those Salamence are knocked out, they can wake up again. And your hand… you need some medical treatment too. Electrical burns hurt and can easily get infected. Don't scratch it if it itches."

Seab nodded, and watched as the Manectric that lay at his feet continued to spark, feeling powerless.

Scrolling through her contact list, Amy stopped at a name she knew would help.

Four rings later, a jolly old voice came through. "Amy Baer! How goes the training?" The last he'd seen of her was back when she dragged that boy into his gym. "Oh, a boy came-"

"Wattson. Help," she pleaded. "Please."

The old man's heart sank.

* * *

Gale and some of the others made their way to the other side of the festival and had to stop at the amount of damage witnessed. Blackened holes lay everywhere and severely injured Salamence were strewn about, barely moving. Burnt flesh made her queasy but she pressed on.

It was when she saw a field of rocks and debris that she felt like someone had stabbed her through the chest. A black line along the ground extended several meters forward. She gasped as she realized what it was. It was the explosion she heard before the lightning went off. The thunderclaps had drowned some of it out, but she definitely heard. It must have been a hyper beam that destroyed the rock.

She and the others frantically pulled off bits and pieces of rock, revealing the bodies of the other trainers. Some breathing, some not. But bloody. Very bloody. Whatever that hyper beam did, it sent blasts of shrapnel at them, from the looks of their wounds. That rock tomb may have protected them from the lightning, but not from itself.

They pulled out Drake and the female official from earlier, unconscious but bleeding from several places. Who knew what other injuries or internal damage they had.

Further into the pile, they uncovered a body with a familiar head of black hair, a strip of white near the right eye. He was dragged out in the open and set on his side. Gale held her breath, and didn't dare move.

_Riven._

That was when she noticed the spike of jagged rock protruding from both sides of his abdomen, and the enormous trail of blood he'd left behind. His clothes were painted crimson, not white like usual. He was limp and barely breathing, face paler than she'd ever seen. Too pale.

Gale fell to her knees and stared in shock, oblivious to the sounds of pokemon teleporting in.

* * *

**A/N**

**In the anime, electrical pokemon are seen falling to electrical overcharge. Such is the case of Ash's Pikachu or Dawn's Pachirisu. Now, if a pokemon's body were like an electrical circuit, then the presence of an extremely high current passing through could theoretically create a short circuit and "fry" the circuit. Applying this to biological organisms, that could mean VERY bad things for a pokemon. Even for a lightning rod pokemon, there is only so many times you can raise its special attack before it doesn't go any higher.**

**I think there's a reason for that when you think about it in logical terms. Frankly, it's way too dangerous for the pokemon. Electrical overcharge could thoroughly kill a pokemon or make them explode, or perhaps even cause substantial damage to their nervous system and organs. That's why there's a certain point to why a lightning rod pokemon's spec attack refuses to go any higher.**

**Another note.**

**The Claydol pokedex entries state that it was created 20,000 years ago by an ancient civilization. At least the bodies were. However, there is no mention of this civilization anywhere else. Considering most of the written language up till that point was based on the unknown(dating back to 1500 years, stated as the earliest known writing system), it can be implied that no one knows what the hell happened to them _or their technology_. They just poofed. Just like that, leaving their structures behind. It draws some real life parallels to other strange civilizations that also disappeared, which just makes you go hmmmmmm, something ain't right here. People don't just poof. And in a world with legendary pokemon, things have a high tendency to get pretty wacky.**

**One thing that especially bothers me about the Claydoll is that they were created by a "mysterious" beam of light. Not only that but Claydol seems fond of appearing in places with ancient ruins. An example being sky pillar. No one knows who built it, or what happened to them. Yet they remain there, guarding nothing. Why? Maybe they were given a special task? _To keep people out_ and prevent them from uncovering, _certain… secrets_?**

**Who knows? Guess we'll see.**

**Please forgive any spelling/grammar errors I might've missed. I will revise the chapter again to correct them. Again, thanks for reading. Also, chapter 31 had the wrong chapter posted up. So any new readers that got a whiplash from seeing a chapter twice, please go back and read it. It should be fixed now.**


	34. Turbulence

_First Lavaridge and now this?_ Wallace thought to himself, controlling the immense desire to slam his face into the nearest wall. However, it would be unseemly of him to do so. Thoughts of the past few weeks raced in his mind, overpowering and far too numerous.

There he was, strolling along Rustboro, wondering if he should pay Roxanne a visit for old time's sake. And then, when things couldn't get any _worse_ for his stress levels, this happened. Came right out of the blue, just like last time. No one expected a group of Salamence to attack _anything_ at once. Team work and dragons didn't even belong in the same universe! For this to happen, and injure Drake and other officials, as well as that many foreigners… it was bad. Really bad. Word had already spread from the distressed and lamenting families who had lost loved ones in the attack. Wallace could almost hear the biting criticism now. The media was no doubt spinning this into something twisted to cause a major pain in the backside for the League. Being the symbol for the League as champion… it would be more than just a pain in his case.

Drake unconscious in the hospital bed with an oxygen mask over his face let that fact sink in.

"He looks peaceful," Glacia said coolly, scanning the sleeping man with her eyes. Sorrowful eyes. It hurt, seeing a friend injured.

"At least he's going to get some rest," Wallace responded. "As for us…"

Glacia sighed and exchanged a look with Phoebe. "We're going to get thrown into a fire pit. It's inevitable. Especially with such a high profile festival. I'm not sure how we're going to salvage this… mess."

"If at all," Phoebe said quietly. "When the rest of the general public gets wind of this, hell is going to break loose, Wallace. It's worse enough the council knows. You saw how angry they were at Lavaridge." Absolutely livid was a good description.

"I know. I know." Wallace frowned. "Where are the council members anyway? I expected at least one of those _Weavile_ to show up already."

"Sidney's holding them off," Glacia explained. "He wanted to make sure you had time to see Drake before the floodgates opened."

"Rather thoughtful of him. I suppose he doesn't have much longer, does he?" No response practically confirmed his suspicion. They'd already been here for about thirty minutes, and the council was notified at the exact same time as the League. If anything, Sidney had already been called a buffoon and those snakes were already crawling their way there.

Sure enough, council member Varn could be heard shouting his urgent desire to see the Champion. Leave it to that fool to shout at the top of his lungs in a blind fury in the middle of a hospital with injured people. They still hadn't even cleaned the blood off the floor yet. And there was _a lot_ of it. What a rude individual.

Stepping outside, Wallace politely told the council member to shut his mouth and pointed to an empty conference room. Flicking a glance towards the other two, he readied himself for a major migraine.

As soon as the door shut, Varn raised his voice again.

"WALLACE!"

_Migraine starting. _"Yes? Can you kindly refrain from shouting? These walls echo. Terrible on the ears, you see."

"Don't play games with me. You know exactly why I'm here!" Varn snarled. "You irresponsible, idiotic fool!"

Wallace smirked. "And here I thought you came to check your steadily increasing blood pressure."

"Jest and joke all you want you arrogant prick, you're going to-"

Wallace narrowed his eyes and maximized a pokeball. "Call me an arrogant prick one more time and I will teach you what frostbite can do to a person's extremities," he threatened, with a mock friendliness he saved for people he genuinely disliked. "I don't want to talk to someone as crude as you. Insults? Really? Is that what you are capable of? It's quite pathetic."

Varn's face reddened as he was about to let out the longest string of curses to grace the hospital but was stopped by the entrance of a more respectable and less hot-blooded council member.

He placed a hand on the seething man."Councilman Varn, if I have to remind you, we are professionals. Vulgarity is not appreciated. The champion and the Council may be at odds, but that gives you no right to insult him. Please, exit the room if you are too clouded by anger to make reasonable comments," he said, gesturing the glowering man outside.

"Thank you, Councilman Kregin," Wallace said, bowing. "That man always did hate me."

Kregin nodded slightly, adjusting his glasses. "I am not sure why he's on the council myself. But no matter, I came to discuss very important issues with you. Sending Varn was… a mistake."

"'Mistake'. Of course it was, Kregin." Wallace said pointedly. They knew Varn hated the League with a bloody passion, for reasons only that blind bigot knew of. They also knew how much Wallace disliked him as well. To send him deliberately, that was troubling. Relations between the two chambers had really deteriorated.

"Perhaps, but that is not my problem. This mess_, is_." He clenched his jaw, and paused for a moment to think. "The League is in dire straits, I'm afraid. The Council is not much better. Drake being incapacitated is known. We couldn't hide it this time. Social media is in an uproar. Among the words I've seen, two appear the most- apparently describing the state of the officials, the league, and the council. _Incompetent and useless_."

Wallace winced, and felt like someone had kicked him in the teeth.

Kregin shook his head. "By god, how could they not think of us like that? Twenty eight dead, forty three injured. Among those casualties were eleven foreigners, ten children, and one official. Many of them in critical condition still. That's not even counting the sixteen rangers killed in outpost MF1. It was razed to the ground. Nothing bloody left."

The water master slowly sat down, and buried his head in his hands. For once, just once, he wished this was a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Everything was real. Too real. His headache seemed to increase, as if the pressure inside his skull would expand and cause it to burst open like a watermelon. Or it felt like a Crawdaunt had his head in vice.

Kregin sat next to him, setting his briefcase down on the table. "It's overwhelming. I understand. An Elite Four couldn't stop those dragons, but a group of mid level trainers did. Children- _again_. Is that all we are? Are we really that incompetent? I'm not so sure myself."

Wallace looked up and glared at him, as cold and unforgiving as the sea.

Kregin waved a hand. "Don't misunderstand. I was in office at the time of the Magma and Aqua crisis. To feel helpless- like I could have done something- I know it, Wallace. It isn't a good feeling. To have a mere boy convince a legendary to stop the fighting was like having someone step on an open wound and pour salt in afterwards. Despite all of our best efforts, we couldn't stop them. But a child did."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"All I'm saying is that we can't let children solve our problems. We must act. Right now, the Hoenn peoples' favor of us is the lowest it's ever been since the Magmas and Aquas. They don't believe in us. And with all the damage reports and the recent events of Sinnoh in the past years… they don't hold trainers in a high regard either. The fact that this Gray is still running amuck is also troubling. They're afraid of trainers with _questionable_ mental states, and with good reason, if that video was anything to go by."

"Absolutely no sense," Wallace muttered, clutching his head. "None at all."

"I'm sorry?"

"It doesn't make sense," Wallace repeated. "Berry fields being burned, 'random' pokemon attacks, a whole group of Salamence attack a highly publicized festival? It's never happened before. Not to mention Lavaridge and Petalburg. Even if they were coincidences, they don't make sense. One of the injured officials said that the delivery for the eggs was hijacked, yet still made its delivery. That's… incredibly odd."

"And?"

"If our suspicions from the last gym leader meeting are right- we're dealing with something bigger than just coincidences. Maybe even some kind of backstage organization. One that doesn't show its face until the right moment. I don't know for sure. But trouble is brewing. Let's hope we can contain it before it explodes out of control. Right after we take care of this mess that is."

* * *

"Blake, what in the blazes are you hiding?" Kim asked, scowling. This had better not be one of those stupid tricks, or he was going to splash hot coffee on _him_ this time.

The spectacled man shifted uncomfortably in his seat, before a betraying yip came out from under the desk. Kim's scowl deepened and Blake grew even more restless, shoving his hands down. "Looking at NSFW things?" Blake winced as he said that, falling back on one of the most embarrassing things he could think of. Or be caught doing. He shifted his eyes around the room, evading the other scientist's judging glare.

Both irritated and amused, Kim pointed a finger at the dark computer monitor. "Your computer is off, _genius_."

Blake noted the screen and instantly felt like jumping out the window.

"That failed fantastically, where did you pick that one up? The internet?" Kim asked wryly. Terrible excuses were terrible.

Then, a fluffy brown fox emerged from under Blake's desk, yipping in protest from being smothered. Blake's eyes widened and held Kim's gaze for a few seconds in complete silence. The fox looked up at him, cocked its head, and yipped. Cutely.

Calmly taking a sip of his coffee, Kim silently went over to his chair and sat down, pushing the power button on his computer, face devoid of emotion.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Blake asked, expecting a blow up or scolding of epic proportions. It was always, Blake this, Blake that.

"Don't have to. Your job is done. Completely, irreversibly, and permanently. You brought a pokemon into the research lab. Doesn't matter how good a scientist you are, Lund isn't going to give two shits." He set the mug down and stared at the furry pokemon. "Now that that's done with, how did you manage to get an Eevee in LaRousse? Which loan shark do you owe money to now? There's no way some idiot trainer gave you it. It's still a kit."

The brown fox scurried up Blake's body and onto his shoulder, licking his cheek. "Gah! Stop it, Coeurl."

"Coeurl? Like those RPG games? That douchebag creature that casts doom on everyone? You're such a nerd," Kim chuckled.

"Hey, you're a nerd too. You recognized the reference instantly."

"Well, I am a scientist. But you haven't answered the question."

Blake scratched his cheek. "Actually, a friend of mine gave it to me. Breeder based in Johto. His eon pair had plenty of kits this time. He sold most of them but he had two leftover. Gave one to his little brother and he said I could have the other."

"Wow, no bullshit? You have connections with a breeder? That owns a pair of eons?" Kim was surprised. Thoroughly surprised. He always thought Blake was the antisocial type. _Must be a different person outside the lab then._

"He's an old friend from back when I worked in Johto. He was much younger at the time but he said he had just gotten started becoming a breeder. He's originally from Slateport actually. We talked a bit after meeting up in a bar in Goldenrod. Just straight pokemon talk. He actually _listened_ to my theories. Unlike _most_ people."

Kim shrugged and shook his head as he watched the little fox play with the computer mouse. "What're you going to do with it now? If Lund fires you-which he will- your theory can't be tested. You'd need the labs materials. Unless you apply to a lab in Slateport or Mossdeep. But that would be a either a downgrade or an incredibly hard position to land."

Blake looked down and sat still for a minute. Kim knew that look. It usually meant Blake was going to make a big decision, good or bad. Either way, when the guy got that look in his eyes, there was no stopping him. "What did you _do_?"

Blake snapped his head back up and scooped up Coeurl in his arms, scratching him behind the ears. "I was planning on quitting anyway. But I'm still going through with my theory." The eevee yipped again and curled up in a ball of warm fur.

Kim raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what he was getting at.

"A group offered me a job. Amazing pay and… they actually care about what I say. Not only that, but they got a hold of a blood analyst from Slateport named Izak Koveks, who apparently found an extremely unique blood sample that could make breakthroughs if true. Entirely natural and untampered with. Naturally it caught my eye pretty quickly."

"Hold on, hold on. What blood sample?" This was the first he'd heard of it.

"It's really secretive because there's only one test tube of the stuff. It's practically human DNA with a code for a certain type. Simply fascinating. I really want to see it for myself! I want to know what it came from and study it thoroughly. Even if it's a fake, it's a _very good_ fake."

Kim held out a hand."Slow down, Blake. You don't even know if that's true. And besides, is this organization some kind of scientific one? Or?"

"Well, yeah. They have a lab and everything. State of the art and all that jazz. LaRousse may have cool stuff but that lab has so much more, and Lund isn't going to be breathing down my neck." He had free reign to conduct however many experiments he wanted, as long as it worked towards the organization's goals, which were pretty vague at the moment.

Kim rubbed his chin and thought it over. Something didn't seem right. "If that's what you want to do, I'm not going to stop you. Personally, I don't trust it. Sounds fishy to me. Just… don't regret it. If you ever want to come back to Lund's lab though, don't expect a recommendation from me."

Blake nodded and smiled. "Thanks."

"What was the name of the organization again?"

"Singularity… I think."

"As in the _transhumanist_ idea?"

Blake nodded.

"Hmmmmmm. Odd name."

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep._

Eyes slowly opening, Riven groggily woke to a white ceiling. He held his head, feeling a little dizzy as well.

A window was open, letting in a dry breeze. The faint murmurs of people talking could be heard outside over the beeping of heart monitors and other medical equipment. He was garbed in a hospital gown and lay in white sheets, just like in Oldale. Closed his eyes again, hoping he was having a dream. Last he'd known, he was in the middle of… something? He concentrated, trying to think about where he'd been last. _The festival! Salamence!_

Suddenly remembering what happened, he tried to sit up. Intense pain flashed through his center and he let open his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. He lay in the bed writhing, feeling like someone had shot fire into his stomach and out of his back. The door opened, to reveal Gale holding a bag of candy.

She saw Riven writhing in pain and rushed over, nearly dropping her snack. "Riven!" She called out.

The boy stared at her weakly, pain receding into a duller stab, but nonetheless still powerful. His toes curled up from the feeling.

"Don't move. Please. You'll reopen your wounds. The doctor said you might be in intense pain after the drugs wore off. He said the medicine should have lasted for a couple more hours. I didn't think it'd run out this quickly," she said, trying to calm the boy down and prevent him from moving too much. His eyes were definitely watery, trying to fight it. She watched in sympathetic silence and waited until the pain had receded and Riven was coherent.

"G-gale?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened… to me? And where are the others? Drake? Yelena? The dragon tamers?" Last he'd remembered, he was with them, then… _this_.

She stared at the area where the wound was supposed to be located and winced. "You and the others were blown clear by a hyper beam. That rock tomb might have saved you from the lightning bolts, but the blast basically turned the rocks into a shower of shrapnel and spears. A lot of the tamers had shrapnel wounds, including Drake. You were one of the worst," she explained, pointing to his abdomen.

He gently ran a hand over the patched up section, feeling the gauze, cloths and bandages. "It's a large wound…" he noticed.

"You got impaled by a piece of jagged rock. Went straight through your body and poked out through the back. You were losing blood. A lot of it. Doctors were afraid of taking it out of you. Normally, a person would have died. They had to be extremely careful. They were freaking out for a whole bunch of reasons that don't make any sense to me. Or them," she said, looking at him strangely. "They still don't."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, they couldn't find a blood type to match yours. They just gave you O because they didn't have any time to spare, but it didn't seem to help much since you were leaking like a faucet. Also, they were extremely surprised a trainer had to use shadow sneak to even get you here. Or else they would have taken the long way." _And you probably _would _have died_, she thought.

"Why's… t-that?" Riven wondered, flinching from a sharp stab of pain.

"They tried to teleport you. It didn't work." It was really strange. Everyone else teleported fine. Except Riven. The officials and medics didn't really know how to react, to say the least. They lucked out that the man Amy and Seab knew had a ghost pokemon. However, it was even odder that Riven didn't appear to think this was anything new. "You're not surprised."

He sighed and adjusted his neck on the pillow. "I found out in Forina. Baron and I tried it, but nothing happened. He could teleport the others just fine. Well, except Haona. We tried and tried but he could only manage to teleport himself. I'm not sure why." It puzzled him too. He didn't think much of it at first but seeing it now… it could be a problem later. He couldn't fly without hurling and he couldn't teleport. His transportation options were starting to dwindle. And _that_, was not a good thing.

Gale would think about it later. The point was that he got here."You _should_ have died, you know. That's what the doctor said. Called you one lucky son of a bitch."

"Then how did I-"

"You really are a good trainer you know that?" She said, smiling lightly.

"Huh?"

"Your Gallade. Baron gave it his all with heal pulse. He was the only reason you even made it through the surgery, or else you would have bled out a long time ago. He was exhausted from using heal pulse for so long, but he kept going. Well, that and the fact that you heal faster than any human the doctor has seen in his life helped. Almost pokemon fast."

Riven's stared wide-eyed at her. Mentioning his pokemon reminded him about the others involved, namely their attackers and one brave electric mutt."What about Grumpy and the Salamence? They didn't just leave them there did they?"

Gale shook her head, opening her bag of candy. "They took the unconscious Salamence back to the Falls, along with their eggs. As for Grumpy, they took him for treatment. Amy and Seab went with them. He was sparking out of control, he needed immediate attention or his entire nervous system would fry itself."

"Went where?"

"Ever Grande City," she said, throwing a berry flavored candy into her mouth.

"We're in Ever Grande? The city with the Elite Four and everything?" Riven was incredulous. He'd seen a picture of the city in a travel guide. Really beautiful place. He had to admit, he got a little giddy thinking about it.

"Oh, no. We're in Lavaridge."

_Wait, what?_ He gave her a sidelong glance, utterly confused.

"You didn't really think they'd trust a ghost to take you that far?" She asked, munching on another one of her sweets. "Shadow sneak doesn't have the kind of utility teleport has. That's what the officials said anyway. I'm not a trainer."

Riven frowned_. _He kind of hoped he was in Ever Grande, so he could go sight-see and maybe watch how the most elite of trainers battled. Well, at least he wasn't dead. _"_I suppose…but-Gale?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you still here?"

"Oh. I'm sorry. I was only trying to be a decent human being, you know, with a heart? That can sympathize? Unlike you and your damn paranoia. All you think about is the worst in people!" She stood up to leave. "If you don't want me here then just say so. You don't have to be an ass about it."

"Gale, wait. I didn't mean it like that." He swore under his breath. "But still, it's a legitimate question. You didn't have to come here. I'm just a customer or client, whatever. There was no obligation to do so." She had no relations with him, or connection of any sort. Why would she care? They'd probably known each other for less than a week really, since he hardly ever spoke to her during those five months in Forina.

Gale glanced at the holo caster on the table near Riven's bed, and what looked like sorrowful pity came over her. "I was going to leave. I only stayed because- well… being your travel companion for the time being, they asked if you had any family." Hesitated a little, walking back to the seat across from the bed. "But you don't, do you?"

Riven shook his head slowly.

"They told me to go through your contact list to see if I could contact any family members. There were only five names there…" Benjamin, Samuel, Will, Steven, and her own. Five people. No parents to speak off. No mom or dad, or home. Nothing. Trainers always had those, even the older ones. To say he didn't have family was an understatement, he hardly had _anyone_ apart from his pokemon and those other four. He was probably used to being alone, without any help.

"Riven, I'm sor-" she started.

"Don't," he replied, voice cutting like a knife, with a touch of anger and bitter resentment. "I don't want your pity, Gale. Or anyone's. I'm not a poor thing people can look at and feel bad for." He looked at her, eye to eye, with a gaze that could pierce solid rock. "Life isn't fair. Things happen. That's the way it is. Not all of us are so fortunate. Drop it."

She looked down at the floor and murmured, "Okay…" Gale fiddled with her fingers before speaking up again. "What happened to them? Your parents? Your home?"

As if reaching into a deep place in his mind, Riven paused before answering her question. "Fire. When I was seven. No siblings. House burned down, nothing left. Was on my own for a long time, before… before other things." He cut himself off there. "That's all I'm going to say. Friend or not."

Gale nodded and silently ate her snack in the following minutes, the only sound in the room being the irritatingly consistent beeps of the monitors Riven was hooked up to. _Other things_. From what she knew of Petalburg, he probably meant unsavory things. Child soldier? Crime? There were people like that. Some in Orre, some in other places. They never quite came back all right. It explained a lot about his rampant paranoia and distrust of people in general. Even now, he didn't trust her. What kind of life did he live?

"Gale." His voice knocked her out of her thoughts and she looked up at him. "I need something very important," he said, gravely serious. More so to change the mood. It was uncomfortable, talking about his parents. Or anything from back _then_ to anyone from _now_.

"What do you need?"

He remained quiet for a few seconds before deadpanning, "I want some of that candy."

She brought a palm to her face and shook her head. "I thought it was important!"

"But it is important," he insisted.

"Candy? Seriously?"

He grimaced. "Do you know how bad hospital food tastes? It's atrocious. Shouldn't even be called food. And here you are waving sweets in front of my face. I like sweets. Sweets are good."

Dully blinking at him, Gale shoved the entirety of the candy into her mouth and chewed it slowly. Taunting him.

"You're a spiteful, cruel woman," the young man scowled.

"Serves you right."

The scowl transformed into a frown. He didn't mean to insult her when he asked her why she was here. In fact, the question was perfectly acceptable in his mind. But reasonable didn't always coincide with tactful. And when it came to social situations, Riven sucked at them. Very much so. "Look, I didn't mean to doubt you. It's just… it's hard to trust people. Betrayal is an ugly thing."

"Why? It's happened before?"

_Thankfully not."_Never let them get too close," he said frankly. "Others anyhow." The only people he could trust were his own, and they were gone. Here, he didn't know who was trustworthy or not, and it bothered him._ "_Best be prepared than regret it when the knife plunges into your spine_."_

Gale stood up and threw away the wrapper in the garbage can. "That's your problem. You're too paranoid. Too distrusting. You're going to die alone if you keep that up."

"That's what's kept me alive all this time. And I don't mind being alone. I really don't."

"Maybe so, but that isn't any way for someone to live. Everyone needs a family, or some kind of support. I may not be that, but...argh. Need some_sense_ knocked into you... You really should talk to your pokemon more. Your Gallade was worried sick! All of your pokemon were." She let out an exasperated breath. "You can be distrusting of people but at least you can depend on your pokemon. They're fiercely loyal, they wouldn't betray you. They'll do anything for their trainers."

"I… guess you're right," he started, "I'll talk to them later. Baron especially. I have to thank him. Would have died if it wasn't for him." Blinked and frowned again, receding into deep thought. "Why are pokemon so loyal? Can't they think for themselves? What if their trainer did something they didn't agree with? Why would they do it?"

He knew pokemon were weapons back in his time, but they were born and raised that way. They were bred to kill, not to be friends. It was one thing for a born killer to do something atrocious, it was quite another to have a loving companion do the same thing, all because someone said so. For god knows what reason. He never really thought pokemon had much of a conscious until he came here.

Gale smiled faintly at him, bittersweet."Love is pretty strong. Sometimes it pushes others into doing drastic things. Not all of them good." She noticed the pensive look on his face, no doubt tying it in to his own actions.

Hmph. Love. "Never felt that before," he whispered quietly, just low enough for Gale to miss it._But hate? That I do. I know _all about_ that._

"Hmmm?"

Before she asked Riven to clarify what he had said, his holo caster buzzed, making a loud sound as the device vibrated along the table. Riven and Gale watched it ring a couple of times until the sound ceased. And came back again. The bed-ridden boy lifted a hand, pointing to the thing. "Can you answer that?"

"Uh, sure." Gale picked up the device, reading, _incoming call: identification, Will._ Fiddling with the caster, she pushed the answer button and held it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Riven! Riven! Riven!" A frantic young voice came through, concerned and slightly scared, if a bit jarred. Young boy, early teens. Voice not deep enough to be an indication of puberty. Less than fifteen or so."Wait, what happened to your voice? You sound like a girl."

Gale arched an eyebrow and looked back at Riven, who held a look of confusion. "Ummmm… this isn't him."

"Well then, where is he? Wait. Wait. Are you his girlfriend? What the hell? This world's going crazy! First there's freaky desert-y magic things then suddenly, fire is coming-"

"Can you please slow down? I'm not…. his girlfriend," Gale stated nervously, seeing Riven mouth a flat "what".

"Then who are you?" The young boy's voice demanded, a bit skeptical. "Why do you have his holo caster?"

Gale couldn't help but sigh. It seemed like Riven's paranoia was starting to rub off on people. She didn't know if that was good or something to be wary of. "Just a friend. That's all."

"Where is he then?" The boy asked. "He wouldn't hand it over to anyone. I know that for sure. He trusts his knife more than other people!"

_That. Is something I can believe_, Gale concurred, looking toward Riven's neatly folded pile of clothes, and his trainer bag. Somewhere in there was his survival knife. One that looked far less suited to being used to cut meat, and more for ending a life. Quickly. It bothered her when she first saw it, wondering why any trainer would carry around something like that. "He's paranoid, I'll give him that."

Riven scoffed.

"Nevermind, you do know him," Will sneered. "You haven't answered the question, whoever you are. Girl? That's a friend? Friend girl? I don't know."

"My name is Gale."

"That's a boy's name."

"Yeah…" Gale kept turning back to see Riven, who was making hand gestures to know who in the blazes was calling. She waved a hand, trying to calm him. "But ummm, he's… he's in the hospital right now." She hoped the boy would understand and call back later.

A second of silence, then the boy's voice came blasting through.

"AGAIN?"

_Completely _wrong _response._ Gale thought, taken aback. "What do you mean, _again_?" She asked, a bit perplexed. Was Riven facepalming? He was.

"Yeah! When I was with him, he got thrown through a window, shocked, broke his arm and cracked his ribs. Before that, he said he was in the hospital in Oldale for ten days because he got turned into a human practice dummy by Scyther! Oh and did I mention we nearly _died_ in the desert?"

Gale's jaw nearly fell off.

She whipped around and shot a glare at Riven, promising several divebombs on the next flight. She held a palm over the speaker and said, "You, are going to tell me everything that's happened to you or else." Shoving the caster into Riven's hands, she sat back down, still incredulous. "It's your friend Will. Says he has something extremely important to tell you."

"Oh." He held the caster up to his ear. "Will? That you?"

"RIVEN!"

He wrenched the caster away and winced. He pushed a button and put it on speaker. He'd learned that one at least. "Ears. Bleeding."

"Oh, sorry about that. But I needed to tell you- wait, am I on speaker?"

"Yeah."

"YOU CAN'T LET YOUR FRIEND GIRL WITH THE BOY'S NAME HEAR THIS!"

"Gale. Her name is Gale. And this is precisely why you're on speaker. My ears would have imploded had the phone been near my face," Riven replied dryly. "What do you want? Just checking up on me?"

"No. Yes! I don't know! But you're in the hospital again! What tried to kill you _this_ time?"

"Several things, actually. It wasn't my fault this time though. Really."

"Sure it wasn't. Spill it."

"A group of Salamence. About thirty strong."

"Oh, shit. You were at the Dragon Festival?"

Riven raised an eyebrow and exchanged a concerned look with Gale. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"The whole god damn region knows! That festival gets a lot of publicity from the trainer community. You can't _believe_ how angry some people are right now. I hear the injured people had it pretty bad. Some crazy lightning shower or something. You had something to do with that?"

"Yes, and no. It was someone else's plan. I just helped a bit. Not doing that again. _Ever_." It hurt too much. He didn't like pain. Pain was bad. Hospital food? Even worse.

"You got smashed pretty hard didn't you?"

"Got impaled by a rock and nearly bled to death. Right now, I can't even move without flinching in pain. It's healing but it was too close this time."

"You are a doom magnet."

"Never doubted it. Anyway, what do you want?"

Will felt uncomfortable, knowing this Gale person was listening. Riven had mentioned to keep things secret. "You know after I left, I spent some time with my family?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Well something happened last night and- you know what? I'll just show you… Which hospital are you in?"

"Lavaridge- ironic huh?" It was almost funny. Almost. If laughing didn't hurt like hell at the moment.

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

"You don't have a psychic-"

The line clicked and the call ended. Riven rolled his eyes and handed the caster back to Gale.

She took it, putting it back in his bag. "What do you think he wants?"

Riven put a hand on his chin. "Honestly, I don't know. Probably something pointless." Most likely not, he had a feeling it was related to what happened in the desert. He'd told Will not to tell anyone about that, guess he was taking it seriously. That was good. The kid could keep secrets. That went a long way in not getting yourself murdered.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. Gale opened it, seeing a short boy with red eyes, wearing a trainer hat and what looked like standard trainer attire. Standing beside him was a taller woman with the same red eyes and waist length black hair. She wore a trainer belt too, and had that experienced air about her. Pretty too. Really pretty.

Riven lifted his head, seeing Will and his… sister? _Lucia_, he recalled. Rather tall, compared to Will. Attractive too.

Will and Lucia walked inside, heading to the foot of the bed. Will stared at Riven for a few seconds, an awkward silence filling the air. Lucia looked between her brother and him in slight bemusement.

"You're an idiot," Will started, breaking out into a full grin.

"Great, you just get here and you're insulting me," Riven frowned, and shifted his eyes to his sister. "Lucia right?"

"Yes," she replied, nodding with a smile. "Will talked about you. Thanks for looking out for my brother in the desert. I was relieved to find out he was okay." She cocked her head, examining him. He was exactly as her brother had described him. Mismatched eyes, tall, black hair, not lanky but not too heavily built either. Less track runner and more climber about him. And that white streak of hair on the right side was there too. The "skuntank" hair, as Will has mentioned. Spot on."You've been out in the wild for some time haven't you?"

"It's that noticeable?" Riven chuckled.

"The hair mostly. It's unkempt and fairly long, happens a lot from what I've seen." She smiled, pointing to her own. "I know the feeling, the only reason mine doesn't look like a spider's web is because I actually had to go back to civilization. Hats help." She put a gentle hand on her brother's head, who didn't seem to mind.

Gale snickered.

Riven grimaced again. "Yeah, I've gotten enough pestering about my hair from that one over there."

"You look like shit though," Will stated, "And you got pale again. How was Forina?"

"Got a new pokemon, got attacked by a dragon, hunted, survived. Ate berries, tasteless meat. You know, the entire experience. Among other unpleasant things."

Lucia's eyes widened. "You got attacked by a dragon there too?!"

"Well… yes."

"H-how?"

"Well, I just happened to get out of the dawn caves and in my excitement I accidentally challenged its authority. It… didn't appreciate that very much." He noticed the blank stare she was giving him. "What?"

" The dawn caves? The _spires_? You went up _there_ to get a dawn stone?"

"They're expensive?" He replied sheepishly. "Had to get one somehow."

Will's sister turned to face her brother. "This is your idea of a good influence?" Dragons attacking him in the wild, climbing spires, challenging a dragon's claim to territory, and getting unlucky enough to be stranded on a desert? Her own brushes with danger paled in comparison to his. That meant bad news for her brother, who was notorious for making things explode. Even when they shouldn't.

The younger trainer laughed loudly, enjoying the shock on his sister's face. "Your face is priceless! Besides, he's not the only one that bad stuff happens around."

"Except that's Quil's fault most of the time."

"Uh, I guess you're right."

"Will," Riven cut in, "what is it you came for? It was urgent, right? Then tell me." Noted the bandage around Lucia's arm, and a calculating gaze swept over the siblings. "Her right hand is wrapped in a bandage. I doubt an experienced trainer like your sister would get close enough to a fire pokemon to be burned like that. And if she had a fire pokemon herself, she wouldn't get burned by it. Those bandages are fresh. Something about last night? It isn't just any little thing."

The atmosphere of the room completely changed. The light-hearted playfulness from before was entirely gone, replaced by discomfort, worry, and hesitation. Whatever Will and his sister wanted, it wasn't anything to scoff at.

Lucia was uneasy, looking behind her to see if anyone was listening in. She unwrapped the bandage to reveal a burn on the top of her hand that ran from the tip of the wrist down to about her knuckles. First degree. Small ember at best. They had taught him about burns and treatment for them. Fire was the expertise of the Roses, and considering the amount of time they spent fighting the bastards, the army was fairly used to burns of all kinds of severity.

"Will burned me," she said, staring at it. "It just happened while we were out training last night. There were some thugs and I could have handled them, but he tried to be a hero and…"

"Wait. Wait. Stop. _Will_ burned you? With a pokemon? With Quil?" Riven questioned carefully, finding it incredibly odd why a Quilava would be using _ember_ on thugs, of all things. He could believe Quil burned her, but using an ember? It didn't make sense. If it was against thugs, a flamethrower or incinerate would be far more useful. That and the fire pokemon's aim must have been terrible.

She shook her head. "Will said you might know something." Wrapped her wound and looked down at her brother. And nodded. "So we figured it was best for him to show you. You might not believe it if we told you."

Riven raised a skeptical brow. He'd seen plenty of things that would be classified as unbelievable. He was starting to consider anything at this point.

Will tensed and breathed deeply. He pointed to a random section of the room and held out an arm. "Let's see if this works…" He thought back to the events of the night before, where the thugs were ready to do _horrible_ things to his sister. Anger washed over him as his blood seemed to boil, his feelings to protect his family intensifying._ I won't let harm come to his sister. I won't!_ Heat rushed to his finger tips and a flash of fire sprang out of his fingers, scorching a section of the wall black. He jumped back, not expecting so much fire. He went to sit down, disoriented.

Riven and Gale froze, not daring to breathe, not daring to move. Gale was shocked, while Riven remembered something he'd only seen at Nimva Plains, where everything went wrong. The place where more than half of the army had been slaughtered, including most of his friends. There he saw them. Pyrolancers. Elite Rose troops that shot fire with their hands and feet. He'd always thought it was magic they used.

"That-that isn't possible," Riven whispered. "They're dead. They're all supposed to be dead."

Once again, he felt like the world had slugged him in the gut. His eye burned as the desire to destroy, tear apart,and _murder_ returned stronger than ever. _No, no he can't be a Rose. Can't be. He doesn't even know what's going on. And the fire… in the desert. That's the only explanation. He's not the enemy!_

The heart rate monitor picked up, measuring Riven's rapidly increasing beats per minute.

Gale watched as the older trainer seemed to struggle in his bed, beads of sweat forming along his forehead. "Riven, are you ok? Your heart rate is skyrocketing. What's wrong?"

_Kill! NO!_ Breathing hard, Riven waved a hand. "I'm- I'm fine... Really." Blew out another breath, slow and steady. "Just some pain, that's all."

Will turned back to both of them, regarding their wary stares. "I'm a freak aren't I?" He said, balling his hand into a fist.

"No one said that, Will," Lucia reassured. "Whatever's happening to you, I'll be there to help you." She eyed Riven. "You reacted… pretty strongly. I take it you know something?"

He clenched his jaw and swallowed. He had an idea. One that would make him look utterly insane. But he had another fallback, which was the complete truth anyway."I didn't want Will to tell anyone of this, but in the desert, we found some kind of sphere. I had a blue one, nearly identical, that I found in Dewford. It… reacted. Opened something and that's when we saw the red one. Will went out to touch it, and it engulfed him in flames. I thought he was dead, but he came out unscathed. After that, he began acting strangely. He started to like the heat, said he felt a fire in his chest. Right, Will?"

He nodded.

"Anyway, the sphere disappeared as soon as Will touched it. Maybe that's the reason for this. It did _something_ to him."

"You said there was another sphere?" Lucia mentioned, face grave. "Where is it?"

"I gave it to Steven."

"Steven Stone?" She repeated, gawking. "You have _Steven Stone_ on dial?"

"Yeah."

Former champion on dial? Who was this guy? Even if she was a fairly experienced trainer, she'd only ever met the man once, and that was during a battle she thoroughly lost. "A-and he has it?"

"He is a rock expert, I figured he could come to some kind of conclusion. I haven't spoken to him in a few months though. Don't think he lost it."

"We need to talk to him then!" Will pleaded. "I need to know what's happening to me! I burned Lucia- I…"

"No," she cut in, stern and protective, in her best big sister voice. "This has _never_ happened before. If they find you, they're going to turn you loose to a bunch of scientists and other people who would love nothing more than to stick needles into your spine and arms. I do not want my brother to end up a lab rat. I won't let it happen. Riven was right. You can't tell anyone about this."

"Which means, what happened here can't leave this room, right?" Gale figured. "Don't worry about me, I can keep secrets," she assured, and looked at Riven. "I'm already holding some now."

Riven looked away and nodded. "Listen to your sister, Will. Don't draw attention to yourself, just do what you've been doing all along. Be a trainer, plain and simple. But if you can't help it, and you're in trouble, burn the bastards. Shooting fire out of your fingertips like a damn pokemon... It's weird but… you might as well learn how to use it. In secret. Keep low and don't trust _anyone_."

The younger boy nodded vigorously. "Looks like I am turning into you after all," the boy said, remembering what Riven had said to him before he left for Slateport. _I don't want you turning into me._

"As long as you don't get involved in half the crazy things your friend does, a little bit of paranoia is a good idea. So, what now then?" Lucia asked. "Maybe I should go speak to Steven. I nearly got to him once…"

"He doesn't know you. No one else really knows about this sphere business. He could get suspicious of you and how you found out if you ask him." Riven thought carefully about the attack in Lavaridge, giving it another judgement. "There may be other people looking for whatever it is we found. We don't want to give them clues to find Will. They already tried to kill us once."

"Wait, what?" Gale and Lucia both said in unison.

"Long story. Point is, they came after us, looking for information on what happened in the desert. You guys didn't know about it probably. Officials made sure to keep it from the public."

"How could they keep that from us?"

"I don't know, I'm not an official. Personally, I think most of the laws are stupid and pointless. But those guys came after me and Will specifically. Killed two people. They were stopped. Permanently," he said, darkly.

Gale swallowed, knowing what he'd meant.

"That was just before I got put into the hospital for the second time within a year."

"I don't believe this!" Lucia said, running a hand through her hair. "My brother's involved in a conspiracy of some sort?"

"Life has a funny way of working out doesn't it?" Riven smiled, short and wry_. And I never thought I'd get caught up in an assassination attempt which to this day is _still_ screwing me over_. _No rest for the wicked_.

"He's barely had any trainer experience and people already want him dead?" She said, worry evident in her words. "He doesn't even have his sixth badge yet!"

Riven thought about it and sighed. "I'll talk to Steven. I don't want to. But I will. This has me concerned as well, and not just because he's shooting _fire_ out of his hands. But that's a solid reason why." It raised even more questions he didn't have answers to. He thought the Roses were dead. But this showed otherwise. Or maybe they were dead… and this was entirely different. Which made things far more troublesome.

Will's sister went and sat down beside Gale, trying to sort her thoughts.

"But I can't do that until I've healed from this first. And before I go talk with Steven, I still have one more stop."

"Which is?" Gale asked.

"Norman." He smirked at her. "And you, still owe me a free ride. Remember?"

* * *

**So there it is. Took long because finals will be upon me soon and I've been bombarded with midterm after midterm and paper after paper.**

**Anyway, the plot is accelerating now. I wonder if anyone knows where I'm going with this? He-he.**

**Thank you for reading, you guys be awesome. Follow, favorite, review at your own discretion. It would be appreciated.**


	35. Balance

_He looks extra paranoid today_, Lucia noted, watching Riven wince as a faint outline of Petalburg could be seen from the air. _Wonder why that is…_

Currently, they were flying to Petalburg. Lucia and her brother rode on Marcus, her Braviary. Riven and Gale were riding on Gale's Pidgeot and Swellow. It had been a long flight that had been agonizing for their backsides but they were nearing the city. Finally. After being in Lavaridge for nearly a month, it would be nice to see how Petalburg was doing. Well, not nice considering what happened there a year or so ago. Hopefully nothing major would happen while they were there_. Hopefully_.

Will held out a finger, leaving a trail of smoke as the rushing wind snuffed the flames. At first, he was vehemently opposed to learning how to control his new found "abilities", but he stopped being a brat and wised up after Lucia gave him a big sister scolding. They were probably here to stay, so he might as well learn.

Fire flared out again, and an indignant squawk came from the Pidgeot, who swerved out of the way. "Watch it, Will. Don't pick up Quil's habits, now that you can shoot fire from your hands. Could be… dangerous," Riven warned with a glare. The little pyromaniac had gotten way too excited after seeing its trainer shoot fire from his fingertips, so much that he blew out a happy burst of flame and set a chair on fire. Which then toppled over and lit up a table cloth too, then half the store. "And don't shoot fire near Emile, he's traumatized."

The giant bird gave him the bird equivalent of a growl and smacked him with the side of its wing.

"He says look who's talking," Gale chimed in, in better spirits than Riven. Riven scoffed and looked forward again, fingers tapping nervously against the Pidgeot's feathers.

"Are you okay, Riven?" Lucia asked.

"What? Oh- I'm fine."

"You look pretty jumpy."

"I _am_ jumpy. All the time," he stated pointedly. "When am I ever not?" Laid back was not a phrase he'd use to describe himself. He was a paranoid wreck, and he _knew_ it.

"He's not kidding," Gale added. "Don't ever try to wake him up with a shove. It's a bad idea. Nearly attacked me when he was having those nightmares of his." She giggled. "Vivid. He-he."

"He nearly punched me in the face once. In the pokemon center. He was out like a light in the pokemon center's couch," Will said, dancing flame around his fingertips. "Shoved him and almost got a black eye."

Lucia shot a glare at Riven, who seemed to shrink in on himself, muttering something about accidents.

"Seriously though, you look _really_ nervous. You're usually jumpy but not _that_ jumpy. Most of the time…" Will mentioned.

"It's just… Petalburg," he explained. Well, more non-explanation than anything.

Gale's smile seemed to slip.

"What's wrong with Petalburg?" It was a decent city with good restaurants and lots of flowers. Will enjoyed staying there, it was fun. Maybe Riven was just gloomy and hated flowers because he was a sour downer and a joy killer.

The female flyer looked at Will and shook her head, pointing at the older boy flying ahead of her.

"Oh." Will seemed to understand, and piped down.

They flew in silence for some time, until they neared the city's outskirts. Riven began to fidget much more frequently."We're here," Lucia announced, patting Marcus to signal him to descend. They landed a few paces away from the city's northern entrance. Pokemon returned, they entered the city, heading towards the pokemon center.

Riven swept his eyes suspiciously around the city streets, looking for any signs of authority or police. Area scanned and deemed "safe", he relaxed his shoulders, some tension releasing into empty air. He continued to walk with a ready gait however, expecting _anything_ to happen at any time. The police knew how he looked like, even despite having a bleeding and bruised face at the time. It was a small miracle his hair had grown out long enough to cover his eyes somewhat. No such thing as too cautious.

Will whipped around and pointed an accusing finger at him. "What is up with you? You're acting _weird_. More than normal. And you're pretty weird."

Riven blew out a breath and quickly scanned the surroundings again. "I don't want to stay in Petalburg any longer than I have to. I just want to get the badge, get the hell out, and head to Rustboro to go see Steven. Then be on my way again."

"Why don't you want to stay in Petalburg? You've were in the wild for months!" Will reasoned. He knew if he'd spent five months out there he'd want to go back to the comfort of a city again.

Riven gave him an annoyed frown. He had spent nearly two weeks in a bed being almost force fed that terrible food by the nurses and could hardly walk for most of it. He didn't want to rest, he wanted to _move. _And stay in Petalburg, of all places? Hell no. _Too risky_.

Gale put a hand on his shoulder. "It's because you're a city boy. Rivy here isn't. They make him uncomfortable. All those people running around- he doesn't like crowds; I'm sure you noticed that too."

Riven gave her a thankful look with a flick of the eyes. He really didn't want to explain why Petalburg rubbed him wrong in several different places. One, the authorities wanted him in chains. Two, he nearly died here. And three, this is where things went to hell for him. Four, there were roses _everywhere_. He was not going to relax here, _at all_.

Going through the pokemon center's doors, Riven was worried Nurse Joy would recognize him and blurt out "hello, GRAY" to the entire room, and effectively blow his cover. That reward on him was fairly hefty, and he didn't want to fight any experienced trainers to evade capture.

Nurse Joy's face did light up, but for a different reason. "Lucia!" She exclaimed, moving away from the desk to hug the older girl. "Where have you been?"

"Traveling," she said with a smile. "Went to Unova for a bit, I never thought snow could be so cold! I came back to Hoenn to visit family, I was getting terribly homesick. And it was nearing winter, so most of Unova would closed off for a while. I only managed to get six badges before heading back. Hoenn is lucky to have such tame weather."

Nurse Joy listened to her speak and returned the smile with one of her own before glancing down at Will. Her smile faded. She compared Lucia and Will, noting the eyes, hair, and facial structure. She grimaced. "Uh, Lucia?"

"Yes?"

"Is this… your brother?"

Lucia raised an eyebrow and looked at the nurse curiously, wondering why she would be asking that with such a dour look on her face."Yeah. He's Will, my youngest brother."

Riven saw Joy's face and used every ounce of mental steel he had left to hold his face in a neutral position. _I'm not going to laugh, I'm not going to laugh_...

"Oh, my. Uh… can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure?" Lucia agreed, and headed with Joy to the kitchens. _This better not be what I think it is_…

She returned a few minutes later, with a scowl that could freeze fire. Will gulped and tried to run, but his sister held him by the backpack. "Quil stays in his pokeball. AT ALL TIMES. You nearly gave Joy a heart attack the last time you made half the room explode, you little troublemaker. I should've known! After all those incidents in the house with mom. Now with your 'pyrotechnics', you'll need someone to watch _you_ so you don't set the whole center on fire!" That last line drew some pretty concerned stares from some of the younger trainers in the lobby. She probably shouldn't have said that out loud.

"It was an accident!" He insisted, giving her his best kicked Growlithe eyes.

"Guess whose room he blew up?" Riven mentioned idly, having a staring contest with a lotad on the counter.

Lucia _looked_ at him. "No…"

"Oh… yes."

Wide-eyed, she turned to see Will, who was shamefully staring at the floor. "How are you _not _dead or in jail?" She breathed. Either Riven had incredible patience or her brother had luck on his side. But she doubted both of those.

"He was about to kill me! Threatened to throw me off a cliff! But then we got stuck in the desert," the younger boy explained meekly.

"You forgot about my bike. You know, the one you turned into a contorted hunk of metal and rubber when you were teaching Nez rock tomb?" Riven snarled. "I had _just_ gotten it. It wasn't even a week old. And you _destroyed _it."

"I'm sorry! I apologized before!"

"After which you gave me sass and snark the entire god damn way. _Then_ I got stuck with you in the desert. And I lost my pokenav saving your ass from quicksand, to make things better."

"Yeah, well you attract bad luck! It's your fault!"

"And you're destruction incarnate. You can even set things on fire now, for added effect. Fantastic," Riven said through grit teeth, trying his best to win against the lotad. It was a worthy opponent.

This time Lucia was the one who was face-palming. This was ridiculous. Those two boys were walking disasters. She'd seen trainers like that before. She made a _clear_ point to avoid them. When they crossed your path, you made sure to go _the other way_, because something was going to die, explode, or crumble into dust. With two or more of them in the same vicinity, most likely _all of them_. At once.

"I'm sleeping with one eye open," Riven said, blinking furiously. That lotad wasn't normal.

"As if you don't do that already," Gale laughed.

Riven raised a finger to interject, but accepted the fact that she was right, and promptly set it down again. Sighing, he headed over to the room they checked out. He was tired, his ass hurt, was one unfortunate call away from imprisonment, and he needed to use the restroom somewhat badly.

* * *

The next morning, after a slow start and a longer than normal sleep-in, they headed to the gym after breakfast. It was pretty brisk, for eleven in the morning. Low temperatures weren't common in Hoenn, especially this far south. It was no small wonder other regions called Hoennites lucky bastards. Unovan and Sinnohan winters weren't anything to sneer at. They literally made parts of the region inaccessible and high risk to most trainers, as well as pokemon. If you didn't have a fire pokemon, chances are you'd freeze to death if you got caught out on a route. No such thing here.

Standing in front of the gym, the four of them stared at the giant pokeball sign out front. "You know Norman isn't a pushover right?" Lucia reminded. "You aren't just going to stroll in there like it's another trainer battle."

"I heard he's a monster," Will murmured, slightly intimidated. "Like a total badass or something."

"He's not that bad," Riven said. "He's no Salamence or anything." The man was only human. Trainers tended to create ridiculous stories about seemingly nothing, then playing them up so much that the stories eventually became exaggerated tall tales. But the far off traumatized looks of the younger trainers in the Petalburg center were a little… offputting.

Lucia grinned viciously. "Oh, you'll see. You should go deposit money now and only carry a minimal amount."

"Why is that?"

"Because you're probably going to lose, and money is _very precious_ for a trainer." She hummed an infuriating tune and gestured for Gale to follow her. "Meanwhile the boys fight like hell, let's go get something to eat. They're going to be there a _good_ while. There's a pretty nice restaurant around here. You coming?"

After the girls left, Will and Riven looked at each other, nodded, and turned towards the direction of the nearest bank. Both of them were rather short on funds, having done more spending than actual battling; the culprit of that being a month of idleness and infrequent battling.

A few hours later, having gone through the strange status rooms and battling several gym trainers, they arrived at Norman. Riven held his breath, hoping he wouldn't recognize him. Luckily he didn't. That part that wasn't so fortunate was the fact that Norman's Slakings _were_ absolute monsters. One of them took out Haona with a single focus punch, and gave Baron a beating, despite having the type advantage. Being indoors, Boagrius wasn't of much use, and got shredded by Norman's Vigoroth, who bounced off the walls and slashed him down. Aine was probably the most formidable and used her kicks in conjunction with her fire attacks, knocking out his Vigoroth and Tauros, but not the last Slaking.

Will had an even poorer time with him. Not having any fighting types was a major disadvantage and considering Norman's Vigoroth knew flamethrower, bad news for Nez. Rika had held her own- now a Vibrava- with dragonbreath and some nice aerial maneuvers, but the Slakings had practically brushed off the attacks like one would dirt. Quil was his strongest, and caused some debilitating burns on Norman's last Slaking, but that pokemon was built like a truck and a double-edge ended the match easily.

Now they were sitting outside of the gym, slumped on the pillars with the pokeball signs on them, looking absent-mindedly forward. Lucia and Gale returned, standing over them, and waved their hands in front of the two boys.

"Hey, are you two okay? Not traumatized are you?" Lucia grinned. "So how were those Slakings? Pretty sturdy aren't they?"

Riven peered up at her. "One of them took a close combat from Baron, barely blinked and sent him _flying across the room_. He's half fighting and psychic, and it _still_ left him reeling."

"One of them one-shot Quil," Will added, still half-dazed. "He's my strongest pokemon! And that crazy Vigoroth can use flamethrower!"

"He's a monster," they both stated.

"He does advocate balance. He isn't as predictable as the specialized gym leaders." Lucia laughed. "Most trainers learn the hard way what the other half of the gym leader circuit is like because of him. Trust me, that man is holding back something fierce. If you've ever seen him go all out, it's not cowardly to run. So, you going to challenge him again?"

"Probably after more training, right?" Gale suggested. "You're going to have to get used to his pokemon's style. Rushing in there again is just going to get you beat again."

"Hmmm, good call."

Helping them both up, they decided to head back to the pokemon center. Being a fairly long walk, and the sun starting to set, the four cut through some alley ways to get there faster. The two boys needed to heal their pokemon and get something to eat, having been in the gym for the past few hours; their stomachs were practically begging for food after the shock of Norman's Slakings had worn off.

Halfway there, they were approached by one of the shadiest looking guys Lucia had ever seen. And she'd seen lots of them. Oversized coat, hands in pockets, shifty eyes, unkempt appearance, and vicious staring issues? This guy was up to no good. Nearing them, a gleam of silver came from the man's right pocket. He stood directly in front of them, holding out a folding knife.

"Don't move! I can stab any of you from this distance before you can get a pokeball out." He shifted his attention to Lucia and Gale. "I've been watching you two since you left the gym." Pointed the knife at Riven and Will. "Didn't expect them to come with you. But it doesn't fucking matter! I'm not afraid of some guy and a kid. Hand over everything you have, including pokemon! NOW!"

Lucia grimaced. She could easily take this guy with her team, but at that distance, he was right. Twenty-one feet. The lethality distance for knives. She couldn't do anything but comply. Gale and Will froze up, probably never having been assaulted before. The only one who didn't look nervous at all was Riven. In fact, he looked more calm(or absolutely done) than she'd seen in the entire time they'd been in Petalburg. In fact, he looked bored out of his skull.

Riven sighed and stared at him with dull disinterest, as if the guy wasn't a threat at all, despite waving around a sharp metal object. "Great…" he grumbled, and took a deep breath. "Look. You really should just drop it and leave. You're hand is shaking like a leaf- the tone of your voice suggests you're nervous and have never done this before. A good criminal would have the utmost confidence when robbing someone, not the half-assed show you have on here right now. You need to show that you're perfectly capable of killing your victims, that way your threat doesn't lose its substance. If you're going to do something, for fuck sake, do it right."

"Shut the fuck up!"

"All right then…" Riven rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket. The thief's eyes widened as he saw him take out a longer and deadlier looking blade. "Mine's bigger anyway." He twirled the blade around in his fingers, still looking extremely bored, then pointed it at the man. "There are arteries in your neck and one in your leg. I slash one of those, you're out in seconds, dead in minutes. Or a lung works too." He ran a finger along the edge of the blade. "See this? The grooves on this blade ensure that it doesn't get stuck in a skull when I drive it into one. Namely, yours. And I don't know about you, but I have no qualms about ending your life if I have to. If you're smart, you'll drop the knife and scamper away. I really don't feel like buying another set of clothes because of bloodstains. They're quite expensive and you're not worth the money."

The thief dropped the knife with clammy hands and ran away, nearly tripping over himself in an effort to get away. Riven shrugged and sheathed his own, then began walking as if normal, picking up the fallen knife and pocketing that too. Noticing that the others weren't with him, he turned around, confused. "What?"

They were _staring_.

Riven shifted uncomfortably in place, trying not to look at them in the eyes. "Uh- I… erm. Don't ask. I've dealt with these people before. We should get moving before we run into a gang of them. Cities aren't safe in inconspicuous areas like these." They'd been lucky it was only a coward with a knife and no pokemon. When he was a street rat before the army had picked him up, these types of bastards came with swords. Curved. Swords. And _those_, were much harder to scare. Being ten at the time certainly didn't help his threat factor.

The others caught up to him, staying back a few steps very cautiously. Riven sighed and turned around. "I'm not going to kill you or anything. Shit, it was just a bit of scare tactics. They work well on guys like that. Now can we please move on? I'm starving."

Lucia eyed him warily, and pointed at his pocket. "Is that why you carry that thing around? To scare people? And now you have another one?"

Riven snorted."I carry it around for several different reasons, one of them being to kill anything that tries to murder me _first_. And it's a knife, they're very useful. They just happen to be extremely effective at violence too." He caught her disapproving look and frowned at her. "Don't give me that look. Every trainer should learn how to defend themselves, whether it be with their fists or with a blade, you can't rely on your pokemon all the time. What's the use if they kill you before you can get a pokeball out?"

Lucia admitted he had a point. If he hadn't done that back there, that guy probably could have done some serious damage before she could let out one of her team. "Still, you _are_ too cautious. You even took his knife!"

"Hmph. There's no such thing as too cautious _or_ having too many knives. Oh, there's the center." Running towards probably the only thing that made him remotely happy, he stopped abruptly by a wall at the end of the alley. He was looking at something. Grimaced, tore what seemed like a poster off the wall, crumbled it into a ball, and tossed it as far as he could. Bad wanted poster.

"What was that?" Gale asked curiously, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Nothing of relative importance," he said awkwardly, and gestured to the center. "Food?"

"One track minds, I swear…"

* * *

At least dinner was good; with well-done tauros steak, mashed potatoes, grilled magikarp, and pizza. They let out their smaller pokemon to eat as well. Riven and Will devoured the food like starving mightyena that hadn't eaten for days. They were similar, in some ways. Or maybe eating like Emboars was a boy thing. At least Gale ate civilly, and didn't have bits of sauce all over her face.

Cutting into her steak, Lucia curiously asked, "Riven, where are you from?"

Shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth, he looked at her strangely. Said something that sounded like _what-do-you-mean_ and went back to shoving food into his mouth.

"Well, I've been to other regions. You don't look or sound like you're from Hoenn. I know you said you're from Littleroot but I find that hard to believe. You don't have a Hoenn accent. In fact, I've never heard one like yours before. Knowing your 'prepared' nature, it's probably just a random location you picked to draw suspicion away from you. Immigration laws are pretty lax here, so you don't have to worry about deportation. And Hoenn isn't as xenophobic as Unova. Trust me on that one, I've been there. Where are you from, really?"

Riven looked at her, then Gale, who seemed to be watching him with the same curious interest. Will was still stuffing his face, secretly keeping a keen ear on the conversation. Baron, Haona, and Aine _pretending_ not to notice didn't make him feel uncomfortable at all. Having so many eyes on him made him feel small, and he bristled in return, resisting the urge to bolt."I- um… I'm not… from around here."

"Well, obviously. Which region?"

"None of the main ones?" He said sheepishly, stabbing a piece of steak with his fork rather forcefully.

"Then which one?"

He looked extremely nervous, and way too uneasy, like he was getting interrogated or something. Baron, who was sitting right beside him, shoved him with an arm. "Gall-ade. Gall."

"He says to go on," Lucia translated, egging him on as well.

"I don't like talking about it. Bad memories."

Lucia and Gale looked at each other, and seemed to exchange thoughts. Given his disposition for caution, familiarity with questionable types, and general prickliness… Yeah, the result probably wasn't pretty. He definitely wasn't from any of the tamer regions. Lucia gulped and lowered her voice, "are you from… Orre?" She knew many people didn't like talking about Orre, so much that it was nearly taboo to speak about it. That place was… pretty bad, to say the least.

Recalling what information he read about that region in Rustboro, he more or less nodded. "Something like that," he confirmed depressingly. "It's not a very friendly place. Far from it actually. Crime, orphans, violence… lots of violence. Not unlike Orre. Definitely _not_ like Hoenn. But that seems to be changing _quite_ fast."

"Is that why you're so… like that?" Lucia gestured, pointing to all of him.

"Wonderful way to put it," he deadpanned, then smiled. Not a warm smile, but a painful, bitter one. "You grow up in a place like that, you see things. Live through things. Things that don't let you sleep at night, wishing that you'd forget them, but you can't. Point is, I'm not there anymore. I _can't_ go back, I don't _want_ to go back. This place is much better. Are the questions done now?"

Lucia and Gale reluctantly nodded. The boy's mood seemed to drop further than it already was, right into miserable territory. His Gallade stared at him with concerned red eyes, chest spike glowing a dull pink. It was probably picking up feelings, and not good ones either, judging from the psychic's pained wince.

"You guys are depressing, it's making me feel like Riven on a good day" Will said, and opened a pokeball, releasing a fluffy ball of brown fur next to him. The fox gave a sleepy cry, which seemed to attract female trainers from all over the dining hall. It helped lighten the depressing aura around their table at least, which made Riven feel slightly better. At least until the horde arrived.

"Is that an eevee?"

"It's an eevee!"

"Oh my god, it's so cute!"

Growing annoyed at the steadily increasing swarm of rabid girls, Riven shot them the deadliest glare he could muster. "Mind your own business. Go back to your food," he warned. They scampered off without a second glance, looking like they'd just seen a raging Gyarados.

"You really are intimidating," Gale teased. "It's kind of funny."

"Not when everyone thinks you're some kind of thug."

"Touche," she admitted. _But they aren't too far off are they_?

Riven eyed the furball, and brought up memories of that heart wrenching story he'd read in Rustboro as well. _Eon Fable, I think_. "Huh. So that's an eevee." He rubbed the back of its ears, and the brown fox let out a small, adorable(as the girls would say) yip. Taking out Charles, he scanned it.

"It's an Eevee, sir. Not from Hoenn. Evolves into many things. Too many for me to say out loud at the moment- it's quite a mouthful, so I won't. But it's a lot. By the way, it's adorable and extremely popular with the female trainers. For the love of god, do keep it away from them for the pokemon's own good," the pokedex stated matter-of-factly.

"Thank you Charles," Riven said, flipping the pokedex closed again. "Where'd you get it?"

Will was feeding it a piece of magikarp. "Remember that egg I got for my birthday?"

"The brown one?"

"Yep. It hatched while I was over there at my brother's place," Will said, proudly puffing out his chest. "I was hoping for something a little more fierce and awesome, but eevee's are great too."

"It was nice of Connor to give you an eon, they're pretty rare in these parts," Lucia smiled. "You have any idea what you want to evolve it into? If at all?"

Will thought about it but couldn't decide. "I'm not sure yet. Probably not a Flareon though, since I already have a fire pokemon. Maybe a Jolteon, or ooooohhh, an umbreon! They're so cool. An Espeon would be awesome too, right, Seren?" The eevee yipped and licked him in the cheek, voicing its approval.

"Seren? Is it a boy or a girl?" Gale asked.

"He's a boy. The name is kinda girly but I got it from a MMORPG. Supposed to be an elven god."

"A what?" Riven asked.

"A video game," Gale explained. Riven shook his head, he didn't understand such things. "It must not like the attention all the girls give him then."

"That's why I keep him in his pokeball. When I was in Goldenrod's pokemon center, he nearly got smothered!" The fox made several yipping sounds and curled up in Will's lap, stuffed with magikarp.

_He says being squished wasn't too bad. The humans had very soft and cushion-y parts_, Baron translated telepathically, pointing to the chest area with a chuckle. Lucia and Gale started giggling, and Will only smiled. Riven was lost, as always.

"What's so funny?" He asked, completely left out of the hilarity.

"You didn't hear what Baron said?"

"He said something?"

The others looked at him strangely, except for his own pokemon, who knew telepathy bounced off their trainer like a bullet seed on steel. "You can't hear his telepathy?" Gale asked. First the teleport and now this? What?

"No."

"Hmmm, that explains why your Gallade's vocal cords are stronger than most," Lucia nodded. "I wondered why he could speak with such ease."

"They can't speak that well?" Riven asked. He didn't know that. "What are they defective or something?" Turned to his Gallade. "_Are_ you defective?" The psychic smacked him, drawing a giggle from the others.

"Usually, psychics seldom speak, often using telepathy to speak to their trainers or other pokemon. As a result, their vocal cords often go unused. So if by any chance they lose their ability to speak telepathically, they have an extremely difficult time communicating," Lucia clarified, watching Riven and his pokemon glare at each other.

"I didn't know you knew that much stuff about pokemon," Will mentioned. "I thought trainers only knew about battle stuff. I mean, that's all I know."

"Well, you pick up a few things when your oldest sibling is a breeder. You really should listen to Connor more, you could learn something useful. It's good for a trainer to have some breeding knowledge in case they find themselves in trouble when in the wild and there's no center for miles," she explained, smiling at Baron. "It helped me when Roland developed a nasty infection. I freaked out and panic-called Connor, he sorted me out."

"Roland?" Gale asked.

"Oh, that's my Sceptile. He's an amazing fencer. Helped me win a contest once, when I was unsure of being a coordinator or a battler. Coordinating is pretty fun in itself, you should try it sometime." That seemed to peek the Gallade's interest quite a bit. The experienced trainer grinned. "You should battle Roland some time, I bet he would like that- worthy opponents and such. It would be good practice for you too. Blade to blade. Blade pokemon love having those friendly spars. Some kind of unspoken honor code or something."

_Yes, that sounds exciting. Can you tell clueless over here? He can't understand me unless he puts on the translator,_ Baron replied. _Not being able to talk to him like this is annoying. And we don't know why it doesn't work._

_That shouldn't be happening, either_. _What isn't Riven telling us?_"Yeah, I'm sure it is. I'll tell him."

"Who're you talking to?" Riven thought Lucia was talking to thin air, or making some strange sort of one sided conversation.

"Your Gallade. He wants to battle Roland some time. Would that be okay?"

"I guess, but not in Petalburg. Anywhere but here. Once we're outside of the city they can have their battle."

Lucia looked at him strangely, and decided she'd ask before she lost the chance. This guy always wanted to move, getting him to rest somewhere was hard enough. "Were you there? During the incident, I mean. You seem to have an aversion to this city, like you're allergic. I know it's spring but…" She shot a quick glance at Gale, who seemed to try her hardest not to wince. Even Will peeked his head up. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. But you do know Will's secret, at least tell us."

"Fine. I was there," Riven replied, all business. "But we're square after this, got it?" She nodded. "I was… I was the one in the video. I took up the alias of Gray and took the job. I didn't know what was going to happen next, but I wasn't about to let those men take her life and my pay as well. Now I'm on the regional watch list because of it, that's why I'm paranoid." _And that's not even mentioning those fucking hitmen in Lavaridge."_The police interrogated me and took my prints, whatever that means. They know what I look like." He then took a forkful of steak and lazily chewed it, staring at them straight in the face. "That's it. Don't believe me? Look at the wanted posters and do a face comparison."

Putting together what they'd seen in that alleyway, and what Will had also seen him do, none of them doubted him.

"Okay… that was pretty straightforward." Riven shrugged and Lucia paused, recalling the bounty on the so called Gray the league wanted so much. She didn't know what was more off-putting, traveling around with a dangerous and violent fugitive, or that he had a price on his head big enough to make the bigger bounty hunters salivate. "So _that_ reward is for your capture? It's a solid one hundred thousand! Trainers and mercs are going to come after you left and right," she whispered urgently. "And trust me, those guys are ruthless."

_Oh, I know._ "Why do you think I don't want to stay here very long? If someone identifies me, I'm screwed," he said, instinctively looking around for any curious ears. "Luckily my face was swollen and bleeding at the time, so that might've helped me conceal my image. That and they don't know my real name either. I was afraid Nurse Joy would blurt it out back there, but I guess she didn't recognize me."

"Your hair _is_ long enough to cover your eyes," Gale stated. "But you can't possibly hide them either. Mismatched eyes, one blue, one brown? If someone was looking for you, and they knew that, there'd be no way they'd miss you," she reasoned. Riven cursed silently.

"Better get my badge and move on then, before somebody catches on," he said, finishing his meal. "Which means I need to kick Norman's ass quickly."

* * *

"Aim for its legs, wear him down!" Riven called out to Aine, who ducked under a white fist and readied herself for an attack. Sending two powerful kicks into the Slaking's thick legs, she flanked around, wrapping fire around herself before slamming into the larger pokemon's back. She let out a loud cry, taunting the massive pokemon.

"Don't let her goad you! Shadow ball!" Norman ordered, still perfectly calm. The slaking opened its mouth, shooting a ghostly ball at Aine, who deftly flipped away from it, using the speed boost from the flame charge to her advantage. The gym leader's pokemon was far too slow, missing every shadow ball it used.

_Smart kid. Flanking, hit and run tactics, not common from fighting pokemon, _Norman noted to himself. _He knows she can't take my Slaking on head to head, so he's trying other things. Not bad. Older trainers have much more interesting tactics than younger ones, that's for sure. _Most of his challengers were children and young teens, so this was something he rarely saw. Granted, his challenger's younger friend was also fairly sharp and gave him a good battle as well. "Rock tomb, box her in!"

Norman's Slaking stomped on the floor, forming a prison of rock under Aine. She reacted fast enough and managed to jump out of the rocky trap before it caged her inside. Still in the air, the fire pokemon twisted, unleashing a lash of flames at the Slaking, followed up by a spinning, momentum packed kick to the head. In that time, the combusken slashed the staggered pokemon six times with her claws, before retreating again.

"Don't let that bastard breathe! Use flamethrower to close in, get into melee range," Riven called out, watching Aine slide in close while releasing a stream of fire at the Slaking.

Dodging numerous swipes, Aine unloaded kicks into the pokemon's legs, wearing it down. She was gaining the advantage, until Norman ordered the Slaking to use earthquake. With one ground shattering fist, the Slaking shook the building, knocking Aine off of balance. Using the momentary slip up, the Slaking pinned her down on the floor with a giant hand, raising the other to slam a focus punch down to end the match quickly.

That wasn't good. Riven cursed mentally. Aine needed to do something fast, or she was going to get a massive focus punch to the face, and there weren't many pokemon who could take one from a Slaking and retain consciousness immediately afterwards. Looking at the position Aine was pinned down in, she did in fact have a way how to get out of this. But it was frowned upon…

_Oh, fuck this!_ He decided. _This is a fight, and in fights, _anything_ goes_. _Doesn't matter if it's a life and death situation or not._ "Shoot ember into its eyes!" Norman lost his composure for a second, and gave Riven a bewildered look, as if he'd seen something appalling. Riven couldn't contain a sly smirk.

Aine brought up what little breath she had and breathed a volley of ember at the Slaking's eyes, causing it to lose focus and hold its face in pain. "Use ember on its hand, free yourself!" The fire chicken did as told, and wrenched herself free. "Good, now cripple it, double kick its left leg!" Aine smirked back at her trainer, then launched two massive kicks into the Slaking's calf, dropping it to one knee. She didn't need any instructions after. Positioning herself on one leg, she unloaded a flurry of kicks into the pokemon's solar plexus, ending in an enormous blast of overheated fire.

The Slaking slumped to the ground, scorched and beaten. Aine turned around, waving at her trainer. Riven shouted at her to pay attention. Just as the larger pokemon was getting up from the ground, fist glowing white, she turned around and kicked it twice in the mouth, dropping it once and for all. "Busk," she snorted, huffing fire at the unconscious monster of a pokemon.

As she went back to Riven's side of the stage, he ruffled her head feathers. "An execution? Haona is definitely getting to you. That isn't a good thing. I don't need two of her, one is enough. I'm running low on money _and_ patience, and with Will here, the latter is even lower. Good job though." He shoved her gently. "You might evolve soon if you keep it up. Then you can beat more things into the ground, me included, hah." Aine laughed and cried sharply. "Gah. I hope Blazikens aren't this loud," Riven groaned, cupping his ears.

Returning the happy combusken to her pokeball, he met a scowling Norman on the other side. Handing Riven a badge somewhat reluctantly, he held his cane menacingly. Riven didn't like where this was going. "That was a dirty attack." Nope, definitely didn't like where this was going.

He really hoped he wasn't about to get a moral tongue lashing from him. That was the last thing he wanted to hear. Well, second last- the first being _you're under arrest._

"What did you want me to tell her to do? Sure, just take a focus punch to the face! So very appealing. That sounds like something a good trainer would say," Riven retorted sardonically, sending a scowl back at Norman. No one liked getting hit, it hurt. Screw honor, if it meant less pain, then he was all for it. Honor got people killed.

"You may have a point, but that was very uncalled for and extremely underhanded. Some trainers may not take so kindly to that. You best watch yourself," Norman told him carefully. "And don't think about using something like that in a tournament, they'll disqualify you without even blinking."

Riven waved a dismissing hand. "Don't worry, I don't plan to enter any of them any time soon. And I always watch myself. _Always_. Good battle, Norman. You were a fucking bastard to defeat."

"Nice mouth."

"And a nice badge. Have a good day," Riven sneered, and tried to exit as fast possible, but stopped dead in his tracks as soon as the gym doors opened to reveal a cheery looking May in the doorway.

_Oh, fuck._

Will(who won his badge before Riven), stuck next to Riven like glue, pointing at her. "Riven, Riven, it's May," he whispered, poking the older boy in the side.

"I know, god damn it. I've seen her before," Riven ground out, praying she wouldn't recognize him. "Wait, what are you doing?"

Will went over to her, asking her questions with his fake little kid aura. Bastard was using his height and young appearance to seem like a little boy, when he was really one damn year from hitting puberty. Then he heard, "this is my friend, Riven!"

_Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Will. Not. Strangle, _Riven seethed, awkwardly walking towards the two while trying not to burn holes into Will's head at the same time. Fiercely so.

"Hi," May said, waving to him. Riven nodded in response, deliberately trying to say as little as possible."Ah, you two beat my dad! Good job! He's a tough old guy, heh."

"I heard that!"

May leaned in, examining Riven closely. "I feel like I've seen you before. Somewhere. You seem oddly familiar. Weird eyes you got there."

Will stared at him, chuckling to himself. Riven looked petrified.

_That little shit! _"I don't think so. This is my first time here. Grew up in Lavaridge. I've seen you before though, in the news," Riven replied with knife-edge caution, backing away slightly. "Sorry about what happened last year, are you all right? Heard you quit coordinating." _Evade and distract. Make sure she doesn't recognize you._

"Yes," she said with a small smile. "I got lucky... I know they all demonize that guy that calls himself Gray, but… he saved me. And he saved my dad. That's all I'm thankful for. They think he's like one of those crazy Sinnoh trainers that went on a rampage. But he's not. He didn't seem like such a bad person, but the media doesn't care. Sad, isn't it?"

Riven tried his best sympathizing smile."What a world we live in, right?"

"Yeah… Well! I need to go, my dad gets impatient. Nice talking to you both! Good luck with your journey, go say hi to Winona for me!" She said, running to where Norman was waiting. They waved to her and left through the sliding doors.

Riven breathed a sigh of relief as they exited the gym. Then he smacked Will upside the head. "Why did you do that?"

"Ow! Hey, she's cute right? You need to get a girlfriend to calm those nerves. But I guess you have Gale so…"

Riven growled again, grinding his teeth in frustration. "She could have recognized me! Her father is _extremely_ adherent to the laws. If he knew I was here, he'd notify the police, and I'd be fucked! And let me tell you, that detective in the precinct hates my guts. He'd love nothing more than to throw me in jail, and now he has the permission to do it." Did this little bastard want him to get a panic attack?

"Why? Did you kiss him or what?"

"I gave him the philosophical equivalent of a backhand. Then I walked out of the precinct like a smug prick- on purpose."

"Yeah, I think I'd put you in jail too if you gave me shit too. Oh, wait- you do. Still, you won a gym badge, get happy. Or do you need Gale to do that for you? Hue." He chuckled mischievously. "I mean, she has a nice bod-"

"Will?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to know how hard I can punch?"

"Why?

"Do you want to find out?"

"Heh, why don't you show Gale how hard you can-"

_Thump._

"Why is Will unconscious?" Lucia questioned, surprised that Riven had dumped her brother at her feet. And right outside the pokemon center. Way to go, Riven.

"Training accident."

"You guys went to battle the gym leader." Riven's deadpan look didn't change. Lucia sighed. "You punched him didn't you?"

"Yes."

Lucia maximized a pokeball.

Something deep inside Riven's mind told him; _you should run_. That was a sound idea. _Maybe I can make thirty feet? Let's try that._

"Ilan, hydro pump!"

* * *

The next morning proved to be… different. The entire center had awoken to loud shouts and banging from outside. Riven peered out of the window, watching a crowd of people with signs angrily chanting some kind of slogan of sorts. He raised an eyebrow, thinking they were all mad. Future people were insane. He shook a sleepy Gale. "What are they doing?"

She rubbed sleep out of her eyes and yawned lazily. "It looks like they're protesting."

"What's protesting?"

"You're kidding, right?"

He gave her a long, flat look.

"They go out there, shout their message and hold up signs, sometimes preventing people from going to their jobs if they work for whatever they're protesting against," Lucia explained instead, fixing her hair. "It seems this time it's… trainers? That can't be good." Someone banged on the window, giving them the middle finger and saying something unintelligible.

"Polite," Riven grumbled. "Such lovable people."

"They remind me of you," Will sneered. Riven glared at him.

"You think the whole region is like this?" Gale wondered. "I'd imagine it's not only in Petalburg…"

Sure enough, Joy turned on the television, showing the protests-in some places riots- that were happening simultaneously in numerous cities, Petalburg being one of them, in open protest against the league and trainers. It showed farmers complaining about burned berry fields, businessmen showing damage reports in the millions due to careless trainer battles, and a crying woman, expressing the loss of her daughter in last month's festival.

The horde of people outside were blocking the center's doors. Riven had entertained the thought of punching the man right in front of it and forcefully moving him, but Gale and the others reminded him there were cameras watching that could spot him. Unsavory sorts had found him and Will through the television before, so naturally that got him off the idea rather quickly. Luckily, their room was on the first floor, so they hopped out of the window and left the center whilst avoiding the crowd of annoying protestors blocking the entrance to the center. It was kind of a dick move to leave Joy and the other trainers back there to fend for themselves but hey- Riven was already on a damn watchlist. He was in deeper shit than any of them were- he needed to _get the hell out_. The fact that these protests were happening was just another kind shove from the universe to tell him to haul ass to Rustboro.

Now in front of the Devon Corp. reception desk, Riven was talking(or shouting?) to the woman behind the counter, who looked impassive and not at all bothered to deal with random trainers."What do you mean Steven isn't here? Isn't he_ always _here?"

"Not really. And I told you, he isn't here. Besides, you don't even have an appointment. Not everyone can see the CEO, even you trainers- what with your 'I'm special' mindsets. I just hope that fool Wallace would understand that," the receptionist said, lazily looking at her nails. "If you want to talk to him that badly, you should go to LaRousse yourself. It's an impressive city. Although, I'm not sure if you'd be able to talk to him anyway. He's meeting with Birch and other important science-y people in the Lund laboratories to discuss some dream visualizer thing. The high tech ferries that go to and from LaRousse are much faster than the normal ones, you should be there in a week if you catch one. Now shoo, I have work. Go do trainer things. Just not here, I've had enough of ice sculptures in the lobby."

Well, there went that option. They had spent a day and a half flying over to Rustboro from Petalburg, only to find out that the stone maniac had left shortly before they arrived. Riven did get a shiny new pokenav though, and LaRousse sounded promising. He had never been there before, and he'd heard impressive things about it from other trainers. It was supposedly some extremely futuristic city. He didn't know how futuristic it was, honestly, considering pokeballs continued to seem like wizardry to him. He made a mental note to buy some sort of adhesive to prevent his jaw from falling off his face, in case something awe-inspiring appeared.

But now they were sitting on a bench in the plaza, deciding what to do next. Will and Riven released their pokemon to go play in the small garden located to the south east edge of the plaza.

"What do we do now, genius?" Will asked Riven rather sourly, letting Seren out of his hands to run around with the others. "Maybe we can relax, finally? Rustboro has a bunch of cool stuff. Or are you paranoid here too? "

Riven held back the urge to punch him again. Getting hydro pumped by Lucia's Poliwrath hadn't been fun. _Never thought water could hurt so much._ She was watching him like a Staraptor.

"I guess if you guys really want answers, you can all go to LaRousse," Gale suggested idly. "They have a battle tower and everything, and it's only a ferry or two away from Mossdeep and Sootopolis. The seventh and eight gyms are there- you can get two badges in one fell swoop!" She exclaimed.

_She does have a point,_ Lucia agreed. _They can always go back for Winona's badge later. We need to get Will's _affliction_ sorted out first._ _On that note, I've never been to LaRousse, might be fun! _"Sounds like a good idea! What do you two think?"

"I don't really care, LaRousse has robots and stuff," Will brightened. "Robots are cool."

They all shifted their attention to Riven, who felt like a Sawsbuck caught in the headlights.

"Well… it is efficient. I can't argue with that," Riven shrugged. "We should go with that. There isn't else we can do here of value." _And I can investigate what Ben told me about mercenaries. If there's anything I know, it's that they're above the law and can go anywhere they damn well please. _Useful, if he wanted to travel and find answers, as well as get paid and not have to worry about authorities coming after him; every second in a big city was another second in danger. "Where's the nearest port?"

Lucia took out her pokenav and frowned. She looked at all of them with a bitter expression.

Riven felt like pounding his forehead into the ground until it went numb. His ass was going to hate him. "Let me guess, Slateport?"

She laughed nervously.

"Why am I not surprised?"

* * *

"That's… a big boat," Will gawked. "Holy shit. It's so big!"

Indeed, it was a rather large boat. Pretty, sleek, and very futuristic looking. It probably wouldn't be as rocky as the normal ferries that went from Dewford to Slateport, or the ships that went even farther than that. Smooth was good.

"You said that already."

"Let me say it again. That's a big fucking boat," Will repeated, just to annoy Riven.

The older boy pulled down his hat.

"Training did a number on your mouth didn't it, Will?" Lucia remarked. "Do I have to wash your mouth out with soap and water?" She hadn't remembered him having such a potty mouth before.

Will pulled his hat up again, and kicked Riven in the shin. "It's his fault. He curses too."

"I'm nineteen. You're fourteen."

"So?"

"And I don't have a big sister watching me. I can do whatever I want- but that isn't the point. Let's just get on the boat instead of eating it with your eyes," Riven said, prodding Will forward with a finger.

* * *

_At least staring out at the sea is nice_, Riven thought, leaning on the rails of the ferry. Relaxing, after that near panic he'd experienced in Petalburg, and the constant flying from there to Rustboro, then Slateport. And Will's annoying little comments. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he didn't notice Gale lean on the rail next to him.

"Nice, isn't it?"

"When did you get here?"

"Wow. You're definitely a lot more relaxed than usual. The normal you is alert even in deep sleep. I'm surprised you didn't notice me," she smiled. "Being out on the sea calms you down?"

"A bit- I guess. No one can come after me here, and watching the waves and the sea is soothing, in a way. Gives me time to think."

"Yeah, it is soothing. I've never been on a ferry before, since all I do is fly. It's certainly something different. But not in a bad way- you know?"

He gave a slight nod. "How are you not sore from all that flying?"

"You get used to it. I heard riding on Ponyta and Rapidash is worse though."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

They remained watching the sea for a few minutes, hearing the sloshing of water below as the ferry made its way across the water. A pack of mantykes jumped out of the water. Gale kept looking at Riven from the corner of her eye, which annoyed him slightly.

He sighed, too relaxed to even get remotely annoyed."Okay, spit it out. You came here for a reason. And I'm pretty sure it isn't my charisma, because if there was such a thing as negative charisma, I'd be all over that," he said dryly.

She nearly giggled at that, but held herself steady. "What do you expect to find by talking to Steven? He may not even know anything. It's highly likely he's as lost as you are. What Will has, it's never been seen before."

Riven gave her a sidelong glance. _Never been seen before? Little do you know_. "Going there for Will is one reason but another is… Hmm, maybe I'm going to try something else."

"Like what?"

"Something."

"Still don't trust me huh?" She shook her head. "I'm not going to backstab you or anything. Is it something I did?"

"No. You haven't done anything like that. Complete opposite actually, which I still don't understand, to be honest." Closed his eyes, and breathed in the salty sea air. Then exhaled deeply. "Just… I tried starting anew here, and all that happened was me landing in another mess. It's like a fucking cycle that never ends; I get out of one mess, and into another. I don't want to get caught up in this world's problems too," he muttered dully. He leaned further into the rail, eyes still cold and blank.

"This world's?" She raised a puzzled eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

_Damn_. "World, region- does it really matter?"

"I guess not." She tapped on the steel bar with her nails, and shifted nervously again. "Uhmm…"

"I told you, Gale. Ask me whatever you want, I don't mind at the moment. Too apathetic to care right now."

"Personal questions are awkward though. I get uncomfortable asking."

"They're only awkward if you keep fidgeting like a frightened wurmple, kind of similar to what you're doing right now. If you need to use the restroom, it's below deck." She reddened, and ceased her movements. "But if you want to ask a question, just do it. I won't reprimand you for it. Just no rhetorical ones, for obvious reasons. Those will be answered with biting sarcasm, make no mistake."

She bit the inside of her cheek, and shot an accusatory look at him. "But all you've been doing to Lucia, Will, and I most of the time is avoiding straight answers! You're hiding _a lot_ of things." She jabbed him in the side with her thumb.

"So I am. I said I'll give you answers. I didn't say they'd be complete ones," he said wryly. _That's going to bite me in the ass later, _he realized. _I'm probably coming across as an utter asshole, but it's for the best._

She was starting to get frustrated; it was like trying to solve a rubik's cube_. We're not your enemies, stop treating us like that._ "So you lied?"

"What? No. Lying is too much work. I prefer sarcastic confessions and telling the truth. Err... some of it."

"Half truths are the worst lies of all, you know." She put her hands on her hips. "That's a terrible habit. You're always going on about Will picking up bad habits, but you're full of them yourself."

He chuckled. "Irony_ is_ a wonderful thing."

"You're- argh! Forget it!" She said, burying her face in her hands. "Oh, and by the way, your absol looks about ready to freeze the entire deck and everyone around her, you should probably go stop her before you get the bill and get punted off the ship when you can't pay for it."

Riven saw Haona getting crowded and _bolted_. "Haona, STOP! NO! DON'T FREEZE THAT!"

Gale smiled and looked out towards the waves again. _Oh look, a Mantine!_

* * *

**Sorry if this was late or underwhelming. I had final exams. This chapter is more of a setup chapter for what's to come, which will be very important. Almost 10k word chapter, whoa. I wished i could write this much on an essay.**

**Merry Christmas everyone.**


	36. LaRousse

"Hey! All of you! Move! Get away from her before she freezes your asses to the floor!" Riven demanded with a furious shaking of the arms as he rushed over to the other side of the deck. When the crowds dispersed(more or less melted, really), he saw a very annoyed and visibly hostile White Queen. The metal below her was already frosted over and he could tell she was spitting out multitudes of curses in pokemon, most likely numerous and foul enough to warrant a vicious tongue scrubbing from Nurse Joy. And yes, she _did_ do that to young trainers whose mouths rivaled a sailor's. He heard the howls from his room once.

He put a hand on Haona's head and she growled at him, fangs bared.

"Soooooool…" She warned, forming a ball of ice in her mouth. More frost seemed to collect below her, until she was standing on an icy sheet of metal.

"Calm down, Haona. It's just me." Riven held his hands out, signaling her he meant no harm or more unnecessary petting. Red eyes calmed, and he sighed, kneeling next to her and planting his feet firmly on the ground. A slip would be embarrassing. And slipping on frosty metal? Not. Fun. "Are you trying to be like Quil and go on a destruction rampage? If you froze the deck, they'd kick us off the ship, you ever think about that? Or is it because you like seeing me suffer?"

She gave him an indignant snort at being compared with that annoying firebreather. She glanced away. "Sol. Absol, ab."

Riven stared blankly at her for a few seconds. "Right… I left the translator in the cabin..." She rolled her eyes and began trotting away, like an annoyed teenager. Riven held her back, and she nearly kicked him. "Whoa, claws. No- stop moving! Look at yourself, you're a mess!" Her fur was ruffled in every which way, looking like she had just been pulled out of a maelstrom.

"AB!" She snarled, shooting daggers at him with a glare. She was _not_ a mess, she made it _very clear_ last time he said that. Stupid human was _pushing_ _it_.

"At the moment," he clarified quickly. "Ice beam, let it go. Just breathe, get it out of your system. Dammit Haona, you can't just-"

She was glaring, again.

"-You can't try to ice beam everything in existence!" He continued. "_Me_ being the primary recipient of that. I'm your trainer, you know, the one that keeps you _alive_?"

"Sooool," she whined, forming an ice beam again.

"No."

"Solllll." She just wanted to hit him with it, just a little, to see how it felt.

"No, bad pokemon."

Haona tried to pout, but Riven was resolute. He held out a finger. "No, no, and no. Not falling for it. Seren does it much better, and so did Aine, when she was still a Torchic. No pouting, it doesn't work- no, stop that. As fun as it is to encase things in ice because they look at you funny, it gets me into trouble. And when I get into trouble, disaster follows. Spectacularly. You know this."

Yes, she did. She knew it, and so did the rest of his pokemon. He attracted life threatening situations like an Electrike did lightning.

Continuing to stare at him, Haona was still deciding whether to go full brat or not, but caught Riven's arched brow and relented. "Absol…" she grumbled, and sat down beside him on the not so frosted part of the deck. Red eyes narrowed at him, then gestured to herself with her horn. "Sol."

"You want me to fix your fur?" That arched brow climbed even higher. You could practically vault over it.

Her eyes shifted nervously, which reminded him of Gale when she was uncomfortable. It made him chuckle. Perhaps it _was_ a girl thing, which was _maybe_ a slight bit cute, but more often than not, it was more comical than endearing. "Fine. But I don't have a brush or anything that categorizes itself as a grooming tool. And don't criticize me if I don't do a fantastic and exemplary job, alright? Because I probably, most likely, certainly, definitely, positively won't."

She nodded reluctantly. _But you better not leave me looking ridiculous or I'll murder you, stupid human._

"Good. Now sit still. And no sass- shit you not, I _will_ leave you like this." She grudgingly nodded again and he began to press down her tousled fur with his hands, mostly the stubborn top of her head, which seemed intent on defying gravity and utterly refusing to stay nice and flat. _How can she do this every day?_ He wondered, still fighting the head fur. He leaned over to pat it down again and a black stone emerged from under his collar and hit Haona in the nose. She sneezed.

"Sooooool…." She growled afterwards, and nudged him with her head, careful not to use her horn.

Riven peered down at her, confused. "What are you- oh." She was looking at the small black stone dangling from his neck with uncharacteristic curiosity. And pawed at it. Riven gave a small snort, she looked like a Skitty mesmerized by a ball of yarn. He'd seen it too, in Petalburg during his homeless stint on the bench. Quality entertainment- that.

"Absol. Sol," she said, still staring at the stone intently. She smacked it again.

He held it up before she tore it away from his neck and flung it unintentionally into the sea. He'd already lost his bow and his blades because of a _happy _mishap aboard another ferry.

"Wondering about this? My mother gave that to me. Surprised you didn't see it before." He looked down at it and bounced it in his hand. "Steven told me it was useless but… it's the only thing I have left from them." He took it off his neck and held it in the palm of his hands. An idea formed in his head. Haona sniffed it and looked up at her smirking trainer, before backing up. He chuckled."You want it?"

His absol's eyes widened and she pointed to herself with a paw. _Me?_

"Yeah. You. You didn't really think I'd trust someone else with this, did you? Go on, take it, it's yours."

She shook her head furiously, but Riven put it around her neck anyway. He knew she'd be too stubborn to accept it the normal way, even if she really wanted it. The dark type froze in place and felt the little black stone secured firmly below her neck fur. She loved it, and when Riven put it on her, she felt… fuzzy inside. She tried expressing her gratitude, but found it difficult, muttering a bunch of things incoherently. Thanking him was _weird_.

Riven snorted and put another hand on her head, finally managing to get that blasted fur to stay down. "Stop babbling- I knew you'd like it. Now stand up," he ordered. She shot to her feet, striking a pose. He shook his head, laughing a little. "A fitting trinket for a _White Queen_, is it not?" Made a pretend bow, as if addressing royalty.

Haona eyed her trainer for a second, bewildered, then thrust her head up high, puffed out her chest, and regally trotted off.

Riven grinned and leaned back on a rail, before shouting cautioned warnings at her. "Oh, and stop getting into trouble! Don't make me regret giving you that!"

"Sol!" She replied, happily prancing to where the others were, eager to show them her new piece of jewelry.

He ran a hand through his hair. _I_ _might have boosted her ego a bit too much, I think. Ah well, at least she isn't giving people frostbite._ Or about to anyway.

"That was nice of you."

Lucia came over, joining him near the rails. She tip-toed around the frosted patch of the deck, careful not to slip. Riven had noticed her observing them from some distance away, but said nothing. She watched the content Absol show off to Aine, as well as Quil, who looked… embarrassed? Something wasn't right there.

"Looks better on her than it does on me. Not really a jewelry person," Riven said evenly. "And it matches her personality quite a bit."

Lucia chuckled. "I'll say." She was fixated on the floating gray cloud on the other side of the ship's deck. "Speaking of eccentricities… I didn't know your Castform knew hyper voice. That's kind of strange- and scary, actually. But it could come in handy, if your ears survive that is." She let out a small chuckle.

Riven appeared to be relatively unfazed, looking up towards the sky, which was littered with white clouds, just like the last time he was at sea. "I kind of expected it really. With a booming voice like his, I was wondering when he'd weaponize it," he joked.

"A Castform. With hyper voice," she repeated. "They can't even learn that. That's an oddity in and of itself."

"So it is. But there seems to be a lot of _unexplainable_ things going on lately. Strange, strange world isn't it?" He mentioned, and looked at her somewhat cryptically, as if there was another meaning to his words. Opened a fist, seemingly imitating Will dancing fire through his hands, and gave her a tiny knowing smile.

The older woman narrowed her eyes at him, getting more than a little frustrated at his increasingly cryptic behavior as of late. _Gale isn't the only one watching you, what in god's name are you hiding?_ "You're right." She pushed herself off the rail and began walking back down below deck_. "_Regardless, you should get some rest. I know you didn't sleep last night, or the other two nights before that. We're only a couple hours away from docking, so go recharge, those black bags under your eyes can't be good for you. Insomnia sucks. Take some pills if you have to, I have some in my bag, they'll help you sleep."

He eyed her dully and shrugged, wondering just how effective these sleeping pills really were. Turns out they were a miracle from god. "Holy…"

* * *

"…Shit."

The ferry had stopped at a small port in front of one of the enormous white towers that were spaced out both in the water and on the land, connected by monorails that spanned for miles, connecting three large pieces of land. Riven had never seen anything like it, his mouth hung open and refused to shut. Each tower was almost as tall as the Devon building in Rustboro, which was an impressive feat in itself. "We're going to ride in one of those?"The awe-stricken boy asked, glancing at a train car that was making its way across the rails.

"Yup!" Lucia chirped. "Come on, it'll be fun! They go fast, I hear!" She pushed him forward with both hands, then walked over to the ticketing machine and gave it her ticket.

Riven gulped. "Is that safe?" The older boy seemed very unsure of himself now, and _very_ disinclined to ride in something such as that. Those trains were attached to the metal railing only through the roof and nothing else. _And it's a long way down. _Riven tried to gauge the distance between the rails and the ocean floor. From that height, it'd be like hitting stone. And long falls plus anything alive usually resulted in messy red splatters, which didn't usually end well for the thing that was alive.

"You think flying on a pokemon is safer?" Will remarked, hands full of Eevee. If he did, then Riven seriously needed to get his priorities straight.

"Uh, no. Definitely no."

"Then what are you worrying about? They're completely safe. You know, they wouldn't be using them if they weren't. No one's ever died before, if that's what you're wondering about."

Defeated, Riven turned to Gale for her opinion. All she did was shrug and hand in her ticket after Lucia, motioning for him to follow. So much for support.

He was only slightly panicked as they rode an elevator all the way to the top of the tower. Once they got onto the platform, Riven looked down and couldn't help but gasp like an idiot. They were hundreds of feet high, with a fierce wind that disheveled the hair and clothes of everyone on the platform. Will had to hold onto his hat to prevent it from flying off.

When their train came, Riven nervously stepped inside, fearing the worst while gripping a metal bar with an iron vice-grip, just for extra security; it wouldn't really help but he got a point for trying. Although, it really wasn't all that bad, apart from the swaying the wind was causing. He _fully_ expected the top to detach and the train car to plummet to a watery grave, but it did no such thing.

_Maybe I need to stop thinking so morbidly._ He breathed and calmed himself, taking a window seat near the left side of the train. Will sat next to him, setting Seren down on the seat adjacent to him to sleep.

The train ride proved to be extremely pleasant, swaying aside, much to Riven's surprise. The view of the ocean was fantastic, and he could see their destination in the distance, as well as an enormous white bridge connecting two gigantic expanses of land. Lucia informed both Riven and Will that in the direction they were looking in was Lilycove City, and to the east was Mossdeep, where the seventh gym was located. LaRousse was right in the middle, but that much was obvious.

Riven was left nearly speechless, mouth agape."This is just…"

"This is what?" Gale asked, enjoying the view as well. "Awesome?"

"Astounding," he stated in disbelief. "All of this." He gestured around him, as well as out the window. "People built this?" Connecting continents, building towers in the sea, and constructing rails to transport man and pokemon to and fro in a matter of hours? And all through machinery? It was unbelievable. And amazing, to think just how far these people had come. Holy shit indeed.

"Well, yeah. Who else? It's pure human ingenuity! With some help from pokemon of course," Gale mused happily, and scratched Seren's ears. The furry pokemon nuzzled into her hand.

"That… might have been a rhetorical question."

"Oh, sorry."

Riven continued staring out of the window, amazement filling his eyes, instead of the usual cold, bitterness they normally held.

_That's different,_ Gale noted. _Good though_. _Maybe then he can open up more and stop putting up walls! _But she really doubted it. Some people were tough nuts to crack, and some of those _happened_ to be steel coated ones. You could bludgeon them with a hammer and they wouldn't budge, which was annoying. Riven being a case in point.

Their train arrived in the station in under two hours, letting them off in the south-eastern edge of LaRousse, near the water. The four stretched and looked around, going over to a wall to peer at a map of their sector of the city. As they were leaning over a post with a holographic map, a small blocky robot greeted them.

Riven recoiled, and _almost_ reacted. "What the hell is that?" He was in a ready stance, hands digging into his pockets, fingers wrapped around his two knives like his life depended on it. However, he had the sense _not_ to draw them, which would have surely alerted the police, which would then land them into trouble and bring about long, colorful uses of the word _fuck_. And possibly dead people.

Will gave him a _look_ and shook his head, hands pointing downwards, telling him to _relax_. "It's a robot. It's programmed to do stuff, kind of like Charles. He's not going to kill you, I think. Maybe it'll prove me wrong with your luck."

"So it's like a person too?"

"Not really. I mean… Charles is erm… a little more special, I guess," Will tried to explain. Riven was an idiot with technology, he probably didn't even understand the difference between A.I. and regular robots, so he had to put it into baby terms. "Say, how did they do that?" He asked Lucia.

"A pokedex with an A.I.?" She put a finger on her chin, and looked down at her brother. ""I really don't know. Why don't you ask Birch when you get there, Will? He gives out pokedexes so he should know something about that, right? You should ask him too, Riven."

"I was going actually planning to do that anyway." _That happy bearded bastard should have told me I was being used._

The robot finished taking pictures of them, and handed them their LaRousse passports before wishing them a good day and floating away.

_Oh man, I do look pissed off,_ Riven grimaced, holding his LaRousse ID. He _tried_ smiling, which to him felt like the biggest fucking grin he'd ever given, but in actuality, his lips moved about one millimeter. Sighing, he pocketed the ID and stopped in front of a section of sliding sidewalks. People and pokemon sped past them, some to the battle tower and others to… some place. Somewhere. He didn't really know to be sure.

Following several falls and going in circles over and over, they stopped at a park, where many trainers were resting. It looked like the one in Petalburg, with nicely maintained grass, water fountains for the Wingull to rest on, and playgrounds for the smaller _devils_\- err, children. Very lively place- it contrasted with the highly technological landscape around it. Will had the idea to ask the trainers for directions, they looked like they knew their way around. The maps were useful, but they only showed the local area, where the Lund laboratories _weren't._ They came up to a group of trainers huddled around a bench, playing some sort of handheld game.

Apparently, to get to where they needed to go, they had to take a rather confusing set of sidewalks, then walk around a convention center to get to another set of sidewalks, then take another set of the damn things, make their way through a market center, then finally look for a greenhouse a few streets away. Their destination was right beside it.

It appeared at first glance that the finding of these laboratories would prove to be tedious and time consuming. It also appeared that Riven's initial assumption was wrong. Which, again, was surprising. He believed LaRousse was going to be impressive, he didn't think it would continue slapping him in the face with how much better it was than any other city he'd been in so far. There were even food dispensers scattered around town, full of burgers and other delicious things. Now that… was amazing.

"Those sidewalks are terrifically useful," Riven randomly blurted out. "Why don't they have those in other places? Would save a lot more time and my feet wouldn't be begging for me to chop them off."

"Someone's getting lazy aren't they?" Lucia chided, opening a can of soda with a crackled hiss.

"Hey, I've walked everywhere up until I met her." He pointed an accusing finger at Gale, who put a hand on her chest and gasped as if being accused.

"You're saying it like flying is terrible." Will pumped a fist in the air, looking ridiculous with a semi eaten burrito in the other hand. "Flying is awesome! The wind against your face, the feeling of freedom, the open sky and the sun shining across the clouds! You're just a grumpy old man that's getting white hair. And you're allergic to fun."

"He gets it," Gale quipped, feeling unappreciated. She hmphed at Riven. "Ass."

Riven ignored their little comments and continued. "Oh, I'm the ass now? You're so sweet, Gale. I'm sure _anyone_ would love to be dropped at high speed on their first flight as well. Two thousand feet. S_traight. Down_," he hissed back at the brunette, who coughed into a fist. "You can imagine why I don't agree with that flying-is-awesome sentiment too much."

Lucia blinked. And seconds later forcefully spat out her drink, coughing vehemently. She tried to apologize, but was too busy laughing to contain herself. "Oh- man, that's- hahahahaha!" She pointed at Gale, teary-eyed. "You're evil. So evil. Oh… wow." Let out a few more muffled chuckles, and wiped her mouth with a sleeve. "I really needed that. Why would you _ever_ do something like that to someone on their first time in the sky?"

"My father said if someone was uneasy about flying, then you should take them high up and drop them as hard and fast as you can. The adrenaline rush will get it right out of their system." Gale noticed the _horrified_ expressions of both Lucia and Will, and meekly looked down. "I kind of found out how wrong he was after I did it. Honest mistake?"

"Poor boy's traumatized enough," Lucia said, half teasing, "don't make it worse by rendering him a neurotic mess. Even more than normal… that is."Riven gave her a dirty look. "Anyway! I think that's the greenhouse. The labs should be right next to it." Indeed, a decently sized steel and glass building was located adjacent to it, prominently displaying: _Lund Laboratories_. Fairly unassuming, and equally unimpressive.

Heading inside, they stopped in the main lobby, near the reception. The entire floor smelled of far too many cups of coffee and the people with white lab coats inside shuffled around, dragging their feet as if they were ready to collapse at any given second. "Just like in Devon," Riven whispered to himself , watching a man- with bigger bags under his eyes than him- walk past him. "Poor bastards."

Will walked up to the desk, where a man swiveled his chair around to look at him. _A kid?_ The man analyzed the lot of them, instantly recognizing them as trainers. "I'm sorry, but the battle tower is near central LaRousse, that way."

"We're not here for the battle tower though," Will pointed out.

"Oh, sorry. What business do you have here? We don't get much trainers here, you know. Looking for something? Or are you just curious?" Trainers interested in science? Now that- was a sheer impossibility.

"Someone," Lucia added.

"Ah, professor Lund-"

"Steven Stone," Riven cut in quickly. "He is here- is he not?" _Don't lie to me asshole_.

The man blinked. "Uh, I'll check?" Picking up the phone, the receptionist quickly dialed a number. "Sir, someone is asking for Steven Stone- no… trainers, I think… But what do I- Okay, okay… Understood." He hung up, and sighed. Put on the fakest smile Riven had the displeasure of witnessing, and said, "I'm sincerely sorry, but you cannot see Mr. Stone. Precautions, just in case. We can't be too careful, not since Sinnoh, I hope you understand." There was a hint of disdain in his eyes as he focused his attention on Riven.

The young man continued staring down the receptionist. "Call him _again_. Tell him a _friend_ named Riven is asking for him," he said, tone low and sharp.

The receptionist, now in a cold sweat, dialed again.

Will tapped Riven on the shoulder. "What makes you think they'll change their minds just because you said it was from you?"

Riven broke into a wry grin. "You'll see."

Just as he expected, the receptionist nodded, and a very astonished and impeccably dressed Steven Stone emerged from within the lab, adjusting the red tie on his neck. Gale and Lucia stared at the former champion in slack-jawed awe, it was one thing to see him on tv, it was another to meet the guy. Will took it in stride, having already seen the man. And not at his finest moment either.

"Riven? What in the- what are you doing here?" Steven asked in disbelief, looking at the young man he'd last seen more than half a year ago. His hair had grown out considerably and he apparently had gotten a change of attire. He almost didn't recognize him- but that half scowl that seemed to be permanently etched onto his face was unmistakable. As well as the general unfriendliness.

"We came looking for you."

"Me? Why?"

"Can't say it here. Wanted to keep it secret," Riven whispered, trying his best so others wouldn't overhear. "Still do. _No one_ can know about this."

"Would a phone call not have achieved the same purpose?"

"No. This had to be in person. Never know who's listening. Someone told me phone calls can be listened in on."

"Maybe in Unova and Sinnoh, where everyone is paranoid about security. I don't think the league does that here, last time I checked. And we haven't had a very good history of personal encounters, Riven," Steven said, recalling the rather nasty head smash he'd been dealt. Then that business in Lavaridge… Yes, most certainly _not good_.

"Perhaps, but the point still stands."

Steven nodded and gathered his thoughts, not entirely prepared for the impromptu visit. He eyed Riven unsure if Riven was still angry from Lavaridge or if that was just his regular appearance. Still, it was best to try and mend relations, to prevent another such event. He didn't want every encounter they had to end like they had previously. "I'm sorry about how I reacted last time, it was out of line-"

Riven shook his head. "It's fine. That's done with now. Don't dwell on it too much, Steven. This is far more important than you letting your pent up anger out."

"But, I thought you were…"

"Angry? For a few days. But I'm over it now. I'm not a child, and neither are you."

Steven looked at him dubiously. "You didn't answer any of the calls I gave you."

Riven fished in his bag for his holo caster, taking a minute to find the call registry. _Fifteen missed calls, five voice messages._ Most of them from Steven. A few from Ben._ Damn_."I _was_ in Forina for five months." It was on silent too. Oops.

"Ah, you did mention you were going to do that."

Lucia and Gale watched the two talk and were left even more confused. The two spoke to each other less like friends and more like unwilling business partners, you could almost _feel_ the tension.

The former champion was about to speak again, when another silver-haired man came out from the lab, spotting him. "Steven, we need you to be present for the tune-ups, if that isn't too much trouble." He nodded and turned to face Riven, as well as sparing a quick glance at the others. "Sorry for the interruption." Looked back at Steven. "We'll be waiting downstairs."

Steven nodded and apologized. "I need to attend to some things first. It should take a few hours, I'll meet you back here when I'm done. We're fine tuning a recent invention we've been working on for quite some time, so I'm quite busy at the moment. I'll give you a call when I'm ready. Is that fine with you?"

Riven glanced at the others, who seemed unsure of what to say as well. Reluctantly, he gestured his approval as well.

"Good." Steven gave the group a polite but charming smile. The same smile that made many a fangirl swoon. "You should go to the battle tower and have some fun in the meantime, this could take upwards of four hours. This place doesn't really have much in the ways of entertainment, so you should go do something enjoyable. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go. I'll see you in a few hours." Politely excusing himself, he headed back further into the labs, disappearing from sight.

* * *

"Battle tower," Riven echoed as they left the lab, weighing pros and cons with both hands. "I suppose a battle could help us unwind a slight bit. Speaking of which, Lucia, Baron can face Roland- if you'd like, of course." _Might as well, now that we have nothing better to do. Now which way is it to the battle tower again?_

She smiled, red eyes dancing. "That would be excellent! Roland's going to be excited, he hasn't had a blade battle in a very long time. He just gets so happy thinking about it- enjoys it a little _too much_ if you ask me."

"Blade battle? Does it have special rules?" Will asked, more than a little intrigued. He remembered her talking about it in Petalburg but he didn't press the matter at the time.

"Unofficial ones. It's- well, unorthodox." She raised a finger, as if teaching a class. It reminded Riven of Roxanne. "The two combatants face off one versus one, only blade and physical attacks. Not even trainers are allowed to interfere or give orders, it's only up to the pokemon." She mimicked the swishing of a blade with her hands. It was painful to witness. Both Riven and Will had to wince.

"What?" Gale got out. "That doesn't make any sense."

Riven agreed, staring at her like her brain had gone to scrambled egg.

"I know, I know. It runs contrary to _anything_ trainer related, but it's a very honorable practice among blade pokemon. These battles are very popular in the Kanto and Johto regions, and have picked up popularity in the past few years. Even the Unovan trainers have started doing it. It's fun, honestly!"

"So it's a test of a pokemon's individual skill and technique, without a trainer's help?" Riven summarized.

"Essentially."

"Hmmm... Any other rules?"

"No special moves, which includes any psychic abilities that hit from a distance. Or beams, you get the idea." Lucia beamed, excited. "Now let's go! Come on!"

"Hold your Rapidashes, woman! We'll get there!" Will complained, being pulled along.

The battle tower was packed to the brim with trainers, making it hard to go through the doors without getting smothered. Riven and Lucia pushed past, finally reaching the inside, only to be welcomed with a long line of trainers waiting to register as well. They both groaned and settled in line. It took a good two hours before they were able to sign up for a match because some idiots before them forgot their IDs and had to be escorted out. Made a big fuss too, saying they were rich and had all this influence or something.

"Prissy rich kids, they all think they own the place and can go wherever they please," Lucia snorted, typing her information into the screen. Finished, she stepped aside for Riven to do the same. "Your turn," she said.

He nodded and entered his information, albeit reluctantly, when it came to the hometown section. Setting Littleroot as his hometown, they broke away from the line and rejoined Will and Gale to go watch the other battles while they waited for theirs. Stepping inside of an elevator, they rode up to the very top of the tower. The doors opened to the seating area, which surrounded the arena in the center. The seats appeared to be packed with people, Riven had only seen this many people in one place back in the contest, and even then he wasn't in the middle of them all.

The arena was obnoxiously loud, with trainer chatter, pokemon squeals and cries, loud music, and two announcers blaring out their observations of the match. Spotlights illuminated the arena, where an ashy haired boy with a Scizor was battling a brunette with a Heracross. The two pokemon were locked in place, trying to overpower with each other.

"So this is a pokemon arena?" Riven asked Lucia. "It's way too noisy."

"What?" Lucia responded, holding an open hand next to her ear for him to speak up again.

"It's so noisy!" He repeated, nearly shouting.

"Oh, yeah!" She smiled. "The noise is to hype up the crowd, it pumps the trainers and their pokemon, motivating them to win!" She cheered as the Scizor let loose a blinding flash cannon, blasting the Heracross across the arena and onto the floor, kicking up a cloud of smoke. Then the smoke cleared as a purple beam shot across the battle area, right into the Scizor's torso.

Riven took her words into consideration and crossed his arms, looking around curiously. He could feel the excitement in the air, not just from the other people's crazed cheers, but from the announcers gradually getting more and more excited as the match went on. Soon after, he found himself cheering- granted, much more quietly, but cheering nonetheless. It was invigorating, to be sure. It was akin to that of a battle speech, but less… serious. No one was going to die this time.

Will shoved him and Riven turned to see both him and Gale raising their fists as the battle came to a close. The crowd erupted as if they themselves had won when the winner was announced, then reverted back to loud chatter before the next contestants were announced.

"Awesome, right?" Will mentioned, feeling like he could take on the world. Seren climbed into the older boy's lap and poked him with his paws.

Riven scratched behind the foxes ears, picked him up, and set him in Will's lap again. "It's much more lively than a gym battle, that's for sure," he said, scanning the area around them. "Is the league like this too? I mean- does it get _this_ crazy and loud?"

"Even worse," Will said, bemused. "Everyone tunes in to watch it, the challenger versus the elite four and if possible, the champion. Every single pokemon center, every shopping mall, and the entire city of Ever Grande- is watching _you_." He grinned widely, red eyes burning like fire.

"So many eyes… that's a lot of pressure," Riven acknowledged, thinking about how he'd fare if he had that many people watching him. He briefly, momentarily, imagined himself facing against the league, and then reality slapped him. Grimaced, shook his head fiercely, and adjusted himself. _Not a good idea, not a good idea at all. Oh hey, here's a wanted trainer, come and get him!_ And by the strongest in the region to boot. Yeah, no.

"The trainer's rush," Gale chimed in, "that's what I've heard they call it. It's not so much as becoming the champion that's the best part, it's the feeling that you've just won in front of thousands of people. And also that you just wiped the floor with the strongest trainer in the region!"

"She gets it," Will snorted, " It's all about kicking ass and taking names!"

Gale smiled, giving Riven a look that said, _take that_. He returned it with a fake smile, followed by a disdainful scowl.

The next match was announced, a boy from Mossdeep versus a boy from Fortree. The battle began and the crowds kicked up the noise once more. A few minutes into the fight later, Gale covered her ears and shouted at Riven.

He heard someone yelling, turning his attention to her after Will tapped his knee and pointed to his right. "Yeah?" _Difficult to hear, with all this damn noise._

Gale peered up at the score board, seeing Lucia and Riven's match next. "Your match is next! You ready?"

"If by ready, you mean about to get demolished by Lucia? Then yes, absolutely," he said dryly. "This isn't even fair you know."

Lucia cackled villainously, and stood up.

The crowd went quiet as the Mossdeep boy's Medicham connected a three punch elemental combo with the other kid's Dusclops' face.

"Where are you going?" Will asked. "The match isn't over yet!"

"To get ready for our match, of course," she responded calmly. "The match is about to end anyway."

"Really? Then who's gonna win?"

"The Dusclops."

"Liar."

"Just wait."

Will whipped his head back towards the match and saw the Medicham shoot a shadow ball into the ground from above. The arena went dark for a second as the attack made contact with the ground, sending out a wave of ghostly energy with the impact. The dual type pokemon landed on its toes, searching for its opponent.

"Checkmate," Lucia murmured, and smirked. _That Medicham is on the ground. Fatal mistake._

The ghost emerged from under the Medicham's shadow, grabbing it by the legs and slamming it into the floor. Standing over it, the Duclops' eye glowed a deep red, then swirled its hands.

"It's using hypnosis!" Gale gasped.

The Medicham fell into a deep sleep, was assaulted seconds later by a dream eater, and then flung into the air. The ghost charged a shadow ball and waited until the precise moment in the unconscious pokemon's descent before releasing and ending the match in an impressive reversal.

Will gawked and snapped his head back to Lucia. She flicked him in the nose. "Told you. _Never _lose sight of a ghost. If you do, look at your shadow. If it moves, you better run. Keep that in mind, okay little brother?"

He nodded, consuming the knowledge like one would a chocolate cake.

Lucia tapped Riven on the shoulder to head down to the arena floor, who was just as stunned as Will was. She laughed at him, partly because his face said that his brain was still trying to process what had just happened. Leading the stunned trainer to the elevator, she shoved him inside and pushed the button to descend.

"So, who're you rooting for, huh Gale?" Will asked mischievously. "My sister, or _Riven_?" Seren yipped in question, imitating what his trainer was doing, but much more cutely and less devious.

Gale eyed him suspiciously. "Why did you say his name like that?"

"No reason," he grinned wryly.

She didn't believe that for a second.

"Well, that's who you're rooting for, isn't it?" He chided again. "Right?" The brown fox nodded at the same time as its trainer, a partner in crime.

Gale shook her head and chuckled. "I- I'm rooting for both of them. Not playing favorites here if that's what you mean. I wish them both luck, and may the best trainer win."

"That is such a cop-out," Will frowned, disappointed. "Honestly, who're you rooting for?"

Gale stuck her tongue out at him, and pointed to the arena. "I'm not answering that, especially now that they're going to go on to their match- look!"

* * *

Riven stood in front of two large white doors, waiting for his name to be called out. He felt a little nervous, being in front of so many people. _Nothing to it, just imagine they aren't there..._

The two doors opened, and a blinding torrent of spotlights shown on him. He squinted into the light, shading his poor eyes. The floor moved him slowly into the arena, like the sidewalks outside, but smaller. Stepping off the platform, Riven walked towards the arena.

"This is singles round seven ladies and gentlemen! This time we have a trainer from the peaceful, breezy town of Littleroot, Riven Cerul!" One of the announcers blared over the microphone, "with a badge count of five!" Clapping and cheering ensued.

"And on the opposite side, we have a beautiful young woman from the bustling coastal city of Slateport! Givvvveeee it up for, Lucia Ethne!" The announcer paused. "Oh, and look at this folks, she has a badge count of fourteen! All eight from Hoenn and six from Unova, what an accomplished trainer!" The boys went nuts, singing praise as she walked in. She waved briefly to the crowd, before fixing Riven with a determined look. He calmly stared back at her, focused.

"Looks like both trainers are ready, Henry. What do you think?"

"I think it's going to be an uphill battle for the young man from Littleroot, George. His opponent has fourteen badges under her belt; he's going up against experience- and that, folks, is tough to beat. Will he be an underdog? I guess we'll find out in just a moment!"

"You're absolutely right, but enough talk! Let's get this show on the road! You know the rules- one pokemon, one round, one victory! Trainers, choose your pokemon!"

Riven and Lucia threw out their respective pokeballs. Two flashes of light shot forth onto the field, materializing into a confidently relaxed Sceptile, and an equally calm Gallade.

"Ah, so it's a Gallade versus Sceptile. No super effective moves here folks, unless that Gallade has an ice punch under his belt- and boy did that surprise us before."

Lucia and Riven moved to the sidelines, standing beside one another. The crowd's noise died down, replaced by sheer confusion. Then murmuring began and a wave of questions arose.

Overhead, the commentator box was trying to understand the situation."What's this? Why are the two trainers moving next to each other? Are they giving up? Hold on people, we're going to try to sort this out!" The announcers were about to disqualify both Lucia and Riven when Roland and Baron walked up to each other and crossed blades, as well as fierce gazes. "Look there, at the pokemon! They're crossing blades! Is this- is this a duel?"

Both the Gallade and the Sceptile positioned themselves an equal distance away from the center, shifting into a battle stance.

"It's seems that way, Henry!"

"Like the fencers of old! This is something new, my friends! It appears that they _won't_ be receiving orders from their trainers this time, just pokemon to pokemon!" A camera focused on Riven and Lucia, who nodded."Yes, it is! The trainers have confirmed it, there will be a fight. This show is back on the road, so let's get it going!"

* * *

Baron flexed his blades, waiting for the referee to signal the match to begin. This was his first blade battle, without instructions, all him. To say he was excited was an understatement- he felt tingly all over, and couldn't wait to get started. His opponent, Roland, twitched in excitement as well. Baron could feel it all the way from where he was standing.

"_You ready, kid_?" Roland asked, still limbering up.

"_As I'll ever be_," Baron shot back_. "I'm_ _not going to be an easy win, no way in hell."_

"_Good,_" the Sceptile laughed, "g_ive_ _me a good battle. I haven't had one in a long time_!" The leaves on his arms began to glow a bright green, and Baron responded by channeling psychic energy through his own.

The flags came down and both pokemon shot forward, pink and green clashing in the center, blade on blade, just like two soldiers in a battle. Psycho cuts and leaf blades bounced off of each other, showering sparks of pink and green energy every time blade struck blade, resounding across the arena with metallic clangs.

The announcers, as well as the crowd, roared as the pokemon went at it, witnessing less of a pokemon battle, and more of a sword fight better seen in a movie.

Baron blocked one of Roland's leaf blades, launching off the ground and twirling in the air to bring down a massive, charged psycho cut where the Sceptile stood. Roland grinned and swung his blades in a cross shape. A large green x collided with the psychic slash, breaking it apart and slicing the floor behind the grass type, cleaving a large, crescent-like scar into the ground.

Roland jumped into the air, met Baron with a right, and with a powerful slash from his left, sent him flying to the outer edge of the arena. Baron had just enough time to recover when Roland was already upon him- the leaves on his arms coming down like deadly ribbons of green, arcing and slashing from multiple directions.

_He's so fast!_ Baron observed, barely blocking attack after attack, with no opening to counter. He was being driven to the edge, which would mean disqualification should he step outside. The Sceptile used a feint- spun, jumping upwards to rake one of his leaves across Baron's face.

The crowd winced as Baron recoiled in pain. Driven to his knees, the psychic blocked a double-handed leaf blade and opened his eyes, briefly glowing a bright blue.

_Time to counter._

Tapping into his psychic abilities, he read the Sceptile's thoughts, blocking a two rights and a left, dropping low to the ground to send a powerful kick into Roland's chest, stunning him just enough for a counter attack.

_If I can read his moves, I can beat him_, Baron reminded himself, this time driving the Sceptile back with a flurry of pink slices.

_Right, left, uppercut, side slash, downward chop, low sweep, spinning leap- and… got you!_

Baron struck again, with more force than normal- managing to break through Roland's guard, and slashed upwards with his right, landing a clean cut from the sternum to the shoulder. Blood seeped out of the wound, and the Sceptile jumped back a couple steps, smiling.

"_Good good! You're pretty skilled! Not bad at all. Looks like this will be a worthwhile battle after all,"_ Roland exclaimed, even more excited than he was before; the pokemon lived for this. He settled into his stance again and cut the ground in front of him. _Show me, Gallade._

The announcers were stunned at Roland's provocation."George, look at that Sceptile! Despite taking such nasty hit, it's taunting the Littleroot trainer's Gallade!"

"Damn right, Henry! He's basically telling him, 'come at me, is that all you got?' And it's definitely telling me that this match is about to get _even more exciting_! Even with the trainers not even uttering so much as a single word, the cheering of the crowd speaks volumes- they're _loving_ this! Oh, man, just look at this! They both fell into a swords dance to boost their attack power! The stakes. Just. Got. Higher!"

Finishing both of their dances, Baron focused his mind. Roland was much faster, but his physical attacks weren't as strong as his own. Yes, the swords dance was definitely going to change that, but the point still stood. To win, he needed to predict the Sceptile's moves _first_, or that speed was going to be his demise- power counted for absolutely nothing if he couldn't touch his opponent.

_And to prevent that, I can't let him breathe. Step it up._

Roland dashed forward, looking to end this, but as soon as his leaf was going to make contact with the Gallade, he was gone. He found out where he went when the psychic appeared below him in a pink flash. _Teleport! Clever little sneak._

Baron reached out, grabbing the Sceptile by the arm and planted a foot against its chest. He then shot him into the air with an upwards throw. And _waited_. _Steady your mind, get this _right_, get this _right_, _he eyes turned blue, and Baron was gone.

The next five seconds were a blur.

Baron teleported from all directions around Roland, slashing over and over, juggling the Sceptile effortlessly in the air. The psychic's onslaught was like a blink, almost too fast for the human eye to see. Just before using his last teleport, he slammed Roland back down to the floor with a spinning kick.

Teleported for the ending slash, raising his blade, ready to finish the fight- s_lash, but not too deep, almost there…_

Something stopped his blade in its tracks.

_What?_

Roland stood in place, bleeding and cut from many different places, no longer appearing like a green pokemon with all the blood on his body. In his hand, he was clutching Baron's blade, blood dripping from the Sceptile's fingers.

The crowd, as well as the commentators, went dead quiet.

A blood covered arm _moved_, and Baron attempted to read his opponent's thoughts to intercept. But just before their blades met, Roland's mind went blank.

The Gallade's eyes widened in panic, unable to read anything from the grass type. Within a moment, two leaves came down, leaving a large x shaped wound in Baron's chest, lengths identical to the cut he had inflicted on the Sceptile prior. An expertly executed attack. The next few moments Baron uselessly tried to fight back against Roland's speed, but accomplished nothing, receiving even more injuries along his body. He couldn't read his mind, and he couldn't outspeed him.

The Sceptile channeled powerful green energy through one of his leaves. Baron fought through the pain and did the same, pink light flowing throughout his own blades, power enveloping his entire body.

The two attacks crashed together and the arena exploded in a burst of greens and pinks, a burst of colorful light.

Baron picked himself up, on his last legs, panting and cut up. He could barely stand, arms weak and legs trembling from fatigue.

The commentators waited for a few moments, making out a figure in the smoke. "The Gallade is still standing! But where is his opponent?"

A wind sharp enough to cut through steel parted the clouds of smoke, missing Baron and crashing into the wall behind. Smoke gone, Baron _saw_ Roland. The Sceptile was firmly balanced on the wall, face determined and ready to _end this_.

Lucia closed her eyes, knowing what was going to happen. _Spiral cross during overgrow? Rather serious today, aren't you, Roland?_

Then he was gone.

Baron couldn't even raise a hand before the Sceptile appeared before him, glowing green with power, leaving behind after images of itself with a quick attack. He whispered quietly in Baron's ear, face serene and gentle, "_you did well_."

Green _flashed._

The Gallade had lost, falling to the floor behind the victorious Sceptile.

The ref raised a flag near the fallen psychic, sending the crowd into a sort of volcanic eruption of roaring and cries.

"Oh my god! Did you see that? DID YOU SEE THAT? I didn't! It was _way_ too fast for me to process! Let's play that back… in slow-mo!" One of the commentators exclaimed, rubbing his face.

A screen showed up and replayed how Roland used quick attack to propel himself forward at an impossibly fast speed, spinning in a spiral and culminating in a dazzling green cross slash. Beautiful, but deadly. The crowd remained mesmerized, before once again erupting in cheer.

"And there you have it, folks! The winner of this incredible match-up is Lucia, the trainer from Slateport, and her Sceptile! Kudos also goes to Riven and his Gallade, who despite being less experienced, put up one heck of a fight today! Give them a big round of applause, people!"

Being congratulated, Riven and Lucia waved, before shaking hands and returning their pokemon. Heading back to the stands to go fetch the other two, Riven stood in place, holding Baron's pokeball.

Lucia noticed it and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He did really well, you know. I haven't seen Roland get that serious in a long time. To get him to that level in such a short amount of time, I have to say that you trained him well. Don't beat yourself up over it."

He looked at her, and shrugged. "I'm not angry, Lucia. Or disappointed. You and your pokemon are a lot more experienced than mine are. Honestly… I've just been a trainer for a little over a year. Baron hasn't been a Gallade that long. There was a very slim chance he was going to beat Roland," he stated logically, still looking at the pokeball.

"It's not good to think like that. That's a defeatist mindset," she scolded gently.

"Just being realistic- it would have been highly unlikely he was going to win Roland, and you _know_ that. But nonetheless he almost kicked Roland's ass-" He paused, trying to put his thoughts into words, finding it difficult. "-I'm proud of him. Of all of them."

The doors opened, and Lucia looked back at him, nodding, trainer to trainer. "You should be." Then met Will with a high five, and received _quite a few_ looks from some new admirers.

Gale walked up to Riven, who finished clipping Baron's pokeball back on his belt.

"Amazing battle! Baron tried his best," she congratulated, gray eyes full of energy. "It really got the blood pumping, and I'm not even a trainer! Well, I guess you don't need to be a trainer to enjoy battles... but that teleport rush- and that move at the end by Roland- so cool!" She was gushing again, just like when she saw the Flygon dragon racer at the festival. "It's awesome you taught your pokemon something like that!"

He raised a black brow. "I don't deserve any praise for that, Gale. That one was all Baron. Shit- I didn't even know he could do that, truth be told. He always was fond of teleporting to get close enough to attack. Wait… they didn't show my face when he did it right?"

She giggled, remembering both Lucia and Riven's priceless expressions when it happened. Neither of them must have expected it then. "Oh yeah. You _should_ have used some duct tape on your mouth. You would have looked less ridiculous." Let out another infuriating giggle. "I'm fairly sure someone took a picture of that, and is making a gif of your face at this very moment."

"Gif?"

"A short animated erm…. picture. Of some sort. Do you really want me to explain it to you?"

"On second thought… no. I don't want a migraine, thanks." If it was anything like when Will tried to explain what video games were, he'd really rather not.

Gale clapped her hands together."Well! You and Lucia should go get your pokemon healed, they were pretty beat up from that battle," she suggested, and peered down at her phone. "It's already been a couple of hours too. Steven should be calling soon, I think?"

Riven agreed, leaving the battle tower with the others to get their pokemon healed before the rock maniac decided to call, whenever that was going to happen.

Standing from the sidelines, a woman with hair like fire watched them go.

* * *

Back in the pokemon center, Steven called while Roland and Baron were getting healed, telling them to come back to the lab. They rushed back, and were invited inside; which, to the scientists, was apparently some kind of privilege since they were about to witness new technology that hadn't even been made public yet.

Making their way through the corridors of the lab to the main chamber, Gale nudged Riven in the side. "Psst, Rivy." Since his momentary exchange with Steven, something had been bothering her. It was trivial, really, but it was just one of those things that pricked at you. Like an annoying splinter.

Blue glanced down at her. "Gale... I told you _not_ to call me that. What is it you want?"

"This isn't really important but… How come you were able to call me in Forina but not Steven?" She asked, perplexed. Maybe he used that as an excuse to cover up the real reason he didn't call Steven, which could have ranged from laziness, to downright hatred. Possibly both, knowing him.

Riven stared at the ceiling."Well, you see… I kind of had to go really high up to do that." And by high up, he meant _really high_ up. Spire high. Nearly dropped his holo caster up there too.

It took a few seconds for her to get what he was trying to say. She then wished there was a desk nearby she could use to slam her head into."Did you really climb all the way back up _there_? WHY? Are you crazy? How did you even- No. No. I can't even- argh! I don't understand you!"

Riven started to really laugh. Calming himself, but still releasing a few giggles, he began to explain. Gale's face made it even harder not to laugh. "One, it was training; two, I needed to get my rope back; and three, it was the only way I could get a signal without heading to the outer edge of the Forinan forest. And trust me, those Shiftry _really_ don't like people." One razor wind nearly went off with his head- basically saying _get the hell out, or die. _That message had been received _very_ clearly.

Gale threw her hands up, then crossed them. "Why did I even bother to let you borrow Emile when you were going to climb the stupid spire anyway? You're so freaking stubborn!"

"If it makes you feel better, the view was fantastic."

"You're insane," she added sourly.

"Oh look, we have something in common," Riven deadpanned, moving Will between him and Gale so she wouldn't jab him again. She exhaled in deep frustration.

Coming to the end of the hall, they entered an extremely wide chamber with various technological contraptions and scientists huddled around them. Most of them were leaving already. Steven stood in the far right corner of the chamber, exchanging friendly banter with a familiar bearded man with sandals and an infectious laugh, just like Wattson.

Birch turned around, feeling someone glaring knives into his head. Getting the goosebumps, he spotted the culprit, and hoped the boy wasn't too much in a bad mood. Broke out into a grin from ear to ear, and made his way over to the approaching group of youngsters.

"Riven! Wow, you certainly look different from when I first saw you. You don't look as dangerous in casual trainer clothes! That hair also makes you look more approachable, bravo! And your swords are gone!"

_Swords? What? _Gale and Lucia both repeated mentally, dumbstruck.

"Right. And apparently, I'm being used as a test subject for the new pokedex models," Riven replied dryly. "How nice of you to have filled me in beforehand."

"I see your charming demeanor hasn't changed! Haha!" Birch joked, laughing louder than he should have. He noticed Riven's glare intensified. He went over and clapped him on the back, bringing him to where Steven was.

"You see, my boy, if I told you you were going to be used as a test subject, would you have done it? Because when most people think of test subjects, they think of the most macabre movie they've ever seen, and that's no good! Some trainers thought they were going to get turned into some kind of Frankenstein!" Birch laughed again, his jolly voice echoing across the walls of the underground lab chamber. "I figured trainers would be able to collect valuable data anyway, even if they weren't told about it. Which reminds me, how's C.H.A.R.L.E.S working out for you?"

Riven pried Birch's arm off of his shoulders, more than a little irritated. "He's a snippy bastard is what he is. He _was_ polite at first. Kind of miss that, actually."

"Well…the A.I. adapts its feelings and thoughts according to external stimulus. Said stimulus mainly being the trainer it's assigned to so…" Birch shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "But- he's still supposed to be one of the more polite models." He stopped there, letting the boy figure it out for himself. He wasn't a fool after all. And it seemed he did understand, judging from the enormous groan that followed.

"So basically, _I'm_ the reason he turned into a snarky mess? Is that what you're saying?" Riven concluded. The professor nodded. Riven banged his forehead on a nearby machine."Can I get a replacement?"

"Sorry, but no," Birch denied, still smiling widely. It was then the professor finally noticed the other three with Riven and apologized, "oh, I'm so sorry! I haven't introduced myself! I'm professor Birch, and you three are?"

"Will."

"I'm his sister, Lucia."

"Gale."

"Riven's friends?" He asked curiously. _Two attractive young ladies too..._

The three exchanged looks. "Uh… kind of? Maybe? I don't know?"

"Ah, well- I suppose it doesn't matter. Come, come! Let me show you something amazing!" Birch exclaimed, leading them to a machine with two seats for what looked like people."It's such a beauty, after all these years, she's finally done!"

"What the hell is it?" Will asked, tilting his head. "Looks like a torture device."

"Kind of looks like a dentist's chair," Gale put in.

"Maybe it's both?" Lucia suggested. Sometimes, scientists were scary. It could possibly be both, or _worse._ What could be worse than a dentist's chair turned torture chair, she couldn't really imagine. Nor _wanted_ to.

"This-" Steven answered, brushing a hand on the seat, "-_was_ a dream visualizer. But it's been modified for a special purpose, one that works much better, and would help researchers understand pokemon even further, as well as having other practical uses too."

"So what's it now?" Gale wondered.

"Now it's a _memory_ visualizer."

* * *

**For those of you that are wondering or have no idea what it is, LaRousse city is a technologically advanced city that appears in the Destiny Deoxys movie. And thus, canon. It's located near Lilycove.**

**By the way, artificial intelligence**_** is**_** canon as well. The porygon line and its pokedex entries clearly state it's a manmade**_** sentient**_** intelligence, Porygon2 mainly being the ideal notion of an A.I. that adapts and forms new feelings and thoughts. Check it out, bulbapedia that thing. **

**Also, the dream visualizer is a machine that a Devon corp scientist in the R/S/E games is trying to develop, but says it isn't ready yet. I wouldn't be surprised if someone took the idea and… ran with it. To the next logical step, of course. **


	37. Fragments

**Warning, violence. Had some free time, so I wrote this. However, continue to expect an update every 2~3 weeks depending on how busy I am.**

* * *

"M-memory visualizer?" Will squeaked. "Like, look at your actual memories kind of stuff? I saw that in a game once!"

"I-is that even possible?" Gale stammered. She knew that scientists were coming up with amazing things all the time, but whoa.

"If it works… that's quite amazing," Lucia said, stunned by the notion of someone _looking_ at another's memories.

Riven remained deathly silent.

Steven glided a hand over the machine, lifting some dust off the control panel. "It's still a prototype for the moment. We've been tuning it up, and we already ran some tests on it using some zigzagoons."

"They weren't hurt!" Birch added, noticing the nasty glares the trainers were giving them. "Just so you know… Erm, please continue, Steven."

Steven nodded. "It's true. No pokemon were hurt. Not all scientists are mad geniuses that experiment on innocent people and pokemon," he said, smiling reassuringly. "That's just a bad stereotype." A gentle laugh came from him. _We're not Team Rocket._

"But did you actually see any memories?" Will asked, red eyes wide with fascination. "If you did, what did you see? When it was born, what they lived through? What?".

"Don't be so nosy, Will," Lucia reprimanded, elbowing him. "Forgive my brother, he just gets excited whenever he sees something that reminds him of a video game."

Steven waved a hand, signaling that it was fine. "We didn't actually see anything, per say."

"Then how do you know it works?" Gale asked, confused. "It's a visualizer right? So shouldn't it show you something?"

The professor and Steven looked at each other, and shrugged. "It's not like a projector, if that's what you mean, Ms. Gale. Due to the nature of the machine, and the problems that were raised from the discussion of its… _ethicality_\- it was modified to be highly personal and vivid on a scale similar to that of reality."

"English please?" Will piped up. Scientists and their damn science speak. It was like a damn different language.

"It means that it's supposed to link two brains together, so that one sees the memories of the other. The problem is- well… How would you like it if someone projected your most intimate and terrifying memories to the whole world? Or in this case, room? Things you don't want to speak of, not at the times- or ever. Yet they're shown anyway?"

Lucia, Gale, and Will swallowed. Yes, that would be horrifying. What would someone feel? Humiliation? Pity? Pain? Everyone had things they didn't like talking about, and storing it in your brain was always an option if there weren't any psychics around. But now… it meant that secrets and troubled pasts weren't safe anymore, and that… _was_ _scary._

Steven gave them a comforting smile, once again, trying not to frighten the young trainers out. "Don't worry, we won't test it on any of you. To be frank, we're not sure how it would react with people. It's very possible the only thing someone might see is fragments of memory, probably the most intense and memorable ones at that. They may very likely be random and hold little to no significance. We hoped to go through lifetimes of memories if possible but- ah, nevermind. As long as it works, we'd be content. It's been in development since before my father named me CEO in his place. That… was some time ago," he explained, readjusting his tie again. Nervous habit.

"Oh," the three said simultaneously.

A sheet was tossed over the machine again, and Steven swept his hands against each other, ridding them of any dust. "By the way, I saw your battle," he mentioned, glancing at both Riven and Lucia. "Very impressive, for both of your pokemon, if I do say so myself. Lucia, your Sceptile is incredibly fast. I know they're naturally very deft pokemon but that was something else. Excellent job. You must be an accomplished trainer."

"Thanks!" Lucia beamed, feeling a little prideful at being complimented by the _former champion_._ I got complimented by Steven!_

"You too, Riven. Your Gallade has grown a lot since I last saw him as a Kirlia. That training in Forina helped significantly didn't it?"

Riven snapped his attention back to Steven, having been looking at the visualizer with a deeply pensive look. "Uh… yeah. Of course. Had him climb spires and run plenty of miles. He sparred with Aine nearly every day- and me occasionally. Getting punched by a fighting type hurts though. A lot. One punch gave me a nasty purple bruise- won't be doing that again."

"Training with your pokemon is a good idea for a trainer. But sparring with a fighting pokemon is a very demanding experience. Just ask Chuck over in Johto, he's always bruised and beaten after training sessions. But one punch? You're pretty fragile, Riven. Most fighters can take more than that. You do look a lot thinner than when I saw you last."

Well, obviously. A lengthy hospital visit tended to do that.

Gale and Will giggled, and an idea formed in Riven's mind as he saw the growing discomfort in Birch's face. Mismatching eyes narrowed."I distinctly remember smashing your face into a table, Steven. I can do that again, even if I did lose some mass."

Giggling stopped, replaced by gasps. Including Lucia, who looked like someone had slapped her with a hot iron.

_H-he did that to the champion? WHAT?_

The former champion was about to interject when Birch moved in, rapidly trying to salvage the situation before it deteriorated and Steven had anything _worse_ happen to him. Like getting stabbed. "I guess that's enough of that then," he stepped in between, laughing nervously and gathering the kid; leading them away with his arms, a friendly grin plastered on his face. "All of you must be pretty hungry! It was quite a while since you last came by. We have some food upstairs if you'd like. Sweet bread and coffee. Come!"

Riven slipped out of Birch's grasp, staying behind. The professor looked back at Steven, making a face that asked, _will you be okay- or do I have to come and check if you're dead?_

Steven waved a hand, shooing him away, which –to Birch- meant he had just signed a contract that made him not liable for his death.

_Well, if he does die, at least I'll know who did it_, Birch mused momentarily, and left upstairs.

A long sigh escaped from the silvery-blue haired man. He reclined on a nearby glass pane, and waited until Riven reclined on it as well. He huffed, a bit tired from the strain the day had put on him. Gave Riven a sidelong glance, sharp and brief like the crack of a whip. "I saw what you did there. You shouldn't push your friends away like that."

"They're not my friends," the black-haired boy answered harshly.

"Don't lie to yourself, Riven," Steven said plainly. "You'd come here alone if they weren't. It isn't good to push people away, especially for a trainer. It's terrible for your health, even for an extreme introvert. Without friends… trainers change. And not for the better."

_We don't need another Sinnoh. Not now. Not ever._

"It's not that I don't want them around. I can tolerate them. Friends just don't last too long around me," Riven said grimly, gaze steely and cold. "They just _don't_." _And neither does anyone else._

Steven stared at him, somewhat trying to understand what he was trying to say. "Because of your-"

"No," Riven cut in. "Not because of the way I am." Fists clenched white. "They don't last because around me… things just happen. Go wrong. I come out alive- just barely- but they're not so… _unfortunate_."

"Unfortunate, how so?" _Dying doesn't seem very lucky_.

"Just because you're alive, doesn't mean you are," Riven muttered cryptically. Huffed and slumped further onto the glass. "I knew Birch would try to distract them, it's in his nature."

"Clever way of doing it, but still- you should learn to trust people more."

"I get enough of that from Gale."

"Sounds like she cares about you."

"Maybe as a puzzle box, one that she wants to crack. She's just someone that I hired to take me to Forina."

"Or maybe, you're too cynical to see that she has a genuine interest in you as a person? Forina is a long way from LaRousse." _Why do you think she stayed?_

Riven grimaced again, crossing his arms. "I don't get her." Shook his head. "But enough with my issues," he said, with an air of finality, and shot a heated glare at the man next to him.

Steven caught the look and promptly abandoned the subject. He tapped a finger against the coolness of the glass, deciding where to go from there. It felt like tip-toeing across a minefield barefoot. "I found the cave you talked about some time ago," he started, trying to dispel the encroaching awkwardness the two men found themselves in.

"And?" Riven rose straighter. "What did you find?"

"I found something I couldn't explain." Unbelievable, to be exact. He still didn't understand it, and that _bugged_ him. "Your story doesn't sound as ludicrous anymore, is what I'm saying. I thought you were just lying about it but after what I found there… I'm not sure what to believe anymore. You told the truth."

"I do that quite a lot, actually," Riven replied dryly.

"Maybe you do," Steven chuckled, then went serious. "I talked to a colleague of mine. What we found there seemed to indicate a wormhole of sorts is what brought you- uh, here. So to speak."

Riven gave him a blank look.

_How do I put this simply…_ "A portal." Riven mouthed a silent "oh". Steven nodded, continuing, "He believes that what brought you here was the result of something far larger. Essentially… you came here by complete accident, as a result of something most likely cataclysmic in nature."

"How quaint," Riven deadpanned. "But what made this 'wormhole'? It didn't just happen did it?"

"Ah, no. It's very possible that-" He laughed, half out of irony. "- it was a legendary pokemon, just like you said."

Riven threw his hands up, throwing around a few silent curses.

"Or three?"

The black-haired boy punted a metal bucket across the room, sending it veering off and _through_ a glass container case.

"The pokemon in question being the _creation trio_?" Steven winced, wondering what else Riven wanted to break.

"That doesn't sound very good," Riven said. He cocked his head, confused. Then, he remembered the carving he saw in the ruins, recalling the figure in the middle, flanked by two others and a fourth in the corner. "So basically, gods? Now I _know_ the universe is giving me the proverbial middle finger."

"Speculation but it's the closest thing to a reasonable explanation."

"Legendary pokemon and trying to give a logical explanation for their shit? What. Might as well try to freeze ice in hell. You'd have about the same rate of success."

"That's what I said. But I saw Groudon and Kyogre clash a few years ago, a drought and a downpour at the same time? Then Rayquaza coming down from the clouds and airlocking it away altogether? Now that- that was mindbreaking ," Steven retorted, rubbing his temples just _trying_ to think about it again.

Riven nodded, calmly turned around, and drove his forehead into the glass panel behind them. It cracked a little. Steven moved him _away_ from it, to a significantly less fragile surface he could smash his skull into, then gestured for him to continue. A nice, hard metallic one. In fact, _he_ felt like doing it too.

After smashing his head into a metal wall enough that his head started to ring, Riven turned to Steven, slightly dazed. "But why?"

"That is the question, isn't it? Why?" Steven ran a hand through his hair, partly in frustration. "Such is the life of a scientist… Nothing but questions we don't have answers to. Fortunately, that just gives us a reason to find them, right?" He gave him a thin smile.

"Right," Riven agreed. He turned his attention to the visualizer, covered in a white sheet to prevent dust from accumulating. "Speaking of answers…"

Steven shook his head in vehement opposition, noting the look Riven was giving the machine. "No. No. We haven't tested it with people yet. It isn't safe. Are you-"

"You don't really want me to answer that, do you?" The trainer scoffed and gave him a sardonic smirk. "Safe. You're going to have to test it on _someone_ some day, Steven. I'm going to _volunteer_, and you're coming with me. If we die, you can strangle me in the afterlife. I have a few pending appointments there, so you'll have to get in line first."

"You're… really serious about this, aren't you?"

"I want someone to _believe_ me, Steven. I've had to lie continuously about where I'm from because it sounds so ridiculous to say- 'oh hey, I'm from the past! Please believe me_'_ Even _you_ called me crazy at first," Riven said pointedly. "Shit, I'd call _me_ crazy if it didn't happen to me personally."

"That certainly is true," Steven admitted, a little guilty.

"With that-" Riven pointed, "-I can _show_ you. You can't fake memories right? If you see, then you'll know it's real. Then we can start to figure out what _happened_. We both want answers, and with this, maybe we'll both get some."

Steven swallowed, feeling a nervous lump form in his throat. _Oh, god,_ _I'm not going to like this_. He nodded reluctantly and turned to go get staff to help strap them in. A hand held onto his bicep, squeezing with pleading urgency, preventing him from leaving.

"I don't want them to know. It's for their own good," Riven whispered, and let go.

"I know. I respect your decision," Steven replied, hesitant. "I'll be back."

He returned, with Birch and several other white coats, beginning preparations to turn on the machine. Riven and Steven sat down in the chairs, getting prepped. Riven squirmed uncomfortably when the metal rings cuffed around his arms and legs, holding him down. The urge to run- break free- didn't let him relax. Then he felt a needle run into his arm, which added to further discomfort.

"Calm down," Steven assured, steady as steel.

"I hope you can say that when you see what I have," Riven mentioned, words once again frustratingly cryptic. "Then we'll see who calms who."

Birch nudged Steven, getting his attention. "Steven, are you sure you want to do this?" He asked. "The machine was designed to make it so that you're basically a viewer from another's perspective. You're going to _see_ everything. _Feel everything_. And you won't be able to wake up until the sedatives have run their course. If his story is true… Steven, could you handle something like that?"

"I'm not really certain, but I'll have to try." He breathed, steadying his nerves. "I'm ready."

Birch turned to Riven. "Are you ready too?"

"Yes."

"Okay, apply the sedatives," Birch said, grimly serious. He flipped a switch on the machine, turning it on. "You'll be asleep in about thirty seconds. Riven, you might wake up a bit fuzzy. And Steven… I don't really know."

They both nodded, feeling the needles pump the sedatives into their bloodstreams.

"Three, two, one-"

Birch pushed a button and the world faded.

* * *

Blues, greens, and arrays of colors flashed through Steven's mind, taking him through a vortex of light, swirling and flashing and bursting with vibrancy. Most likely the connections of the brain; the nerves, synapses, the neurotransmitters…

Everything went dark for a brief moment.

Seconds later; smell, taste, touch, sound, and _sight_ came to him. He sat in a decently sized room, with a hearth and walls made of stone. The air was warm- cozy to say the least. It looked as if he was reading a book. In it were symbols he'd never seen before, but somehow, he understood them. Small, pale hands ran glossed over the pages. He felt his eyes- no, not _his_ eyes- sleepily dim for a moment.

_This is- Riven's room? It works! It actually works!_ Steven thought, amazed._ But where am I? His house? Hmmm, by the look of the hands, I'd say early childhood…_

Confusion that wasn't his own poured into him, surprising and alien. _What in the world?_ He sputtered, eyes that weren't his still glued to the pages. He wasn't confused, Riven was. A small, young Riven- disoriented and sleepy, reading what seemed to be some text. It was jarring though; to see, feel, and hear what another went through. He also couldn't move his eyes. Almost as if he was stuck in a first person movie.

The little boy stood up, pushing a door and walking through a large stone hallway, corridor perfectly visible, despite the pitch black darkness Steven knew had to be there. The young Riven stopped outside of a door, just a sliver open, orange light from a fire filtering into the dark hallway. He looked through the gap in the door, watching a man and woman sitting at a bed, talking.

_What?_ Steven somehow knew who these people were. Riven's parents. _But I shouldn't know this. I've never even met these people! The machine does more than let you feel everything, Birch._

"How did the offensive go?" The woman asked, concerned. She rubbed the man's shoulders, who looked tired and downcast.

"Successful, as usual. Annihilated them all again. Flanked and caught them on three fronts. We had archers positioned in the mountains to suppress and thin their ranks. Not too many dead this time, or any elite troops, thankfully. I cannot speak for Reklan Rose's troops, however, or the Liran mercenaries assisting them. Their electric attacks are too devastating," he replied, gripping the bridge of his nose. "We dealt with them _first."_

"That is good news! Why are you so grim then?"

He sighed deeply. "I am tired- tired of this war. It has gone on for far too long. Almost one thousand years too long. I know this, as do they." A jaw clenched, hard. "I called for unconditional surrender- on both sides. We have lost much because of this never-ending conflict. Cities, towns, our very livelihoods. All because of generations upon generations of fighting and dying. Many young men and women do not have a chance to grow old or have a family, or to be children. All for this pointless war."

He rubbed some exhaustion out of his face.

"Enough of the war. How is Riven doing with his lessons?" The man asked, curious.

"Gifted with a blade," she replied, "took to it naturally. He insists on carrying a knife everywhere he goes and practices with it needlessly."

"What about the more… scholarly ones? A Cerul must be trained in both."

"You know children and boys, if they are not swinging around sharp metal or chasing something, they think it dreadful. Riven has complained about the writing lessons almost incessantly, although he has started to come to me far less as of late... But he practically dashes to go to his swordplay and archery lessons. Geollen says that he has a fighter's blood in him."

"That is what I fear," Riven's father lamented. "I do not want him to grow up in a world at war. It is… tiresome. I want him to be a boy, like he should be, until he is ready to become a man. Then meet a beautiful girl and have a family."

"I know, I know. But first, this war must end. What is your next move, oh so _aptly_ named, the hand of the devil?" She teased gently.

He snorted."Interesting name they gave me. Still manages to make me laugh." Silence. "Tomorrow, I will head out with part of the army to Vanklei in the Raksa lands, to discuss terms."

"The ice people? Ah, neutral territory. Yes… Who will attend?"

"The Curians and the Roses. With luck, it will not degenerate into violence. But those hot-headed Roses are unpredictable, and erupt at the drop of a wood chip. Who knows what the Curians are plotting."

"Ugh, Curians. Those psychic bastards?" His mother said disdainfully. "Those manipulative, conniving wretches. They have done nothing but slander us and our people. I would not miss them if they were all wiped off the face of this earth." She held up a finger. "And soon!"

"I find myself feeling the same thing some days. Such hate is not healthy for you or any of our kind. I know what is, however." He grinned devilishly. "I will not see you for some weeks, can you give me a _proper _send off?"

"Get undressed and your request might be considered."

They both kissed and Steven felt childish disgust pour in. "Blegh!" a young boy's voice rang. "Gross!" Hands rubbed at his sides, trying to rid himself of the nasty. Scurrying back to his room, Riven ducked under the covers, trying to achieve sleep.

_Steven chuckled, _it was refreshing to see that Riven wasn't always… like Riven_._

* * *

The world went black again, shifting to another fragment. He had awoken to find himself walking through a forest, playing with the plants and a fallen silcoon, bugging it until it shot string at him. The forest appeared to be similar to the one near Littleroot, with its gentle breeze and abundance of pokemon among the ferns and the trees. But there were no trainer routes or signs. The forest was untouched.

But it seemed Riven knew his way perfectly fine, coming to a network of caves. Disappearing into one, he navigated the tunnels inside without so much as a single light, in complete darkness, trailing a tiny finger along the wall, humming a tune.

_He can see this well in the dark…_ _Why is that?_

After hours of exploring, finding childish importance in trivial things, like shinier than normal rocks, and even a collection of stalagmites, he exited the cave, giddy. Unsheathing his favorite knife, he twirled it around in his fingers, eager to return for his sword lessons again. That is until he looked up.

Orange fire and pitch-black smoke crawled hundreds of feet into the air, the smell of burning wood and stone making the air thick and heavy. It was coming from the city, from _home_.

Steven recoiled mentally, feeling dread and worry crash into him. He could feel Riven's heart rate increase, pounding into his chest like a hammer; trying desperately to get out, fearing the worst. Picking up the little bag Riven had taken with him, little fingers gripped the handle of the knife like a pole in a storm.

He ran. He found himself feeling as if he had just ran himself, despite it being Riven's memory, not his. When Riven's legs finally stopped at the outskirts of the city, Steven could only witness as he stared through the watery eyes of a child whose entire home had just been razed to the ground in flames.

Steven heard a voice in his head whisper, _Mother… Father… home._

A knife dropped to the ground, point first, as hot tears crept silently down his cheek.

Small hands picked up the knife a minute later, holding it weakly. Walking amongst the ashes, Riven stopped in front of where his home had stood, now a charred heap of burned wood and stone. He moved throughout the town, taking in the destruction. A once great city, now reduced to rubble and charred ruins. Blackened corpses lay in the ground, disfigured. Then he heard voices.

"Search for any survivors!"

Sliding into cover around the remnants of a burned house, he saw red armor atop Arcanine. Rose soldiers. He recognized the crest of one of the men on top of the Arcanines, elite pyrolancers, capable of unleashing devastating blast burns that incinerated towns and entire forests. They were the top of the top, and were not to be taken lightly.

Riven looked down at his knife, and knew he was powerless.

Misery and a newfound sense of hatred swept through his being, like a wave in a surf. Then grim realization, followed by determination. Riven took his knife, and cut himself under his right eye, running the razor-edged blade down his cheek, the Altean vow for vengeance he'd read in a book once. Steven felt the fiery sensation of a blade cutting through skin. It felt real. Too real.

Blood trickled down onto the blackened ground.

_Kurenth..._

* * *

Again, he awoke from darkness, still rattled by what he had just seen. He couldn't feel it, but he knew his body was shaking. It had to be.

As the world came to, a hand struck his face, a sharp sting like a Beedrill's bringing him out of his thoughts.

Blood seeped out of Riven's mouth, with the singing pain of cut gums caused by teeth and a forceful strike.

_Anger. Frustration. _

A rough voice came from across from him, taunting but instructive at the same time.

_Fiyur. An asshole_, memory told Steven. The association Riven gave the man's face made Steven snort.

"You are angry! Stop!" Riven lunged, and his punch was blocked. Tripped, then had his face shoved into mud. "Cut emotion. Emotion makes you _feel _when you must act on instinct and training. Anger is what pushes you into making mistakes. And if you make a mistake, a Rose soldier will drive a sword through your chest. Do you understand, Cerul? And to get revenge, you need to be alive! Hands up!"

_Combat training? He shouldn't be older than a teenager judging by the hands…_

Pain came back once again, as he blocked several punches from the instructor, then spun and tried to land a kick, only for his leg to be grabbed and thrown like a ragdoll into the mud a few feet away.

"See? You did much better that time! Again!"

_He was an explosive young boy_, Steven observed as the rush of angry, hot-blooded feelings enveloped his mind.

"Do not feel…" the mud-stained boy recited. "No feeling…" Riven rose once again, taking a steadying breath, causing the anger to wane. Falling into a stance, he took another breath, and rushed forward.

Then he was punched in the gut and landed face down in the mud again. Steven could taste the soggy earth, as Riven nearly wretched, but held it in; panting like a magikarp out of water.

"Try harder!" The instructor demanded, lifting his arms to signal him to _get up_.

* * *

The scenery shifted again, jarring Steven's mind and perception. The transitions were getting smoother but they were still pretty rough for the most part. This time, he saw Riven walk through a tent flap into the night air, where three armored men were huddled around a fire.

_Kasaic, Delgen, and Reath. Friends, _the memory registered in Steven's head. _So he _was_ a soldier_. And these were his friends? What?

"Awake at last!" Reath proclaimed, going over to wrap Riven in a tight man-hug. "We thought we would never see you again. You deserved that rest. Was the wild kind to you?"

"Well, the survival lessons helped. Made my own bow and arrows to hunt with. An onyx nearly killed me with a rockslide though. And then I ran into some Ariados."

Kasaic and Delgen winced.

Reath clapped a hand on his back. Steven felt it hurt, but Riven said nothing. "Ha-ha! Something _other_ than fighting stuck! That is a miracle in itself. But what about your skills? Did they rust? Oh royal Cerul, son of the late hand of the devil and heir to the position of Altea's warlord? Not that there is any Altea left but… still." He picked up two wooden swords, tossing one to Riven.

He caught it, giving it a flashy twirl and a thin smirk.

"Show-off," Reath said dryly, and lunged.

Steven was surprised when Riven easily knocked the bigger man flat onto his ass in less than a minute.

"Like Fiyur loves to say, try harder next time," the younger boy quipped, picking up Reath with his right hand. "Next?"

Kasaic lifted up from a nearby stump. "I got this cocky little shit, just you wait," he said confidently. "Going to show you, royal boy."

"Come on then, show me how the commoners dance," Riven taunted, tapping his palm with the wooden sword. Kasaic came at him with a diagonal chop. He blocked the other soldier's strike, following through with a painful strike to the shin, then a vicious handle smash to the face, twisting his opponent's helmet sideways. A gentle kick sent him to the ground. "So overzealous too."

"All right, perhaps I lied," Kasaic said, voice muffled by the helmet. He picked himself up, taking it off while bumbling about, and wiped the sweat off his brow with his gloves.

Riven gestured him for a round two, grinning smugly.

_He was happy,_ Steven noted. The warmth of comfort and camaraderie. They were friends. Actual friends. No maybes about it. There was no hint of that silent, cold detachment he saw from the Riven he knew in the present day. There was _life_.

"No more. That was it for my bravery tonight. I would like to avoid any more bruises for the most part. But that leg strike was dirty."

"We do what we have to, right?"

"Argh, you mismatched eye son of a bitch."

Riven laughed.

"Careful Kasaic, you might feed his ego," Delgen teased, "but we all know Yanine kicks his ass in hand-to-hand anyday. Yanineeeee," he sang. "You got a challenger. Your favorite kid!"

The young soldier paled, wishing he could hide in a hole and fade away from existence.

A woman with charcoal black hair came out of a tent, tying it up in a bun. "Was that a challenge, Cerul boy? Want to get slammed back down to the ground again? You are only a boy, but do not make the mistake of thinking I will go easy on you. Or not help myself to some… things," she said, looking him up and down. "Or do I have to choke you with these?" She said, gesturing downwards, to her… assets. "You might like it. Given your father- you are filling out quite nicely. Fiyur has been training you well and oh, _it shows_. When I saw you in a stream before you disappeared, I got a little excited. You still want to challenge me?"

Riven's face reddened, a wave of hot embarrassment in his cheeks. "Uh… n-no. You are the best Yanine, forgive me for my arrogance."

"Forgetting something?"

"Ma'am."

"Good boy."

_His commanding officer huh? A woman? That's rare. I guess they don't discriminate._

"Yanine," Delgen started.

"What?"

"You know flirting with part of your unit is terrible for cohesion, right? I mean just look at the poor boy, you have him tamed like a poochyena on a leash."

"I know the rules of command, Delgen. That is the sole reason why he has remained untouched." She shot an authoritative gaze at him. He backed down, arms raised. Yanine turned back to the rest of them, tone changing from flirtatious to commanding within an instant."Now start sharpening swords, the lot of you. Lazy sods." She went over to a pile of swords, picked one up, and began sharpening it. "Cerul, that sly bastard Nemos still not back yet?"

"No. Still out scouting with a few others. Taig, Ulok, and Fen," Riven replied, taking his place on the ground near Kasaic and Delgen.

"Ah. Say, Cerul- you are a fairly skilled climber, right? You were gone for two months, lost in the wild, and somehow miraculously came back with a plethora of useful enemy encampment information. Why not ask the general to get placed in scouting duty, with Nemos? He is your friend."

"Well, yes but… then I would not be at your side," Riven twitched, compliment less than complimentary. Then he coughed.

Steven snickered mentally again. _He_ wants_ to be snarky. He's dying to be snarky._

Yanine smirked, taking out a longer, curved knife_._

"Bootlicker!" Delgen and Kasaic teased, running their blades on a whetstone. Reath grinned from ear to ear.

Hazel eyes narrowed, and Yanine raised a brow. _Keep it up and get guard duty for a week_. They quickly piped down. She couldn't threaten them like she did Riven, they would probably enjoy it if she did. And she liked younger boys, they were more youthful, obviously. They had stronger… _thrusts_. And sword-arms. Made good soldiers. Eager to fight. Not that they had been getting any new recruits anyway. Riven, Nemos and a few others had been their latest, and that was four years ago.

They stayed quiet for a while, the metallic sound of metal swiping across stone filling the air, followed by the crackling of a fire. "Did the injured make it?" Delgen asked somberly, with slight hesitation and pain for his comrades. "That skirmish yesterday…"

"No," Yanine replied bluntly, staring at her hands. "I tried my best, but they lost too much blood. I am no nurse. We ran out of those a while ago. Those fucking Roses, they may be despicable, treaty breaking scum, but hell if they have not picked up some ruthlessness."

"Yanine," Riven started. "Person to person, can I ask you a question? Seriously?"

"Go ahead, kid."

"Why did they do it? Why kill us? War was over. My father wanted peace, but it failed. And now the war is back. What was the point? There is nothing to gain anymore. All they do is destroy forests, poison lakes, decimate grasslands, just to hunt us down. Why?"

She smiled, a bit wry. "I think I would hunt down anyone that was killing my soldiers and harassing my supply lines too. Right?" All of the men thought about it, then more or less shrugged in agreement.

Her smile fell, no longer wry, but bitter. "As for the war... it started too long ago for us to know for sure. Why anyone hates us now is purely because of what we are. Or maybe that is how it has always been? But who are we pretending to be, philosophers? We are just soldiers, fighting a hopeless battle because we have nowhere else to go. The better question is what to look forward to if the war ever ends again, and we survive. All I know is, I am not going to let human refuse like that take over the earth while I still live."

The men raised their swords.

Reath grimaced, throwing a stick into the fire. "I love fire. It gives warmth. Cooks our food. Gives us light. Well, we can see perfectly fine in the dark, but it still gets cold. I love fire. And yet I hate it. So confusing."

The others nodded, faces grim. Steven knew it too. Through Riven, he knew they would never have a home again. And it _hurt_, as if a knife had been driven into his chest, then twisted and left to fester. Something began to crawl into Steven's mind, but he held it back. It gave him an uneasy feeling, like staring out into a pitch-black void. A frightening darkness.

* * *

The dark forest of night shifted to a bright blue sky, filled with white fluffy clouds and a sweet, gentle wind, ruffling the green hills of grass. The sun bore down on him, its rays hot against his skin. Sweat poured down his face, hair damp.

_Argh- I feel damp in places… I shouldn't be damp in_, Steven thought, disgusted.

_Why is it so blasted hot?_ Riven's own thought cut in.

_The sun _is_ out,_ Steven retorted, but heard no answer. _Oh, right._

Riven walked forward, ducking under the shade of a tent, next to Kasaic. "Beautiful day, no?" The other man stated, looking up at the clouds. "But we all know what happens on beautiful days."

"Who will die today?" Riven muttered. Both of them nodded. "Army is getting smaller. We lost about thirty the other day, passing through the mountains. Uren got crushed by a boulder, right next to me. Got a blood shower. He was a good fighter… shame he went off like that. The rest got caught in an ambush on the west side."

"Dwell on it too much, and the hate will start to eat at you. At least one of ours is worth six of theirs. They know they are unable to take us head on, but they have more numbers. While ours just dwindle. There were nearly two thousand when we started. Down to about eleven-hundred strong now."

Riven huffed, uprooting some grass with a scrape of his boot. "Why do they tell us not to hate them? Every time I see one of our dead, I feel like I should hate _them_ even more. Is that not the point of all this? To see them lay in a pool of their own blood, throats slashed open, choking to death?"

"Maybe it is. Maybe not. Who knows anymore? Just dead men walking at this point. We just have a _slight_ problem with accepting it." Kasaic fiddled with a knife, carving a figurine of a poochyena. He had grown close to one; it evolved some time ago, but died recently. Named it Spiel. Shot with over eleven arrows, but refused to go down, biting into a soldier's neck before finally stopping.

"Loyal beast. Saved your life several times, right?" Riven said apologetically, watching the man carve the wooden figurine.

"Yes. He was very loyal. I loved that dog. He was the closest thing to family."

Riven raised a brow. "What about us?"

"Oh, you? You are even lower than a dog. Just a pup that sank its teeth into a neck and enjoyed the taste," Kasaic jested, shoving the boy playfully. "I am joking. You are a fine soldier, Cerul. I remember when you came to us; small, mostly innocent, and as grimy as a rat."

"Am I really hearing this from you? I can knock you on your ass easily. Even if you do have years over me."

"Bah, you are younger than me." Kasaic let out a long laugh, humor sweeping away some of the pain. "Either way, we are both stuck in this shitty world just the same."

Riven shook his head and laughed alongside him. His laugh died abruptly as he saw a very sweaty Yanine approaching them, donning her usual perverted smirk, fanning herself casually.

"Say, Cerul. Why have you not taken Yanine up on her offer? Some of us would kill to do those kinds of things with her. It is horrible for discipline- your father would disapprove- but the general would not possibly know if you two _disappeared_ into the bushes for an hour. We are in the plains but the point still stands. I wonder if our commanding officer is a screamer…"

"Why are we talking about this? And I am a soldier not a plaything-" He gulped, and gave a strained smile. "Hello, Yanine!" he welcomed through grit teeth.

"Cut the tauros shit, what are you both doing?" She put her hands on her hips, looking sweaty and attractive, sweat glistening on her-

Riven slapped Kasaic.

"Taking our break, away from the sun?" he squeaked. Riven _squeaked_. Steven couldn't help but erupt in a mental giggle fit.

"Oh, well then- both of you move, clear some space for me." She sat down next to Riven, her uniform open enough for him to see down her shirt. _They_ were shiny with sweat. He reddened again. Noticing, she opened it up a little more, inching closer to Riven, who kept inching back. Her lips stopped at his ear, whispering very _obnoxious_ things Steven had the displeasure of hearing.

The one bad thing about being linked and feeling everything? Steven had just witnessed a younger Riven go through training lessons, recalling getting the snot beat out of him during training, and the importance of maintaining a blade just to fight arousal. To say it was awkward and uncomfortable was a massive understatement. Thinking about it grossed him out, and would probably need some brain bleach after this was over.

Kasaic roared in laughter. "Stop teasing the poor boy so much, Yanine! The urges never got started with him anyway! Became a soldier too early. What were you, eleven?"

"That is when they picked me off the street at Kurenth. Just ask Kiyur. Beat the absolute shit out of me nearly everyday. Still does sometimes, but I can keep up now."

"Nemos got picked up at Kurenth too, right? Damn unfortunate they razed to the ground after we passed through there last year."

"Yes… Nemos got caught stealing in the market. It was either shipped off to the army, or get your hand cut off. He chose the army. I went and signed up a little later."

"Good choice. Either way, there is a high chance you will die. One is just faster. Sword through the chest or infection," he said lazily, holding up two hands. Most people chose the hand. Those people usually died.

"Rivvvennnn," Yanine called seductively, getting closer. She held his chin, gray staring into _terrified_ blue and brown."Oh when you become of age I will make you _mine_ I swear it. You are going to give me what I have been missing all these years. Are we could head into the tent and you can give it to me right n-"

She cut herself off, watching as a runner came up to them, panting from a full on sprint from the main camp. "Yanine, get your men… and get up…. to base camp!"

"What? Why?" She questioned, alarmed.

"Rose troops… surrounded," he gasped, holding his side.

"Catch your breath, breathe- damn it! What else they got?"

"Arcanines and those… bloody fire horses too!"

"No escape. Fuck! Everyone, go gather the others! Cerul. Kasaic. Get Reath and the others. Armor up and fall in. Get moving!" Yanine and the other scrambled, donning armor and weapons, going through their encampment.

Riven tossed on armor while he ran, its weight feeling strange to Steven, who was used to smooth formal wear, not the heavy and hard feeling of metal plate. He was armored up like a walking juggernaut.

Arriving at the main camp, the general was already barking orders. "Get ready, battle positions! They have archers and Arcanines! Get yourselves fire proof shields and spears! Hold the line, stay in formation, and cover your partners! Beware of volleys and fuck- when those fire dogs come, do not let them break the line! Archers will stay behind and cover you!"

Riven slammed into position, flame-proof shield in one hand, and a spear in the other. Two blades rested on his hips, with a knife stored in his pants just in case. He huddled next to Yanine and Reath, with Kasaic further to the right, nervous. His fingers tapped the spear, swallowing hard to keep his head. Counting. Waiting.

Yanine headbutted him with her helmet. "Hey, Cerul."

"Yes, ma'am?

"Stay alive, you hear me? No, promise me that. Because when you become of age, you and I are having babies. And there will be no buts about that."

Reath rolled his eyes, wincing as the first flaming arrow whistled through the air and bounced uselessly off a shield.

Riven nodded very reluctantly, and gripped the spear, hearing the whistles of arrows rain down from the sky. He raised his shield with the others, blocking every arrow that came near them, a twang of metal resounding for every would-be hit. The arrow storm slowed, and the Remnant army resumed their battle stance, eager to meet the charging Rose troops.

A battlecry thundered across from the plains, red armor shining in the afternoon sun.

Closer.

And closer.

And closer until they were just about-

"Get ready!" Yanine shouted at the top of her lungs, "spears down, shields up! Send them to hell!"

Armor and steel clashed.

* * *

Riven's body jolted back with the impact of the charge, heels digging into the earth to prevent from getting pushed back. Catching sight of his enemy, he thrust his right arm forward, sending a spear through a red-armored soldier's neck, then pulled it back out before shoving it into another man's chest. Blood spurted out onto the green grass, staining it the very color of the stylistic Rosan armor.

Steven wanted to puke, but knew he wasn't in conscious control of his body. Riven had- no, _he_ had killed a person! It was as if he was the one that had killed, not Riven. The force of the thrust, and the thoughts that came with them. _Kill them, don't let them live_. He could only watch in horror as Riven used the spear over and over, felling man after man, lining up corpses at his feet.

The worst part was the sick, twisted satisfaction he got from doing it. The sensation that could best be described as quenching, fullfilling. Riven reveled in killing them, feeling no guilt or sorrow for what he had done, ending a life like it was nothing. It may have been the soldier's training, but Steven was no soldier. He had never killed anyone in his life, and yet here he was seeing himself murder another, even if it was Riven and not him personally. It didn't make it any less real.

The young soldier impaled another soldier through the chest, kicking him down to pull the spear back out. A wall of dead Rosan troops lay in front of the line. Blood trickled from spears. They held their position. One man tried to retreat. Yanine threw her spear at him.

He fell onto the floor, gasping for air, lung punctured by the metallic tip. She walked up to him, and smirked, looking into fearful red eyes. Glanced up, knowing the next wave of troops were watching."Can you breathe?" she asked the choking soldier gently, caressing his hair.

He spat out blood.

"No response? Oh, well." She put a foot on his back, took out the spear, and impaled it into his spine, ending his life instantly. Taking out her sword, she pointed it straight at the Rosan commander, who sat atop an armored Arcanine, grimacing in disgust. She came back to the formation, settling into place.

"You know all that did was anger them further, right?" Kasaic said.

"That was the point," she said. "Rule one of training. Get angry and you make mistakes. And when you make mistakes, you _die_."

Yanine was right. The Rosan soldiers charged in a disorganized fashion, falling quickly against the more orderly formation of the Remnants. Growing tired of the casualties, the Rosan commander ordered the Arcanine riders to charge forward and break the line.

That's when everything became hell.

The large firebreathing hounds released intense blasts of fire into the huddled mass of shields, red-hot flames increasing the heat of their shields. Metal glowed white, until some of the soldiers dropped them from getting too hot. That's when some of them were incinerated on the spot, left to smolder on the ground, spreading the smell of burnt flesh and leather in the afternoon heat.

Riven looked for a split second at the aftermath of one of the unfortunate ones and held back bile. Steven _wished_ he could hurl. The man's skin had peeled off like wax on a candle, and the smell that came with it made his stomach churn. But Riven held fast.

Formation broken, the Remnants reformed themselves into groups of four, taking on the Arcanines. They would be safe from arrows for now, they Rosan troops wouldn't dare fire on their own, especially Arcanines.

"Cerul, Reath, Kasaic!" Yanine shouted, parrying a soldier's sword with her spear and bashing him in the throat with her shield. "With me!"

The three men huddled around Yanine, covering each other as they battled any brave soldiers that tried to attack them.

Burying her spear into another man, Yanine whipped her head back-

"Cerul! Behind you!"

Riven turned around, instinctively raising his shield before a burst of explosive flame knocked him off his feet and onto the ground, leaving him shieldless. He opened his eyes to see the Arcanine's rider about to bring down an axe on him. He raised his spear with both hands in an attempt to soften the blow. The blade of the weapon made contact with the Riven's own, snapping the shaft in two and continuing through. However, the axe bounced off his armor, having lost most of its force in breaking the spear shaft.

But it wasn't done yet.

The rider's Arcanine reared its head, sharp teeth bared as fire flared up from its insides about to release-

A spear was thrown into its leg, then its chest, and into its mouth. The giant dog fell to the floor, knocking its rider off of it. Reath shoved a sword in his heart before he could draw his own weapon.

Riven stood up, collecting his shield and drawing one of his swords. He pointed east, behind Kasaic. "Another one!"

Kasaic and Reath drew their swords, while Yanine reached for a bow. The three men approached it from three different sides, crouching behind their shields when the Arcanine used a flamethrower to try and hit them all. The Rose perched on top was about to bring down his own axe on Kasaic when an arrow flew through the air and lodged itself between his eyes.

"Nice shot," Kasaic thanked, slashing one of the pokemon's feet with his blade. It wasn't happy with this, releasing another stream of fire at him and pouncing. Riven rushed forward, all too aware that being pinned by an Arcanine meant certain death. He held his blade up, face high, and thrust forward, sending cold steel into the dog's ribs, causing it to release a howl of pain.

It whipped around, gathering blue fire in its mouth.

_Overheat!_ Riven realized. Not even his shield could stop that. It would heat up impossibly fast and he'd end up like the ones who died at the start of the assault. The soldier rolled out of the way, feeling the scorching blast of superheated fire through his armor, his eyes catching the blackened trail of destruction it'd left in its wake. The attack had gone awry, and took some of theirs with it.

Reath jumped, landing a deep gash along its mouth. He was tossed aside by the creature's tackle, armor softening the blow, but not quite. Kasaic also closed in, slashing along its side with his blade, opening deep, gaping wounds near its hind legs. Yanine shot four arrows into the fire dog's face and neck; it was rapidly losing blood, slowing down considerably from the injuries.

However, the Arcanine managed to bite onto Reath's sword with its teeth, flinging it out of his hands, leaving him defenseless. In one swift motion, the dog spat flame, heating up its teeth, and bit down on his torso, piercing the softer parts of the metal armor and reaching flesh. Reath yelled in pain. He looked at Riven, holding out his hand while the Arcanine gnashed its jaws around, ripping into him further.

Catching the blade Riven had tossed him, he drove it into the beast's neck and _across-_

The Arcanine finally fell, blood pouring out of its neck. Jaws relaxed, letting Reath go, bleeding profusely from puncture wounds in several different places the teeth had pierced through. The flesh between his neck and shoulder had been mangled and his dark grey armor was stained crimson. He tried to stand but stumbled.

"Someone, take him back to camp!" Yanine called out, stabbing a soldier in the back of the neck with a knife. She called to one of their own nearby, roaring at him to take Reath to camp. The soldier nodded, helping Reath up. He left a trail of blood behind him.

"The rest of you, get ready, there are more," Yanine bit out icily. "Come and die, murderers."

An even larger wave of soldiers rushed forth, taking advantage of the fact that the Arcanines had wreaked their havoc on the Remnant Army's formation. Some fell to arrows but there weren't enough idle archers on their side to stop them all. Riven steadied himself, removing the heavier part of his armor.

What came next was a frenzy of blood, steel, and death.

Blades slashed through flesh and bone, arrows pierced organs, warhammers shattered bone. The Rose army had many soldiers, but they were far from experienced. The Remnants tore through them, being better fighters, trained for years. Riven was caught in a craze, hair soaked with a mixture of blood and sweat as his swords severed limbs, slit throats, and ran soldiers through. He took hits as well, but the adrenaline in his system diminished the pain.

They may have been superior in ability, but the Roses were far too many. As fatigue started to set in, fresh Rosan troops poured in, eventually overpowering many of the frontline fighters, who were tired and littered with lacerations and other injuries.

Riven fought with five men, felling them one by one, until he stabbed his blade into the last, catching a glimpse of a struggling Kasaic, on his knees. Four men surrounded him, aiming their blades in his direction.

The soldier ran forward, desperately trying to reach him in time. He was only a few feet away, but it was if it took eternities to reach him.

He was too late.

The Rosan soldiers' blades thrust forward, piercing through Kasaic's body in four different places. A gush of blood came out of his mouth, and he smiled. Taking his own sword, Kasaic drove it into the soldier in front of him, bringing him down as he fell, still smiling.

"Fucking Rose…"Riven heard as he leapt, quickly cutting the other three down, before kneeling beside Kasaic. A hand pulled him back, Yanine.

"He is gone, Cerul," she said, pulling him to his feet. "He died content. Now focus on the fight." Knocking an arrow, she let it fly, burying it into a man's skull some distance away.

They continued to fight among explosions of fire, and the embrace of death, until the booming crack of electricity was heard.

"Lirans…" Yanine realized, eyes wide. "Why are _they_ here?"

A yellow light flashed in the distance.

"Get down!"

Yanine tackled Riven to the floor, thunder trailing overhead like a bolt of beautiful death, spreading the nauseating odor of ozone. It smashed into the grass, kicking up a shower of dirt and spilled blood. The two shot to their feet, readying their blades. Dodging more bolts of electricity as the Lirans descended upon them, Riven and Yanine met them, blood-stained gray meeting gilded yellow and white.

They were much better fighters than the Rose troops, but still not good enough. Fighting them, along with some of the other surviving frontline soldiers, Riven and the others slowly began thinning their ranks. Glancing around, the young soldier could see some of his comrades fall to electrocution, others by blade.

Finishing one of the mercenaries, Riven cried in pain as a golden tipped arrow shot into his leg. Then another into his shoulder. Then another. And another. He fought the urge to pass out. On his knees, he flung a knife at the Liran archer, right into his eyes. A fist collided with his back, sending a wave of excruciating electricity through his body. Ducking under another thunderpunch from his attacker, an electabuzz, Riven sank his sword into its skull. He fell to the ground, hardly able to move.

Vision blurring, he weakly turned his attention to Yanine, whose moves had grown sluggish, still moving with that heavy armor. Unable to effectively block an incoming attack, the Liran she was fighting broke through her guard.

Then he stabbed her in the stomach with his sword.

"Yanine!" Riven desperately called out. Under partial paralysis and the pain of having four arrows in his body, the injured soldier crawled towards her, fighting the urge to pass out.

The mercenary tried to pull out his sword, but Yanine held on tightly, momentarily numb. Then, pulling a hidden knife out of her armor, she flipped the knife in reverse, stabbed it into the blonde mercenary's neck, and tore through it, pulling it out as his body fell lifelessly to the floor.

She collapsed, breathing faintly.

Riven crawled to her, holding her hand. She felt cold, and he put two fingers on her neck; her pulse was weak, too weak.

"Hey, Cerul…" she whispered, crimson trickling out of her mouth and down her face.

"Yes, Yanine?"

"Looks like I am the one who is going to break her promise," she laughed. "How embarrassing. What good is a woman without her word?"

"No. No. You _are_ going to survive," he said, holding onto her hand tightly. He could hear the enemy commander order another charge. He mentally cursed.

"Stop kidding yourself Cerul, I have a sword in my stomach. Not even a healer could save me. My time here is done. I do not have much time left. Neither do you, it would seem." She reached up and kissed him in the forehead, smiling. "But I know you will definitely make it through. You always do, you stubborn fuck. At least make me one promise..."

"What?" He said, quavering.

"Live for me. For Reath, For Kasaic. For everyone we lost," she said regretfully, handing him her knife. "But please do not cry. Anything but that, Riven. If you do, i will return from the dead and kick your ass. Live." She smiled sadly, closing her eyes, letting out one final breath. Gone.

Riven slammed a hand on the floor, hatred filling his entire being. _I will murder you all_, repeated in his mind. Over and over. An intoxicating, overwhelming bloodthirst. Steven had to fight tooth and nail to prevent it from sweeping him up as well. Shadows seemed to dance around him.

_What _was _that?_

The injured soldier shakily got his feet, picking up Yanine's bow. Staring at the commander with murderous eyes as he rode down the hills with the other troops, Riven grabbed the arrow lodged in his shoulder and _pulled_. He let out a blood curling scream, filled with pain, both physical and emotional.

Half-dead and barely on his feet, he nocked it, aimed and let _loose_\- projectile shooting through the air like a golden bullet, a black trail of shadows leading right behind it.

The commander hit the ground at the same time Riven did.

The last thing he saw before his vision went black was the whistling of arrows and the stomping of hooves.

* * *

Then the next memory blurred together. Eyes opened to a concerned face, Delgen.

"Riven! Riven! My god, you tough fucking bastard. Four arrows, partial electrocution, and even that failed to stop you."

Throat dry and wrapped in bandages, Riven painfully sat up. Delgen gave him a cup of water, which the young soldier immediately lapped up.

"I am… not dead?" He asked blankly.

"No. No!" Delgen repeated, pulling the boy into a hug.

"Did we drive them back?"

"Yes. The archers did. Once you killed the commander- I still have no idea how you had the strength left to do that- their formation fell apart. Reinforcements came and we made them retreat. The mightyena and our archers killed off some stragglers. But we did capture some of them." He shook Riven, who had a far-off look in his face.

Steven felt nothing, absolutely nothing. The boy had hollowed, mind and feeling. _Oh no._

"Reath. Kasaic. Yanine…" Riven whispered, staring at the floor.

"I am sorry. I miss them too. Reath bled out some time after the battle was over. We were able to recover Kasaic and Yanine's bodies intact. They have not been defiled."

Riven stood up, face gravely serious, and walked out of the tent.

Delgen followed him, concerned by the radical shift in the normally nonchalant boy's behavior. "Riven, what is wrong with you?"

He turned around, giving Delgen the most deadly and icy look he had ever seen. "Everything," Riven growled, and walked off, leaving his friend in the cold air of night.

Riven stopped in a part of the field, where the dead lay, eyes respectfully closed. He spotted Yanine and Kasaic, noticing their peaceful expressions. No tears came from him.

Picked up a shovel, and started digging.

* * *

Counting up his losses, the general sat in his tent, mourning all of the losses silently. Such was the pain of command. He saw Riven walk in, startling him that the boy could move after the injuries he had sustained.

The boy approached, face grave, dirty with earth. His bandages were stained red, from wounds opened through exertion.

"Cerul. I am glad you are alive but you are bleeding," the general pointed out. The young soldier didn't even so much as blink.

"It is of no concern," Riven replied coldly. "I wish to make a request."

"Well then, go ahead, you certainly earned it today. Speak your mind."

"I request to be transferred to scouting. Away from the frontlines."

The general thought about it. Cerul was one of his best sword fighters. Yanine's unit had been very effective in battles. But now they were gone… It was a difficult decision, but the boy had nowhere else to go."Granted. You will be folded into scouting, with Nemos."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no."

"What do you mean?"

"Alone. I want to scout alone."

"If you get cap-"

"So what? There is no obligation to come for me. I will not die, if that is what you fear."

The general grimaced. "Is this a whim or are you serious about this? This is not something to joke around about."

Riven's glare didn't change.

"All right… You start after we get out of these bloody fucking plains."

The soldier nodded and turned around, before stopping near the exit. "General."

"Yes?"

"The prisoners," he said, tone sinister. "Do we need them?"

"No. Why? What are you going to do?"

"What we always do."

_What we have to._

He opened the tent flap, when the general's voice came from within. "Cerul." He stopped, turning to look at him again. "There has always been a darkness within you. It is our strength, and yet, our greatest weakness. Do not lose yourself to it. I have seen it happen. It is not easy to slay one of your own, to protect them from themselves, I do not wish for it to happen to you too. Whether you do it or not, just know this. While there is no right or wrong- not in this world, I will see in the morning what path you chose."

Riven remained silent, leaving.

Dark, murderous thoughts entered his mind, painting images of blood. Steven felt trapped, engulfed in a cascade of shadows, hate and pain eating away at him. He knew what was coming next, what Riven was about to do, seeking catharsis, closure.

_Riven, no! Don't do this_! He pleaded futilely, as he looked down and saw a knife gripped firmly in his hand. Not shaking, or hesitant but resolute, unwavering. Crimson clouded his view, a cold fury backed by hate and anger. A red-haired soldier looked up at him, fear etched into his face, just a mere boy as well, a sad consequence of war. Steven continued begging for Riven to stop, for him to reconsider what he was about to do, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. This had already happened, he couldn't change the past.

And somehow, that was the worst part. Something had died within him, tearing a hole so deep and _black_-

_Violence breeds violence. Only blood can be the answer to blood. There is no forgiveness. Not now. Not ever, _a dark voice added, low and guttural. _They did this._ _Give them what they deserve._

_Don't make me watch_. _Please don't make me watch_, Steven said, unable to close his eyes, unable to unsee. _Don't-_

Black steel gleamed. Hatred flared.

And Steven screamed himself awake.

* * *

**Romance is uncertain. I'll make no promises. Maybe yes, probably no, since I've never really written a romance story before. Nor do I feel I would be particularly skilled at one either.**

**As for mega evolution? I'd say the same. It's an interesting concept, so there's a high possibility of exploration. Although, a particularly sharp eye can catch a few things here and there that allude to the fact...**

**Will Riven get his swords back? Not likely. The tentacruel vehemently oppose such a decision. They are very happy with their find and are unwilling to give their new found trinkets back. They can be fairly stubborn jellyfish.**


	38. Escalation

Birch jumped back, watching the monitor begin to beep uncontrollably as Steven's heart rate spiked. His stomach seemed to relocate somewhere near his feet and he rushed over to touch Steven's forehead. His skin was cold and he was sweating considerably, breathing hard, as if he had been experiencing a nightmare.

The professor shook him, starting to panic himself. They hadn't tested this before, he had no idea if Steven could be at risk. Releasing the restraints on Steven's arms and legs, Birch shut down the machine, hands clammy and sweaty.

After a few more panic filled minutes, Steven woke up in a scream, startling everyone in the room.

"Steven! Are you all right?" Birch called out, heaving a large sigh after having just experienced a tiny heart attack. His heart nearly burst out of his chest from how worried he was.

Steven was sitting straight up, sweat pouring down his face. His eyes remained distant and unresponsive. Shaking and with the help of Birch, he stood up, still in a dazed, catatonic state. All he could hear was muffled noise. Birch waved a hand in front of his face, and Steven came to, becoming more aware of his surroundings; he was now back inside the lab, not out in the dark of night, hands stained with blood.

He stumbled into the bathroom with a drunken waltz from the nausea, shedding his suit, and splashed his face with cold water, trying to erase the images in his mind. They had been burned into his head, etched like an ancient carving on a stone slab. He could still see the dark liquid covering his hands, feel the warmth of it on his palms. They weren't his hands, but it- it felt so _real_. What scared him the most was the terrifying feeling of relief that came with every life that knife ended.

"H-how could he do that?" Steven stammered, wanting to believe everything had been an illusion, a trick from an unhealthy mind. Wiping his forehead with a towel, he stared into the mirror for longer than a few minutes, then dressed himself again, attempting to calm his upset mind with a breathing technique.

_Slowly. In and out…_

Coming back out to the main area thirty minutes later, legs still feeling like leaves in the wind, Steven saw a disoriented Riven getting up from the machine, holding his head.

"My head feels hazy," he groaned. "Is this normal? It feels like I've been hit in the head with a wooden board."

"I suppose it's the sedative," Birch said plainly, having no honest idea if that was the case or not. Riven didn't press the matter as he was helping him out of the restraints. Which was good, since the only thing a scientist hated more than shoddy lab work was not being able to answer critical questions. "Did you feel anything else?"

Riven nearly fell over, holding onto Birch for support. "Ngh… Not really. It just felt like I slept for a while… shit, my head," he complained. "How long were we in there for?"

"About forty minutes," Birch replied, checking Riven's physical state, finding nothing out of place.

Riven saw a figure approach in his peripheral vision and turned, then pointed a finger. "There's S-"

The professor was already examining his friend before Riven could even finish the sentence.

"Steven! Are you okay? Does your head hurt? What did you see? Did it work?" Birch shot out question after question, inquisitive and distressed at the same time. He grabbed Steven's face, flashing a small handheld light into the man's eyes. "Dilated pupils… skin is cold…" The professor took out a plastic stick. "Say ahhhhh."

Steven lifted a hand, smiling weakly. "There's no need for a surprise medical examination. I'm fine, Birch. Thank you for your concern. I'm just a little… rattled." A little. Right. His nerves were practically set on fire. Even now, Steven hid a shaking fist in his pant pocket.

"Did it work then?" Birch asked, eyes shimmering.

"I wish it didn't," Steven added quietly, leaving Birch confused. Walked over to Riven, and stared at him, gaze sorrowful. The young man peered up at him, expectant. "I-I don't- It didn't happen… did it?" Steven stumbled over the words, knowing full well that he was only trying to mask the fact that it _did_. But accepting something that horrible was… difficult.

"I could tell you it's true, but I wouldn't know what you saw, or if you would even believe it. You probably don't want to. I can understand that. I wouldn't want to either, if I was in your place." The young man breathed in deep. "But I have a general idea. I wake up like that sometimes too. And sometimes… I have panic episodes that last for days." Riven admitted solemnly, but not without sympathy. "What did you see?"

Steven recalled memories that weren't his, still fresh in his mind. "At first, I saw your parents. You were eavesdropping on them. You had such small hands. And you were royalty. Apparently?" Riven as royalty? It made Steven's mind want to cave in on itself. In the stories, a prince was always seen as cultured, mannered, and graceful. Riven was the complete antithesis of that; he was brash, cold, and not at all friendly nor sociable.

"I was?" A huff. "I was just a kid who happened to be born a Cerul, with two eyes that didn't quite match. Didn't feel like royalty." Riven stared at the ceiling, frowning. "And that memory… I forgot it still exists. I'm surprised you saw that. Guess I don't know what my mind is truly thinking about."

Steven gave him a small smile. "Your parents loved you."

"It's easy to say it. It's quite another to show it. And I don't remember feeling… loved," Riven said, calm turning into bitterness. "Father was never there. My mother… she never had any time. They put me in as many lessons as possible. Probably so they wouldn't have to deal with me. That's why I always went off exploring by myself."

Steven understood perfectly, feeling the same way for a long time when he was his age. His father was always on business trips. He never really knew his mother that well. In a way, training was his escape from all of that.

"I suppose you witnessed what came next." Riven eyed him. _There's no way he didn't see that._

"The Rose clan… they…" Steven paused. And shivered.

The black-haired boy lifted part of his hair, revealing the skin under his right eye, a thin pink scar stretching down his face. Someone had to look closely just to see it. Birch had mentioned it previously, but Steven thought nothing of it, until now.

"Your scar- the one you marked yourself with," Steven shuddered, a sinking feeling welling up inside. "I felt it. Everything. To say the machine allows you to relive memories in vivid detail doesn't do it justice. It tells you things you shouldn't have any possible way of knowing."

Birch and other white coats gasped. "Y-you actually _felt_ it? I only imagined it would be just seeing but- _everything_?"

"Yes. Pain and other things…" Steven confirmed, the hair at the back of his neck rising. Unconsciously, he ran two fingers under his own eye, recalling with perfect detail how cold metal felt on his cheek, followed by the stinging pain of being cut, both physically and emotionally.

Birch blanched, making a mental note of testing the machine further, just to see if the experience could be toned down to a less realistic level. Traumatic pasts would definitely be something to watch out for, given how strongly Steven reacted.

"What else did you see?" Riven asked.

"Nimva Plains," Steven swallowed, a lump forming in his throat. Riven glanced towards the floor, expression unreadable, bobbing his head slightly.

"Can I talk to you in private?" Steven asked.

Birch looked positively betrayed.

_Sorry_, Steven apologized with a look_, I'll tell you later_. Heading down a hallway and into an empty store room, he steeled his face, looking into eyes that once held life, hope. "You were happy once."

"Once," Riven replied calmly. It was never a sort of true happiness, like what some trainers said they felt when they won a badge, or when their pokemon evolved. That was a pure happiness, shining like a bright light; a sun to give warmth and radiance, promoting growth and life. No. The happiness- if one could call it that- was more or less mutual reassurance that the people he fought with were there stuck with him, in a crumbling, war-torn world. And that feeling shrunk with each death- and there were lots of those."War changes you. You saw Nimva. You _know_ what it's like. You felt it too."

"Like someone rent a hole in you and tore out what was left," Steven said quietly, a hand gliding over his chest.

Riven nodded, slow and painful. An uncomfortable silence permeated the air, like a desert wind at night. Both of them stood awkwardly in place for a full, noiseless minute, wondering what to say.

"When was the first time you- you know… ended someone's life?" Steven started, breaking the silence.

"Thirteen." Riven grimaced. "A few guys tried to sneak into our camp, cause as much damage as possible and maybe even assassinate the general. I couldn't sleep from tending to some wounded with the healers, so I saw one of the bastards come into our tent. He was going to kill one of ours so I got up and buried my knife into his spine while his back was turned. Then we alerted the entire camp."

"Did you find it… satisfying?" Steven ushered out, voice barely above a whisper. He wasn't comfortable asking that. After all, who would be?

Riven shook his head, a small chuckle escaping from him. "Not even in the slightest. I was unresponsive for a few days. The general said that was a good thing. He said that if no one expressed panic on their first kill, something was wrong. Really wrong." Riven shrugged. "I got numb to the feeling… eventually. Then the numbness turned into… well. Something it shouldn't have. I realize that now, but I didn't at the time." He lingered on those thoughts for a few seconds before asking, "How long has the world been warless?"

"The last war was the Kalosian war of Kings, three thousand years ago. If I remember correctly anyway. I learned about it when I visited the region some time ago. On other business. Involving _certain_ stones of _certain importance_."

Riven scoffed. _Rock obsessed recluse."_I figured as much," he said dryly. "People have never experienced a war in their lifetimes. I've never-" He shut his mouth closed, grumbling.

Steven eyed him, brain getting immediately to work as he drew different conclusions together, gathering tidbits of scattered information from memories and conversation, as well as other things. He arranged them like a child would a jigsaw puzzle.

Riven was a soldier in peacetime… which was and probably continued to be- a jarring experience_,_ especially at the age Riven had been "enlisted". He had started training with the army at eleven, killed at thirteen, then by fifteen, he was battling on the frontlines. And that wasn't counting the combat lessons he'd received prior to that, from the age of four to seven. Or the amount of constant battles and skirmishes in the three years that followed that, up until about roughly a year and a half ago, if he retraced Riven's relative age with how long ago he'd signed up as a trainer.

That, by all accounts, classified him as a child soldier, which meant that coming here wasn't just a punch in the gut- it was like getting slugged in the face by a Machamp, then body slammed by a Snorlax. The poor boy probably couldn't hold a job to save his life. He didn't know what a regular life _was_. Normally, mercenaries had militant backgrounds in Unova or Kanto, heck- even Orre. None of them could make special forces at nineteen, given the bare _minimum_ age of eighteen to enlist regularly. They could at least somewhat function in society. But child soldiers… Many of those from Orre _did_ start out that way. The end result was never pretty.

Maybe it was one small blessing that Birch had hastily set Riven on the trainer's path, for both Riven and everyone else he encountered. If an unsavory group had reached out to him instead... it would have been bad news. Very bad.

"Never lived out of one," the former champion finished.

"Yeah."

That brought up another important point. "Why isn't there a record of this?" Steven asked, shifting the tone of the conversation abruptly.

Riven scrunched his face in confusion.

"The war, I meant. Surely someone must have written accounts of battles down, or have some kind of story passed down through generations. Every war that's been fought in recorded history has something of the like. Every single one. The Kalosian war, as well as the Unovan, Kanton, and Johton wars were all recorded, if some more detailed than others. The historical portrayals vary but- the point is that there was _someone_ who wrote it down. Even the war that took place near Rota was documented in the palace castle library. If you dig deep enough, you can also find records of the battles during the Iron and Bronze ages. But this one… There's no evidence that it even existed. It's hard to believe it's true, not even considering how long your memory says it went on for, further making it harder to believe. One thousand years is a very long time." Steven paced around the room, and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what Riven was holding out.

A curved knife, light reflecting off its black metallic surface, its blade kept in perfect condition due to meticulous cleaning.

"That's-"

"A promise. Which makes two of them now." Riven gripped the blade handle tightly, holding it up against the light, then sheathed it. "You know who it belonged to, right?"

Steven didn't even bother to nod, still remembering things he'd never wished he'd seen. "That's Yanine's knife- you used it to-" He fell silent, picturing the same black steel tearing out a man's larynx with a merciless swipe, feeling a little sick.

"Saw that too, huh?"

"Unfortunately I did. They were prisoners. Unarmed." He didn't kill those soldiers, he murdered them. Boys, by what he'd seen, no older than he was at the time. And he executed them in cold blood. With not even the _slightest_ bit of remorse.

_How could anyone do something like that? Maybe his mental state should be evaluated. If he's- no, wait. You're thinking about this incorrectly. _ T_hat wasn't just war. It was _total_ war, _Steven realized, grimacing. He'd read history books, he _knew_ what total war entailed, and what effect it had on the people and landscape around it. _My god. To think- one thousand years of that..._

"I had to," Riven replied harshly. It didn't feel like a reason. It felt like an excuse. But that didn't make it any less true.

"For your obligation as a soldier?" Steven questioned, skeptical. "I can't possibly believe that."

"I had to... for my sanity," Riven admitted.

The sharply dressed man raised a brow.

"I'd seen soldiers go crazy before. Some broke, others went on a rampage. The ones that went insane had to be taken care of. I didn't know why, I still don't. They never _wanted_ to tell us why. But I- it just- it hurt. I wanted to make it stop."

"Did it?"

"No. But it helped. It was enough."

"Do you genuinely believe that?"

"It's what I tell myself. As long as I can believe that, I'm fine."

Steven sighed, not sure where to go next. "Riven."

"Yeah?"

"You don't… hate pokemon?"

"No. Why would I?"

"The Arcanines killed your friends too."

Riven appeared thoughtful for a second, glancing over the words, then licked his lips.

"They didn't have a choice. Pokemon were just weapons to most people back then. We all knew it. Instruments of war- sad as it is to say. Those Arcanine, Mightyena, Rapidash, Ponyta, and the rest of the pokemon used in that war… They were born and raised to kill. It wasn't their fault. When you get stabbed, you don't blame the sword. Or the arrow that just sank its tip into your leg. You can't. It was like that with pokemon. Most people didn't bother befriending them. The ones that did… you saw Kasaic. It was just more pain- wasn't worth it."

Steven nodded, understanding. "Something bothered me though. It still is, kind of." Closing his eyes, he recalled a vague whisper he'd "heard" during one of the fragments. "You- your memory-said that a blast burn destroyed the city. But Arcanines can't learn that move, and I didn't see any pokemon there that could."

The younger trainer remained stoic for a few seconds, before his mouth opened and flashed a savage grin, canines flaring, more snarl than smile. "Who said a _pokemon_ destroyed it?"

Steven furrowed his brows in confusion."You mean-" Riven grinned again, this time in a dark and morbid kind of way. "No… A-are you saying what I think you're saying?" Steven stammered, genuinely shocked. "But you fought with spears, swords, and arrows. The Rosan army did too, only they had more pokemon! You can't be serious. Only a pokemon can use blast burn."

Riven shrugged. "Yes, _we_ fought with mightyenas, and conventional weapons. Hopeless soldiers without a home, fighting a war we couldn't possibly win. No giant mutts who could spit fire, or horses that left cinders where they stepped. No fire, no abilities, nothing. That's why we lost after the main army got wiped out during Altea's destruction." Let out a dark laugh. "But the Rose army… That's a different story."

Steven was rendered speechless, brain trying to wrap itself around that notion of impossibility that Riven was implying. "But that's- that's impossible."

"Is it, Steven? That's why I came here. Not to show you my memories, but they certainly will help make everything make sense- if even just a little. Everyone says it's impossible, only it's _not_… I know it's not, and I can _show_ you that it isn't. Trust me."

Steven blinked. His mouth fell open.

Riven chuckled wryly, finally glad he wasn't the clueless one now. "Let's go find Will."

"T-that boy is? He?"

The black-haired boy flashed another savage grin. "Come, and bring some duct tape too, you might need it to reattach your jaw."

Dumbfounded, Steven followed Riven upstairs.

Both of them were welcomed with smoke and the smell of something _burning_.

"Is something on fire?" Steven asked the desk attendant, scrunching his nose. The smoke detectors were going off fiercely, blaring and flashing. Scientists scrambled.

The man at the front desk nodded furiously, barking orders at someone over the phone. "What do you mean we don't have a fire extinguisher in the there? I don't care if he's a damn trainer! Tell him to get that blasted Quilava back in its pokeball! He set half the furniture in the Rec room on fire! This is _exactly_ why Lund doesn't allow fire types inside! Fuck!"

"Shit. Not again." Riven let out a string of mental curses as he heard the words _quilava_ and _fire_. _Doesn't that little bastard ever learn summoning Quil anywhere that isn't a barren wasteland is a _terrible_ idea? Or maybe…_

"What do you mean _again_?" Steven stared. "This has happened before?"

"Ah, well… let's just say Will's starter is, uh, _volatile_," Riven said sheepishly, and coughed. "Swear Quil should have been a Voltorb… Let's go see if the menace hasn't done any _more_ collateral damage."

Steven and Riven ran to the Rec room, covering their noses to avoid smelling in that awful scent of burning _something._

"Ilan, water gun! Douse the flames!" Lucia ordered. Her Poliwrath blasted water forward at the smoldering pieces of now charred black furniture. When the smoke cleared, Lucia saw two men standing beside each other, looking like they had just climbed out of a pool. The former wore a very irritated scowl, while the latter had a friendly smile on his face.

Lucia rushed over to Steven, apologizing profusely, then freaked out about ruining the almost immaculately pressed suit he wore. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to ruin your suit I-"

Steven put a hand on her shoulder, still dripping. She flushed. "It's okay. This isn't the first time I've been drenched from head to toe. I was a trainer once too, you know. It was actually quite refreshing."

"I don't agree," Riven added dryly. "And you're redder than a tamato," he pointed to Lucia, half-smirking.

"No. No, I'm not," she denied, quickly turning around. _Oh god, I'm flushing around the champion!_ _Breathe, Lucia! Breathe!_

Steven chuckled. "Anyway, where is your brother? Riven informed me that things arguably tend to… _spontaneously_ combust when he's around. Is this true?"

Lucia shot a heated look at Riven, who was staring off into a corner of the room, silently snickering. Looked back up at Steven, and flushed even further. "I'm sorry about him, this always happened back home. I can pay for it-" She took out her wallet, but Steven stopped her. She turned beet red again.

"There's no need. I'll pay for it. I'm sure Lund won't get too terribly upset with me," he stated kindly, keen eyes noticing the fact that there was no Quilava in the room at all. Only a scared boy in the corner huddled next to Gale, shaking and pale as paper. Riven noticed that Steven had noticed it too, waiting to see how the "former champion" would handle this.

All Steven did was give another irritatingly charming champion smile and Lucia was instantly pacified. Riven threw his hands up. _Damn champions and their people skills._

"Fire types are dangerous, especially indoors. Take good care with them," Steven advised gently, standing in front of Gale and the boy.

Will stood up, panicking and extremely apologetic. "S-sorry! I keep telling Quil not to get too excited, but he just sees fire and he gets happy and then things go BOOM- I mean, fire is cool and all but it's hard to get him to stop and it's not okay- I'm sorry!" Will stopped rambling as Steven started giggling.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, still trying to stifle giggles. "I needed that laugh after what I've seen today. Hah."

Lucia's eyes narrowed at Riven, whose eyes locked with hers, telling her things words couldn't. _You son of a bitch_. A person could tell a lot from a person's eyes. Being a trainer for some time, she learned how to read them and what they said. _What Steven saw today. What did you show him Riven? That's why you took so long, you weavile. _

He looked away, flicking his gaze elsewhere, ghost of a smirk on his face. He was enjoying this, that fucker.

"But," Steven said calmly, steadying himself, "I can't help but notice there isn't a Quilava in the room. And your backpack is on the other side of the room. What _really_ caused that fire? It's not nice to blame things on your pokemon."

Will, Gale, and Lucia froze.

"I-I returned him," Will blurted out, trying to cover it up as best he could. But there was no fooling Steven. Champions didn't just have strong pokemon, they had keen eyes and a brain that could strategize and analyze with the best of them. _That's_ what made them champions.

Steven knelt down beside Will, placing a comforting, albeit wet, hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. Riven told me that well… you can do things." He waggled a hand, then reprimanded himself at how awkward that came out, and how it looked. "I know it's a secret, so I'm going to ask all of you to come downstairs. But first, can you show me very quickly? No one will see right now."

Will looked up at Riven, who only nodded briskly_. It's okay, Will_.

The younger trainer nodded, red eyes slightly intimidated and extremely unsure of himself. He flexed a finger, and fire shot out, singeing a few strands of Steven's hair and part of the ceiling, leaving a blackened spot on the white surface. "S-sorry."

The former champion remained kneeled, mouth a thin line. Standing up at once, he turned to Riven, and swallowed harder than he had ever done before. "We're going to have one _lengthy_ conversation. All of us," he gestured to the others.

"But I-" Riven protested. He caught the nasty looks the other three were giving him, and relented.

"They're your friends. You need to stop hiding things from them." Pulled away from Riven's ear, then came back. "And I think I need that duct tape now," Steven said, waving for them to follow him. Something came over him, winning out surprise and reluctant, skeptical acceptance, pushing his mood through the roof and into the clouds.

The verge of discovery. That's what it was.

_I have a feeling… things are going to get much more complicated from now on_, Steven smiled, his adventurous side brimming with eagerness, something he hadn't felt since he last heard about mega evolution. _How exciting._

* * *

_So that sphere _is_ an evolution stone,_ Steven realized, taking a sip of some hot chocolate Birch had made for everyone. They were sitting at a table in the underground lab; just the trainers, Steven, and the professor.

Setting the mug down, he straightened. His suit had dried by now, but it didn't feel as comfortable as when he first put it on. "You said you found a red sphere in the desert ruins? Just like the blue one Riven gave to me? With the same markings?"

Will nodded, wiping a chocolate stain off his upper lip with a sleeve. "Yeah. Meanwhile me and idiot here were stuck in the desert half-dead, some Claydols saved us from getting eaten by Cacturne."

"Idiot? You were the one who got yourself stuck in quicksand!" Riven growled. "And don't forget my preparations are the _entire_ reason why you're not dead."

"Lies."

"Ungrateful prick."

"Yeah well you're stupid."

Riven chucked a piece of bread at his face. "You little sh-"

Lucia coughed, holding out a pokeball. "You want to get drenched by highly pressurized water? Again?"

The black-haired trainer crossed his arms, _hmph_ing. Gale giggled at the two boys' interactions. They were constantly at each others' throats, it was kind of funny. And cute.

Steven kept his attention locked on Will. "Please continue, Will. Ignore Riven for the time being. He can be difficult to deal with. Tell me everything you can remember."

Will snorted. "Okay then. Well, we got taken to the ruins in the desert. There was water there. I woke up first, Riven woke up later."

"The Regirock ruins? Or the other ruins in the desert? There's quite a few."

"I don't know. But it looked like a temple. Kinda? I don't know. It had carvings of god and other things- and rooms, lots of rooms."

_Depictions of Arceus… interesting. Perhaps it was a temple to some sort of ancient Arcean divinity?_ It seemed as if the worship of Arceus went back further than the world believed. Fascinating. Steven nodded.

"When Riven woke up, the Claydols spoke through me to talk to him. It was really weird, I could feel my mouth move, hear what I was saying, but I couldn't see anything. I know psychics are weird but I've never heard of them doing _that_."

Steven's eyes widened. _Telepathic takeover. That's troublesome_. Pokemon didn't do that to humans. Many psychics were strictly opposed to that, for reasons only they knew about, and didn't wish to elaborate. Even his Metagross didn't speak of it. To think an ancient pokemon like Claydol would resort to measures that drastic was unnerving. "Why didn't they just communicate telepathically with him?"

"They said they couldn't. It wasn't allowed. Didn't have the power or something or other." Will shrugged. "I don't freaking know, they kept saying really confusing things."

"Not allowed? What do you mean not allowed?" Steven asked. "How is it not allowed?"

"Beats me, all the psychics do is talk in riddles. It's really annoying," Will replied, eyeing Seren as he was busy lapping up Will's chocolate. The fox looked up at him with eyes potent enough to render the hardest of trainers into swooning messes. Will had to look away before his manliness evaporated and his train of thought got derailed."It was just nonsense to me. Even Riven was confused. They called him evil, among other insults. They were talking an awful lot of shit about him. They _really_ didn't like him."

Steven whispered a curious "huh" under his breath.

Lucia nudged him in the side. "Forgive his language," she apologized.

"It's fine. I've seen trainers with _far_ more colorful language than both Riven and Will. They're pretty tame with their swearing, actually. Challengers have the worst mouths imaginable, hah. They make Drake look like an innocent angel by comparison. Anyway, we're getting sidetracked again. Where were we?"

"Psychics love trashtalking?" Will remarked sharply.

"Let's skip the trash talking then. Did they say anything important?"

"They said something about Riven being an anomaly. What is that?"

"It's another word for error," Gale put in.

Steven nodded. "Correct."

"Oh, they also said he wasn't where he belonged. Then Riven started shouting things about legendaries, the future, and other things. And I heard a lot of curse words after that," Will grinned. Riven snorted. "But after that, we wandered around the temple a bit. Then we came to this large room with lines going up the walls. There was some kind of circle carving in the middle. As soon as Riven stepped inside, the entire room lit up blue!"

_The blue lights Wattson saw. So it was them. Interesting._

"Then the center opened up, bringing out some kind of metal spear thing. The red sphere was in the middle."

"Genius here decided to _touch it_," Riven commented sardonically. "Rule number one about old shit in ruins; if it glows, it's probably _not_ a good idea to touch it. You violated that rule and look where that got you."

"Shut up," Will hissed, then continued, ignoring a smirking Riven. "After I touched it, fire came up around me. It felt like I was actually getting burned alive, but I came out of it fine, just warm. Really warm. Ever since then I can do this-" He held a hand out and a blast of fire launched upward, startling Seren and Birch, who knocked his knees on the table and fell over. Steven dodged out of the way before it hit him in the face, singed his eyebrows, and gave him second-degree burns.

"Sorry!" Will flinched. "I- I can't control it yet. T-that's how I burned the couches in the Rec room." The boy looked downcast again.

"You can't?" Steven wondered, trying to get as much details as he could.

"No. Not really. I mean- the fire comes out, I just can't control where it goes or how strong the flame gets. I really have no idea how to even do that. And when I use it too much, something inside gets really hot, like I'm burning inside." He felt like that after those thugs tried assaulting Lucia. A burning hot fire inside, as if someone shoved boiling rocks into his chest.

_Blazikens and Infernapes have their fire sacs located near their stomachs. They have the most humanoid form of all the fire types, maybe it's the same in him? _Steven speculated. "Is it located in this region?" He pointed to where his stomach was.

Will looked confused. "But it feels like my chest is burning."

"I suppose it's the same as heartburn. It seems like whatever that sphere did to you, you've developed some fire sacs. That's what produces the flame. Going by that rationale, I'd also wager that the linings of your throat and the insides of your body are fairly fire resistant. However, I would only be guessing. Birch can tell you more. Professor? Would you?"

"Ah, yes." He sat up straight, clearing his throat. "If you did take on a fire type's attributes, then it's highly possible that your pores can exhale flame, and fire doesn't even faze your skin, does it?"

"I put my hand over a candle flame at home when no one was watching. I didn't even get burned. It just felt… warm."

"Yes, yes. This is truly amazing! I must test this." Birch stood up, left for a minute, then came back, lighter in hand. He was wearing a grin that could definitely make anyone turn 180 degrees in the other direction, and _run_. Evil scientist scary.

Will _looked_ at him. "What. Are. You. Doing?"

Birch laughed. "Don't mind me, haha! It's all for the sake of science!"

"That's what I'm worried about," Will said snidely.

"For once I agree," Riven added.

"Now hold still." The jolly professor held the lighter flame up and held a section of Will's hair up to the flame. There was no characteristically dreadful odor of burnt hair. It was wholly intact. "Amazing! Even your hair is fireproof! Now tell me, do you have a stronger than average aversion to bathing?"

Riven reacquainted his forehead with the table. Gale resisted the urge to.

Will gave Birch a look of disgust. "What? Hell no! Sure, I like the water much hotter than before but I don't skip showers when I actually _have_ a shower I can use! What the hell kind of question is that?"

"Birch, I don't think asking him questions about his hygiene are in the best interests of science at the moment," Steven reminded the professor, carefully confiscating the lighter from him before he did anything else to aggravate the boy with.

"Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away."

"A little?" Riven commented off-handedly.

The professor broke into a rueful laugh.

"Still. To think this sphere caused such a radical change in his body… It's far more important than we realized," the former champion concluded.

"What about the blue sphere?" Gale asked. "Riven said he gave it to you, right? Did you find out anything about it?"

"A thing or two. I'm glad you asked Ms. Gale," Steven smiled.

"Just call me Gale."

"Of course. Well, I found out the sphere dates back to roughly twenty thousand years ago." He eyed Riven, who seemed relatively unimpressed. "Another peculiar finding is its connection with the desert ruins near Mauville. Many of the artifacts found in them date back to almost the same exact time period. Plus or minus around 100 years or so."

"That's not exact," Riven said plainly.

Steven pulled out a phone, bringing up a picture of a stone slab and the markings on the sphere.

"I think you're missing the point," Gale corrected. Looked at the photo, then gaped. "The symbols. They're the same. But Dewford and the Desert are so far apart! That's-"

"Not possible? Wallace said the same thing. However, I've seen enough impossibilities within the past year that I'm starting to raise my standards on what's impossible or not." He flicked a quick glance at Riven, who remained perfectly neutral, that is until his previous statement clicked in the trainer's mind.

"You told Wallace?" he pounced, bristling. "Why?"

"How couldn't I? He burst into my office without telling me. I happened to have the sphere sitting out on my desk when he did. And trust me, once Wallace sees something pretty, he just has to touch it." Steven sighed heavily. "It's been driving the Devon janitors crazy every time he goes on one of his artistic charades all over the main lobby."

Birch laughed loudly. "It's true! That Wallace. Although he's a champion, he's like a Skitty with a ball of yarn when it comes to things that glimmer. All champs have their quirks I guess, right Steven?"

"He's a recluse obsessed with rocks," Riven pointed out bluntly. "Doesn't sound like a quirk to me."

Steven sighed once again.

"And you'd be the most cynical champion to ever exist if you ever do become one. And no one would probably ever challenge you because you'd glare at them until they'd run away!" Gale chided.

"Then I'd never lose," he replied sardonically. "Good idea."

Gale blew out a frustrated breath, picking up Seren to occupy herself instead. At least the fox was friendly. "Asshole…"

"If you really want results, rub your chest over his face, that'll shut him up real quick," Will snickered evilly. "He loves bo-" Lucia clamped a hand over his mouth and flicked him in the forehead.

"Shenanigans aside, is that all you were able to learn about the sphere?" Lucia asked, still holding Will's mouth shut. His skin was incredibly warm, like hugging a furnace, which was making her uncomfortable with the transfer of body heat.

"Well… it seems like the sphere lost a significant portion of its stored energy when it was activated it in the ruins. It had an effect on an Eevee, implying it is some kind of evolution stone, but it couldn't go all the way past the energy threshold required, I presume. But apart from that, which I'm sure you all must have guessed by now, nothing new. Sadly. I'm sorry I don't have more. However, I would like to study it more, now that I know what kind of effects it can induce in a person. This has been incredibly insightful." Steven peered at the clock, reading two minutes until twelve A.M. "It's pretty late, you four should go get some rest. I'm incredibly spent myself. I think I'm going to go get some sleep."

_If I can, that is._

"Wait," Lucia pleaded.

"Yes?"

"Is there any kind of way Will could get rid of it?"

"I don't think I can answer that for sure, Lucia. If the sphere was consumed upon your brother's transformation, and it's similar to a pokemon's evolution… it may just mean the process is _irreversible_. The best he can do now is try and control it. We'll keep this a secret. Between us and only us, don't worry," Steven assured. " With all the teams running amuck in recent years, we've no idea if there could be people out there who might want to use him for the wrong reasons. But for now, it's best for you all to continue on your journey. I'll contact you if I find anything, okay?"

Lucia nodded, exchanging phone numbers. She'd be ecstatic about getting the former champion's number normally, but after hearing that Will's "change" was most likely irreversible, she didn't feel at all happy.

Steven waved good bye. "Good night, Will, Lucia, Gale, and you too, Riven. Keep me updated if anything occurs!" The silver haired man vanished from sight, followed by Birch, who excused himself with a happy laugh and a smile, but not before carrying Riven off to the side to give him some sort of advice.

He came back looking extremely confused.

"Well, we should go to the center," Lucia suggested.

"I agree, I'm exhausted," Gale yawned, placing a napping Seren into Will's arms. "And a little hungry too."

"Maybe they still have Pignite bacon!" Will beamed, drooling. "Bacon, bacon!"

* * *

Steven Stone sat in a hotel room with Birch, mind heavy with thoughts.

"Humans having typings… wow! With pokemon like abilities… this could be a scientific breakthrough for humanity!" Birch grinned. "Isn't it fascinating?"

Steven eyed him, not quite in agreement with the jolly professor. "Fascinating yes, but it worries me."

"Why is that?"

"Think about it, Birch. If what Riven said was true about blast burns, imagine what kind of destruction someone that has come into contact with the spheres can do. I'm not too worried about Will, he's a good kid, I highly doubt he'd do anything that drastic. But other people? Adults? I'm not to sure about that."

The professor's grin fell, and looked down at the table, brows furrowing in thought.

Human evolution. What a scary concept. And the fact that it was artificially created to boot- made it all the more frightening. Separating the illusions of superheroes in the media and the fiction stories that authors wrote about humans with pokemon powers, the implications of such a thing existing were disastrous.

Human history was riddled with strife; over land, politics, feuds, but most importantly, over power. Even now in Kalos, mines were being torn open by hopeful trainers lusting after the power of mega stones. The demand for pokemon that could mega evolve had driven breeders into a frenzy, quickly adding those species to their priority lists. Poaching had also increased two-fold, just to keep up with the demand, especially in Hoenn.

All for a very _finite _and limited resource. But if a human could evolve and take on the aspects of a pokemon… the rich and powerful would flock to it just like they had the mega stones; they were people who shouldn't be given such kind of abilities. Power changes people, and that wasn't just a saying a rational thinker came up with. It was wholly true. From the Johtoan and Kanton emperors of old, to the conquerors of the eastern regions, the world had grown from conflict and struggles over power.

"With this…" Steven crossed his arms, "the world can descend into utter chaos. If someone with an unstable mind were to come into contact with one, then become sufficiently proficient in using such abilities, how could anyone stop them? That's not even counting if they have pokemon either, which could make things even worse. If a _team_ got their hands on one… or learned how to make several, we may just have another crisis on our hands, equal to or worse than the Magmas and Aquas. The same goes for the other regional governments. Unova, Kalos, Johto, and Kanto still have a military presence in case anything ever happens, if each of the soldiers was given one of these, a war may just emerge over who will get what."

"It could rattle the very foundation of our society," Birch concluded, surprised at how much thought Steven was putting into this. "I wouldn't put it above human nature either. Power does bring about the worst in people. In more ways than one."

Steven tapped a frustrated finger on the table. "But _how_? That question can't seem to get out of my head. I need to know."

"So do I," Birch shrugged, having visited this topic before. "A machine of sorts? That's the only thing that makes sense…"

"I've said this already but, for all of our technology, we've never been able to replicate a _simple_ evolution stone, but a society over twenty millenniums ago did?" Steven ran a hand through his hair, taking in a deep breath. " I'm going to go get some air."

"Okay, I'll be heading out now then. Good night, Steven. Thanks for the tea."

"Good night." He sighed and stood up, going out to the balcony of his hotel room suite. The steady, nightly breeze drummed against his skin and ruffled his hair. Staring out at the high-rise buildings of the LaRoussian landscape, Steven caught a long, flowing figure winding in the sky, far above, a distant roar among the sound of a sleeping city. He held up a pin, a brilliant stone carved into its center, shining brightly against the dark.

* * *

"What time is it?" Will asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Nez stood beside him, polishing his leaf with some help from Ilan. Seren appeared from his bag, bushy fur emerging from it, yipping loudly.

"It's nine-thirty," Lucia responded, yawning. "We woke up late."

"Except him," Will said, pointing to the sleeping form of Riven. He was out like a rock. "Someone wake him up. Lucia, wake him up."

"Why me?"

"Uh, you're the big sister?"

"I'm not doing it," she said. "Nurse Joy would scream at me if I woke him up with water, and I don't think I want to touch him."

"I don't want to touch him either," Will replied. "He punched me last time."

Both of them looked at Gale, who had just gotten out of the bathroom. She blinked. "You want _me_ to wake him up?"

The siblings nodded, and stepped back.

Gale shook her head and went over to him, nudging him slightly. Nothing. Then she judged him harder, but was surprised when she was forcefully pulled into the bed beside him; her arm hurt from the force, but she ignored it. Laying flat on her back, startled gray eyes looked up into brown and… red? His expression was hateful and unfriendly, but softened after a few seconds. Blinking, Riven let her go, rubbing vigorously at his right eye. It was blue now. Weird.

"Sorry. Reflex," Riven said, moving off of Gale, who looked fairly startled.

"So they do like each other, ho ho ho," Will teased. "Riven did that on purpose, heh-heh."

"Shut up." Gale and Riven shot back.

The brunette got off the bed, rubbing her arm. "There, you two scared Skitty." She said to Lucia and Will. "He isn't _that_ scary."

Will scoffed loudly. "Hey, he didn't punch you in the face. Although, since it's you, I'm pretty sure he'd rather touch your bo-" Lucia smacked him, then hauled him into the restroom.

"Go clean up. Riven, you too. Your hair is a mess." It was sticking out in all sorts of places, he looked like he had just emerged from a tornado.

He shrugged and nodded dimly, rubbing his eye again. "By the way, Gale, is that Pecha?" The question came out of the blue.

"What?"

He held a strand of hair and pointed to it.

"Oh. Yeah, why?"

"I could smell it." He paused, appearing strained to think of what to say. "You smell… nice."

She went still, startled by the highly unusual comment. Then elbowed Lucia slightly, whispering, "Is that Riven, or an imposter?"

"I'm starting to wonder that myself," Lucia whispered back, equally as stunned. She went over to Riven, grabbing his face. "He looks normal. Maybe a ghost possessed him? It's really hard to tell sometimes…"

He removed her hand from his face, scowling. "I'm not possessed by anything."

"But… you gave me a compliment. That's… I don't even know what to say to that. Thanks?" Gale said, turning pink. She poked him in the stomach."What's with the sudden compliments? Did you grow a heart? Or did it defrost?" She retracted the blinds and looked skyward to see if there were any flying Grumpigs up there. None whatsoever. She pinched herself just to make sure she wasn't in some sort of weird dream.

Riven sighed. "I'm trying to be more sociable," he explained, a blank look on his face. "And Birch said to give girls compliments. Starting with the pretty ones."

"He would," Lucia chuckled.

Gale exchanged a knowing glance with her, flushing momentarily, and held back giggles. "Well, it's a start. Why don't you give Lucia one too?" she suggested, smirking.

"Do you want me to smell her too?" He asked, as if it was nothing.

"N-no, that's okay." Lucia waved her hands, telling him no. He still went over, grabbed her hair, and sniffed it. She froze.

"You smell good too. Like Oran berries."

Lucia flushed.

Gale snickered, turning to Riven. "By the way, remind me to buy a prodding stick to wake you up next time. Your grip really hurts you know." She showed him her arm, skin red from where he had grabbed her. He winced but she shrugged it off. "It's no big deal. Now turn around, we need to change. Peek and Lucia will hydro pump you across the city."

Riven snorted, then banged on the restroom door, turning around as the girls undressed."Will, hurry the fuck up."

"I'm removing feces from my body via toilet! Let me do my business in peace!"

* * *

After breakfast, the group decided to explore LaRousse and enjoy the city, taking it easy from battles.

They stopped at the large fountain in the middle of Central Park, adorned with glass sculptures of water pokemon, the water shooting up through their crystalline mouths. Trainers sat around the fountain with their teams out. There was _a lot_ of baby pokemon running around; mostly Poochyenas, Plusles, Minuns, and other assorted smaller creatures. Will released Seren to go play with them, which he did with gusto, running around like a furry brown comet.

Riven and Lucia released their teams too, so their pokemon could get some exercise and stretch their legs. Even Gale let Emile and Kyne out. Riven was surprised when he saw Lucia's full team, having only seen her Sceptile, Braviary, and blasted Poliwrath. A strange looking pokemon with what seemed like a wrapped up body and a black star on its forehead appeared. Then another, even stranger looking pokemon appeared, completely purple and wore what looked similar to a witch's hat. The third was a large yellow _thing_.

Their larger pokemon contrasted with the multitudes of more bite-sized ones. Some trainers were surprised, and gasped, mostly after seeing Marcus and the weird bug pokemon. Several flashes of light came from their phones, and murmurs followed. Riven stared at the two pokemon. "What the hell are they?"

Immediately after, something smacked him in the head. Lucia giggled a little. The strange pink headed pokemon turned its head and seemed to hmph. Riven narrowed his eyes at it, then sucked his teeth in disapproval after noticing some distinctive behavior he'd _definitely_ seen before, from White Queen. "Oh god. It's a female with an attitude, isn't it?" He asked Lucia, still frowning. "Another White Queen. Splendid. As if one of her wasn't enough."

She covered her mouth with her hand, biting back laughs, and nodded. "That's Rain, an Accelgor" she said. "And that's Nari, my Mismagius. The big yellow and black one is Murphy, my Electivire."

"You named a bug, Rain? And Murphy? _Really?" _Riven gave her a flat look. "Even Will's name choices are better than… Murphy. Maximus Prime at least sounds remotely cool."

"Hey, don't criticize my name choices! Rain likes the… rain. Um, it keeps her hydrated. And Murphy likes the name too."

"Vire!" It agreed, touching Riven with one of its black tails, sending a tiny shock through him. The trainer glared at him, not even fazed by the action.

The ghost, however, seemed very reluctant to get near Riven, like she was wary. "Mis..." she whispered, floating close to Lucia. "Mag. Magius…"

Lucia stared at her pokemon strangely. "What do you mean he feels wrong?"

"Mag…"

"I guess ghosts don't like you either," Will's sister laughed. "She's warning you to keep your distance. Nari is usually a very sociable pokemon, if a little timid. She usually doesn't threaten to curse people upon first contact."

"Fantastic. I'm scary enough to scare the pokemon who seem to be made to scare people." Riven groaned, staring at the timid ghost. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I don't care if you keep your distance. Better for me. Ghosts are bad luck."

"No they're not," Lucia cut in, offended. "They're just misunderstood."

"Right," Riven remarked. "As if using things like curse and spite leave a huge window for misunderstanding…"

Suddenly, Boagrius shot in front of the group, loudly introducing himself. His cries hurt the ears of everyone in the immediate vicinity, prompting Riven to yell at him to keep it down. The Castform seemed to apologize and went back to introducing himself by way of flashy speech, hovering and circling above them.

Lucia looked stunned, as well as every other pokemon around. "That was _quite_ an introduction speech. Does he always do that?"

"He's a drama king. Sometimes, it's worse. You should have heard him during Norman's fight. He was seriously considering wearing ear muffs because Boagrius was so loud. His Vigoroth was too stunned to move for a few minutes too. Boagrius made a battle speech, you see." He watched the gray cloud float away with Nari, who seemed a little more excitable with another floating creature around. "Must have been an epic, it lasted for about two minutes straight."

"Your pokemons' personalities don't match with yours at all," Lucia noted, watching his Combusken run around after Rika, then shift her attention to Quil. He had a smoking pile of burnt newspapers at his paws.

"Unfortunately. Baron is the one who isn't completely obnoxious. He used to be a perverted little shit that loved playing pranks, but he grew up I guess." The Gallade was currently talking to Roland, presumably about their fight. True male bonding, that.

The two girls and Riven stood there, watching their pokemon interact. It was surprising Emile let the other trainers touch his feathers. He looked a little uncomfortable, but it looked like he liked the praise. She had to laugh. Kyne just stood there stoically, like always, the ever calm one.

"So… Riven," Lucia began. "What did you show Steven?"

He gave her a sidelong glance, half-paying attention, more focused on Aine and Quil, who were now dangerously puffing fire at each other. "The truth," he said simply, shrugging.

"Define _the truth_."

"I came from the past, fought in a war, then _god_ brought me here by complete accident to become a pokemon master and earn shiny metal pins by catching super powered creatures in spherical containers."

"I thought you showed him the truth."

"Okay… I can understand why that sounds unbelievable, let me try again." Riven breathed in deep. " I showed him that I grew up an orphan because my family was killed in front of my eyes so I embarked on an epic venture across land and sea while battling an evil army of murderous pyromaniacs to get to Hoenn under outrageously but nonetheless true- circumstances. _Then_ I became an aspiring pokemon master to earn shiny metal pins by catching super powered creatures in spherical containers." He breathed out, and looked at irritated red eyes before giving her a sly smirk.

"Gale's right, you're a bonafide prickbag. I can't believe you," Lucia said, disgusted. Gale nodded, snickering.

Riven shrugged, sitting down at the rim of the fountain, next to Haona and Ilan, who both seemed content in mutual silence. He put a hand on her head, to which she peered up at him, as if saying,_ do you mind?_ He swiftly retired it from her head.

They stayed at the park for a few hours, enjoying the relaxation, letting the pokemon have fun. After returning their teams, they left to go see more of the city, walking along an open plaza. Gale, Will, and Lucia were chatting about something Riven could give less than two shits about when his holo caster buzzed.

Ignoring it, he let it ring, but it didn't stop. "What the fuck…"

The others turned around, watching him look at his caster. "What's wrong?"

"Someone keeps calling me," he replied. "As soon as it stops ringing it starts again." Pushed the call end button, muttering something about "fucking right off".

"Did you check the number?" Gale said. "It could just be a prank caller or a wrong number. That stuff happens all the time."

"Same number." It began buzzing again. "That makes it four calls. I think I'm going to pick up, it's starting to annoy me significantly."Riven pushed the answer button, holding the device up to his ear. "Hello?"

There was silence for a moment, when a distorted voice came through, deep and robotic.

"_Hello, Riven. Or would you prefer the name… Gray_?"

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter was a little more slowpaced than others, the next one might prove to be a little more... interesting. By the way, the story has reached 50 favorites. You guys are awesome. As always, follow, favorite, and review at your own leisure. Thank you for reading.**


	39. Irony

Time seemed to stop as Riven's blood froze, his thought processes came to a crashing halt, and a lump the size of a small fist formed in his throat. He clutched the holo caster with a grip hard enough to snap the device, face hard and vicious. "Who. Are. You?" He snarled.

The distorted voice came through again, this time jokingly rueful. "_Now now, no need to get so aggressive. You don't have to shoot daggers with your words there. Tone it down, will ya?"_

"Oh, sure. I shouldn't get worked up over a complete stranger calling me by the name everyone and their mom is looking for right? And I'm just going to take a _totally random_ stab in the dark here and guess that you want something," Riven said, voice drier than the Mauville desert during the summer. "If it's money, I'm just going to tell you now before you get your hopes up- buying a soda could put me into debt."

The voice snickered at that for a moment. _"Money? Psh. I mean, money is bloody awesome but no, I don't want anything of that nature."_

"Then what in the blazes do you want with me if you don't give a rattata's ass about the bounty? I doubt it's because you have a sense of justice. And _how_ did you even get this number in the first place?"

"_Phone numbers aren't hard to come by these days,"_ the voice mused snidely. _"All it requires is a little… digging."_

"What's that familiar smell?" Riven said, closing his eyes and sniffing the air. "Oh, right. _Bullshit_. Even if you did find it that way, you'd have to have been looking for _me_ _specifically_ to do that. And there's no way you'd be able to connect my name with Gray unless you somehow knew I was involved in the Petalburg incident. That means you've been keeping tabs on me for a while, or something must have piqued your interest lately. I'm betting on the latter, seeing as how you could have done something before-hand if you could, there were plenty of opportunities to do so. Do me a favor and stop feeding me your shit, tell me what you want or fuck off."

A distorted whistle came through. _"Wow. And here I thought you were a thorough dumbass! You sure don't look intelligent. I'm impressed."_

_I knew it, he can see me,_ Riven noted, eyes scanning rooftops and any other places someone watchful may be, despite however futile it was.

As a scout, he knew a thing or two about surveillance and the importance of position. You have the high ground, you have the advantage. Very basic, but _very _important. On a mountain range, or in the wilds however, spotting a person wasn't terribly difficult if they hadn't taken the time to disguise themselves well.

But in a place like LaRousse- with its extremely urban landscape and abundance of people- this guy could be anyone, and be anywhere. That could mean inside a building, on top of a building, in an alleyway, maybe even closer, a park or an apartment window. The fact he and the others were in an open space that could be observed from every direction meant that there were too many potential areas and vantage points to efficiently narrow down his observer's position. Add in that nearly everyone had a phone or some kind of device out at the same time made it just about fucking impossible to identify any suspicious behavior.

Be one with the environment, they always said. Crafty son of a bitch.

"_Anyway… I personally don't want anything to do with you,"_ the voice continued, sounding very bored all of a sudden.

"Then who does?" Riven asked_. He's just a lackey then. Or maybe he _wants _me to think that. Still, there isn't much I can do here. He can see me, and I can't see him. All these angles and viewpoints... I couldn't get away if I tried, and I have nothing over him._

"_Nice try, but I'm afraid that's a question you'll get an answer to very shortly. As in a couple of hours if everything goes according to plan_. _Or a few years if you decide to be a difficult little shit._"

"Plan?" Riven asked again. Ulterior motives. That complicated things, but the better question was what that plan entailed regarding _him, _he honestly didn't give a damn if they planned to blow up a building as long as it didn't fall over and turn him into human mush. Judging by the sounds of things, and the uncomfortable feeling in his gut, whatever this plan was, it involved something highly unpleasant for him. He briefly entertained the thought of where he'd land on the FUCKED scale after this.

Presumably on… _very thoroughly_.

"_Yes. Plan. P-L-A-N. Plan. The plan whose primary step involves the LaRoussian police department." _It sounded as if the person behind the voice was smiling, even through the distortion. Riven's stomach seemed to wither away and die. "_In the next four minutes, a call will be made to the LaRousse city police department- one about the sighting of the regional fugitive named Gray, whose actual name is Riven Cerul! Guess what'll happen next? Uh-oh."_

Riven's eyes widened, and he turned around to face Gale, Will, and Lucia, a look of silent, grim realization on his face. They stared at him in worry, completely in the dark about what was happening. "You fucking wouldn't," he snarled, eyeing a police robot floating some distance away.

"_Oh, I absolutely fucking would," _the voice shot back, infuriatingly smug. _"See, and here's the _unfair _thing. If they catch you, your pokemon are going to be separated and taken away, sent to foster care or some other shitty hellhole they send criminal pokemon to. And you wouldn't want that now would you? After all, trainers care."_

Riven exhaled slowly, nostrils flaring.

"_Oh please, don't give me _all the credit yet,_ I'm not the one that thought this shit up. Well, most of it. Fuck-okay, maybe I did. Whatever. It's entirely necessary. You'll see. Oh, and just so you know, you have three minutes to say goodbye to the two cute girls you got there, as well as that kid, if you care about them. Then the whole damn city will recognize your face! We don't want any unnecessary people getting caught up in this too. It doesn't concern them, and we'd like for it to remain that way. Got it? Now make it snappy." _

"Wait-"

"_Time starts… now. Make it count. Oh! Speaking of which, my noodles are done!"_

"Wait, wait, wait!" Riven shouted into the phone.

"_Have fuuuunnnn!"_

"Don't hang up on me you-" The line clicked. "FUCK!"

Gale came up to him, a mix of worry and confusion evident in her features. That brief phone call had turned Riven from neutral to completely hostile in the span of about fifty seconds. Whatever the caller told him on the phone, it was serious. "Riven, who called? You're as white as a sheet! What did he tell you?"

"God dammit. God dammit," Riven repeated, moving away from Gale while running nervous hands through his hair. He felt like he was drowning, with no way to escape. Forcing himself to breathe, he grabbed Gale by the arms, glaring holes into her skull with his eyes, now deadly and utterly serious."Gale, listen to me."

"Okay I'm-"

"Listen to me _closely_," he warned as his grip tightened, forcing out a yelp from the startled girl. "I-I… I want you to take all of my pokemon indefinitely, and get the hell out of LaRousse as fast as possible. Do you hear me? Which goes for the two of you too," he said, glancing at Will and Lucia. "Take them and _get out_."

"What?" Gale blurted out, completely caught off-guard by the comment. Then confusion turned into anger. "Are you freaking insane?"

"Gale has a point, you're not making any damn sense," Lucia added carefully.

"Yeah, what the fuck?" Will piped up.

Riven ignored them the two siblings, checking the clock. Two minutes thirty seconds. "God dammit Gale. Please- just listen to me," he pleaded, shaking her slightly. "Can you do that?"

She relaxed, signaling him to continue with a breath. "O-okay, I'm listening. But you damn well better have a good reason. Why do you want us to leave?" It was all too sudden, and it really didn't seem like he was doing it out of spite, or anger. In fact, he looked pained.

"The caller," Riven muttered, then paused for a few seconds. "He… he's going to call the police on me. If they catch me, and take my fingerprint, they'll know it's me. Apparently, the prick doesn't care about money. Whatever the hell this is about, he doesn't want you three getting involved. He gave me three minutes to say goodbye, then the whole police force will know I'm in Larousse."

"B-but how do you know what he's saying is the truth?" Gale sputtered.

"Because I wouldn't put it past the police to jump to the call, considering the amount of paranoia that Sinnoh kicked up. I'm not going to take any chances, I'm going to assume he's _not_ bluffing. I don't know what the fuck he wants, but what I do know is, if they catch me- Baron, Aine, Haona, and Boagrius are going to get separated. I can't let that happen." Lifting up his shirt, Riven undid his trainer belt, holding it up to Gale, who swallowed grimly. "I can't risk any of you getting caught up in this either. The police will think you're working with me, and you'd get thrown in jail or under heavy suspicion too. And that- would suck."

"Okay… I get it." She grabbed the belt shakily, looking between the pokeballs and him with uneasiness. "You want me to take them, then?"

"Yes."

She didn't know if she could. She didn't know how caring for four pokemon that weren't hers would affect her life. Or how his pokemon would react to getting dumped into her care. Trained pokemon weren't too receptive to getting abandoned like that. There were too many ifs. "But why me? I'm not a trainer- I can't-"

Riven grabbed her face with both hands."Calm down, Gale. I don't want to do this to you, but I know where you live. I don't know where Lucia or Will live, or else I'd ask them. But right now, you're my only option. You wanted my trust, well here it is." He nudged her gently as she faltered and stumbled over her words. "They don't deserve this, Gale. It's a shitty thing to do but there's no other option right now. I'm sorry. I can understand if you don't want to do this for me- but will you do this for them, at least?"

She stared at the belt for a few seconds, then up at him, before nodding. She also took his bag and holo caster, leaving Riven with literally nothing but the clothes he had on. Riven gave her a reassuring, but sad smile, then stood up, heading over to Will.

"What the hell's happening?" Will asked, innocent red eyes wide and concerned.

Riven pulled his hat down, giving the boy a bittersweet smile. Reaching into his pant pocket, Riven took out a sheathed knife, Yanine's knife. He grabbed the boy's hands, enclosing them over the weapon.

Will's eyes widened, gawking. "But that's your-"

"Yeah, and I'm loaning this to you. Take care of it. Seriously, I mean it. That thing is special to me. If you lose it, I will throw you off a cliff," Riven chuckled, trying to joke around with a lightheartedness he definitely didn't feel.

Lucia remained quiet, sensing the urgency of the situation, based on what he said to Gale. Whatever it was, Riven wasn't going to be back in a long while. Especially not with the size of the bounty on Riven's head. Life in jail or rehabilitation. Neither would be fit for someone like Riven. Not a chance in hell. He'd go nuts. More than he already was anyway.

"Why are you giving it to me? I don't know how to use a knife!" Will stammered, unsure if he should pocket the thing or shove it back into Riven's hands. Besides, he'd never killed anyone before, he didn't know if he'd ever use it. And he didn't know how to clean and maintain a knife either!

Riven _hmph_ed. "Stupid kid. You'll never know if you'll need it. Hopefully, you won't have to. But things happen, and you can't rely on your team all the time. Especially out there," he said, gesturing outwards at the sea, to the world. "Take it, just in case. Keep it with you at all times. And say hello to the other gym leaders for me, will you?"

"You're not… coming back anytime soon, are you?" Will asked, finally getting the picture. This was out of character for Riven, he was never this nice. He only ever talked like this when something bad was about to happen… like when they had run out of water in the desert.

"Heh. You're a sharp kid, Will."

The boy nodded dimly, pocketing the knife and holding back tears. "W-why does trouble always follow you? Why can't it ever fuck off for once?" He was slamming his fists against Riven's chest, careful not to spit sparks. But god damn it he _wanted_ to. "It's not fair," Will whispered.

"Life's never fair. Hey- look at me," Riven said. "Will."

The younger boy looked up at him, red eyes on the verge of tears.

Riven smiled down at him, then pulled his hat downwards on his head. "Don't you cry now. I'll be back. Promise?"

Will rubbed his face with a sleeve, glaring at Riven with fierce, but puffy eyes. "You better, asshole!"

Riven laughed, leaving the boy to his own thoughts. He turned around to face Lucia, dropping the smile and all pretense of joy.

Lucia eyed him carefully as she approached, coming in close in what seemed like a half hug, but instead whispered in his ear. "Don't give them false hope," she said calmly. "I hope you fulfill your promise, for Will's sake. Don't let him down. He spoke highly of you… That said, don't do anything too insane. Gale told me you can get carried away with your crazy plans."

"It's like you don't even know me," he snorted.

This time she snorted, and turned around. "Isn't that the truth?"

Riven gave her a sly grin, which fell completely as two arms wrapped around his body from behind, followed by warmth and a very soft feeling on his back. Glancing behind, he saw Gale attempting to pull him into a hug. He tensed for a moment, before visibly relaxing in her hold. That was the first time he'd let her hug him like that. It felt… nice. "I'm not gone yet, Gale."

"You didn't push me off."

"Don't get used to it now," Riven teased.

Gale squeezed a little harder around his stomach, causing him to groan a little."What're you going to do? Run? They're going to catch you, you know." Her breath was hot against his back, but he paid it no mind, mentally counting down time instead.

"Yeah. I seriously doubt I'll be able to outrun them for very long." A blue eye full of amusement looked down at her, his lips pulled into a wry, mischievous little smirk. "That doesn't mean I have to make it easy for them though, right?"

Gale remained silent, resting her head against his back. She broke the embrace and stepped backwards. "Good luck, Rivy. I had fun traveling with you." She glanced at the belt in Riven's trainer bag. "Don't make them wait too long, okay?"

"Yeah... Goodbye, Gale. Having you around wasn't half bad." He gestured for them to go with a quick flick of the eyes. "Now go on and get out of here, time's almost up."

He didn't think watching them go would hurt. It did.

* * *

It didn't take too long after the others left that the sidewalks stopped moving and the police robots went berserk. Riven had taken advantage of the confusion of the people at the announcement of the citywide lockdown, blending his way in a crowd and into a secluded area. He originally thought of following the crowd back to a hotel and see if he could make his way inside without being noticed, but he needed a LaRousse passport to get past the lobby in the first place, which was in the bag Gale had taken from him. That skewered that idea. Well, then again, using the card would probably just alert every robot in the city to his position, like a damn beacon.

So he took a second option. Hide like a rat and hope they don't find you.

At the current moment, Riven was huddled in a dark corner of an alleyway between two residential buildings, using a dumpster as cover. The police bots were zooming by, desperately looking for him, blue scanners washing over the faces of person after person, all the while displaying his picture on their blocky fronts, in big red letters saying : _**Dangerous Fugitive Wanted, Gray.**_

Only now did he realize how big of a gigantic kick to the metaphorical balls he had received.

He was stuck on an island, with no form of I.D., and now every policeman and robot knew his face and was actively looking for him. Fuckstorm wouldn't do this situation justice. He had to give credit to whoever that asshole on the phone was though. He'd fucked him over far more than he'd expected, and there was absolutely nothing Riven could do in terms of damage control. He'd been lead right into that fucker's hand, and god was it frustrating.

He was just about to wonder if things could get any shittier when a robot came into the alleyway and stopped behind him. Riven froze, crouched like a Sawsbuck caught in the headlights as the robot's blue scanners traced his body up and down.

"Shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, go away…" Riven mumbled under his breath, sweating bullets.

"FUGITIVE DETECTED! NON-LETHAL SUBJUGATION AUTHORIZED! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" it microphoned, sounding an alarm.

"Well, shit."

Riven had a split second to react as a panel opened up from the robot's blocky body, revealing a shock taser. Electricity spewed forth from it, hitting the dumpster as Riven narrowly rolled away, yanking a loose pipe out of the wall and bringing it down on the robot. He continued to wail on the robot, smashing its screens and making numerous dents in it, even snapping off the taser it had. The police bot slowed down as the damage took its toll, and Riven stabbed the pipe into the robot's circuitry as a coup de grace, frying it completely.

He would have made a small note of mental triumph, accompanied with an indignant "take that". Key word, _would_\- because as soon as Riven had destroyed that damn thing, fifty more appeared overhead and he quickly decided he should be elsewhere.

The robots were quick little bastards though, and instantly started forming walls ahead of him to block his passage. The good thing was that- for all their programming- the robots weren't very smart. He jumped at the steadily climbing wall of robots, grabbing hold of the top and lifting himself up and over, rolling safely onto the ground before taking off again.

Dodging the tasers was easy enough, and climbing his way past the robots proved to be fairly effortless. After twenty minutes of frantic running, using the urban landscape to escape, Riven found himself grinning like an idiot. It was actually pretty fun to run from the police, despite finally starting to feel the strain he was putting on his body. He would have opted to fight the robots, if he could, but he only had a knife, and last time he checked, those were awful shit at hurting bigger metal things. And there weren't convenient metal pipes laying around everywhere. That was a one time only deal, and even then it would take too long to beat the hell out of all of them anyway.

After evading the robots and essentially laughing like a mad man all the while doing it, the police apparently believed they had enough of Riven's shit for the day. And so, they decided to come out and _personally_ put his ass in chains. And see, Riven would have zero problems with that if it was just humans.

Except they had Manectrics, Mightyenas, and Growlithes at their disposal.

Riven was pretty fast. But not that fast. Even if he _was_ fast enough to outrun them, it wouldn't matter since a lucky paralyze wave hit him in the calf and effectively turned that leg into what seemed like gelatin. No longer able to move his foot (and dammit inertia could be a serious asshole), he fell face first onto concrete, where he was pinned by nearly ninety pounds of electric dog. For extra security, the damn canine shocked his other leg, and then his arms. Riven's entire body felt like a wet noodle, limp and useless.

Face down on the concrete, he watched the officers approach and couldn't help but smirk widely as the adrenaline and mood of the chase had yet to die down. He wondered how bad he could throw them off.

That's when the maniacal laughter started.

* * *

"Why's he laughing?" Browning asked, watching Riven laugh silently in the interrogation room. "He's been doing that for a whole hour. Maybe he is nuts."

"Could be an act," Waver replied. "He pretends to act insane, skips jail time and lands in the comfort of a lunatic home. Not a bad prospect."

"Honestly, I don't know what the hell he's playing at. One second he's unreadable, and the next he's laughing like a maniac. Look at him, he's having a blast." Browning sighed, kneading his temples. "Officials say anything yet? Don't you think it's weird that they're letting local law enforcement handle this, you know, based on the severity of the situation and all?"

"Don't know, don't care. We're not high enough on the payroll for that. If they want to hand over the case to us, hell, I'd be happy to oblige."

"You're right… we might get promotions for this. Did you get the police report from Petalburg yet?"

"Maller's on it. Ah, here she is."

Shoes knocked against the floor as a sharply dressed woman entered the room, black bags under her eyes from a combination of sleep deprivation and far too much paperwork. She slammed the brown folder down on the table, startling the two men.

"Rough day?" Waver asked, slowly reaching out to the(extremely thin) file, careful not to set the exhausted lady off.

Maller blew out a breath, cracking her neck and back. "I had to handle a mountain of paperwork and then all of a sudden we get a phone call reporting the sighting of a regional fugitive- who proceeds to make our job much more stressful than it already is, and forces us to come out to personally apprehend him. So yeah, you could say my day's been rough. Doesn't matter though, did you search him yet?"

Browning nodded, rolling his eyes as he looked at Riven again. "Only thing we found on him was a switchblade."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

The detective appeared bewildered, trying to make sense of the situation. "No I.D. forms? Nothing?"

"Not a thing. This guy is supposed to be the infamous Gray, right? The report mentioned him having pokemon, yet he doesn't have any pokeballs or training supplies with him."

Waver finished going through the file, setting it down on the table, crossing his arms. He shrugged his shoulders, coming to the easiest logical conclusion."Simple, he got rid of them. Could have handed them off to someone, or hid them somewhere. By the way, the file doesn't have shit in it. I've seen newspaper articles with more useful information than that."

Maller nodded. "Yeah, which is what makes this so stupidly bizarre."

"Explain?" Waver asked nicely, brain too overworked to think critically.

"The prints match those in the system, this is definitely our guy-no doubt about that. But the thing that stumps me is the fact he has no prior documentation in the slightest before Petalburg," she said. "And, to make things even more confusing, his behavior is… erratic." Turned to Browning. "Can you check if the name Riven Cerul matches any of our databases?"

The detective brought up a computer and typed his name in, as well as using facial recognition for any matches. The screen only showed the LaRoussian I.D. card, and… battle tower records? "Look, he registered for a battle at the tower. One battle only. Singles."

Waver and Maller rushed over. "Do they have a recording of the match? Who was his opponent?"

"Here it is."

The computer brought up the recording, playing through the entire match, as well as capturing the faces of the two trainers, one being their captive, the other being an older female trainer.

"Gotta say, that was an impressive match," Waver said.

The others _looked_ at him.

"Sorry. I like pokemon battles. Erm, please continue."

Maller pointed at the girl in the image. "Who is that? Can you get an I.D. on her?"

"Lucia Ethne, hometown listed as Slateport city. Has two brothers, Connor Ethne, and William Ethne. Records indicate she lived in Slate until she was eleven, where she became a trainer. She made it through the Victory Road when she was fifteen. I think it's safe to say she's clean. Battle tower fights are random, but sometimes people match each other up when they're in line."

"You think they know each other?"

"Maybe, probably not. They could have met in line and decided to battle, or travel together. You know, trainer rivalries and friendships. They travel with people they hardly even know. Quite a bit too. Makes you wonder who taught them about strangers."

Maller sat down, holding her chin in her hands. "Check the trainer database. Run the name Riven Cerul through. According to the video, he said his hometown was listed as Littleroot. That's where professor Birch lives, right? If he signed up there-"

"Then it's official," Waver finished for her. "Birch might know him."

"Shit," Browning cursed. "You're going to have to scratch that thought, Waver."

"What? Why?"

Browning sighed, turning the computer screen around towards the other two.

"It's… blank," Waver stated, now more confused than ever. "But he registered in Birch's lab. He should be in there!"

Browning shook his head. "This is directly from the League databases. They don't lie. Ever. No Riven Cerul exists as a trainer here. There's nothing here. Which means…"

"False trainer I.D.," Maller muttered. "The only way you could sign up for the league is through having a trainer license, and you _need _one for battle tower fights. If he doesn't appear on the databases, then that means that he must have gotten his hands on some of the best forgeries on the market if it was good enough to fool the system. Fake trainer I.D.s are _seriou_s work, something only professionals or organized crime can manage. Check his bank records, look for any major transactions."

"Already did. Won't help." Browning announced. "There's nothing in here. Only the bare minimum amount to have the account open. And trainers don't have official earnings, remember? Everything is all cash, and we didn't so much as find a single cent on his person. As far as we know, he's completely broke."

"What."

"That's what I said."

"If he's broke, and wanted, why would he come to one of the most technologically advanced cities in the region, and register for a public spectacle for the whole city to see?" Waver scratched his chin, completely baffled.

The female detective stared at Riven through the interrogation room window. "Why don't we ask him?"

* * *

Interrogation rooms were uncomfortable, and not because of the feeling of being watched. That was everywhere for Riven, such was the fate of a paranoiac.

Funny thing was, police were _just as paranoid_ as he was, if not _worse_. At least he _knew_ the world was out to personally make his life miserable. So when three detectives came in with that accusatory look in their eyes, Riven was prepared to serve them the biggest pile of steaming bullshit he could muster, just out of spite. If he was going to spend the rest of his life in a cell, he was at least going to have some class-A entertainment before they threw him behind bars.

The detectives kept their distance, naturally, flanked by two Machamps and a living shock taser behind them. God damn Manectrics, they all reminded Riven of Grumpy, which, by very definition, pissed him off. He leered at the dog, who looked nonplussed. The paralysis only just wore off a little while ago, his arms still felt bit tingly though.

"Are you aware of the size of the bounty on your head? Gray?" The woman asked, sitting down on the chair in front of him.

"Considering the price has about five zeroes after it, and there's posters and announcements with the message of my capture on them, and in just about every corner of any city?" Riven gave her look, practically saying, _no-shit_. "Yeah, I'm well aware."

"Then what were you doing in LaRousse? This would be the perfect trap for someone like you."

"Apparently, it is," Riven said evenly, despite wanting to curse his lungs out and shout out as many damnable phrases he could come up with.

The detective held up a picture of his mug shot from Petalburg. "Although, I'm sure you would have been just fine, given how different you look now. Here it says your right eye is a deep, blood red, not dark blue. And your hair was entirely black, and much shorter. So you painted your hair, let it grow out, and got a cheap contact but didn't decide to hide your heterochromia? Well, I guess not looking like an assault victim helped too. You're almost unrecognizable when compared to this photo. You hid by appearing even more noticeable, that's new, as well as creative. So again, why in the hell would you come here, of all places? You could have gone anywhere and no one would have batted an eyelash."

Riven couldn't help but smile, playing the lunatic a bit more. As long as he seemed like an unstable, irrational person, he could continue being a dick. His tone became light and sardonic,"I saw the city in a catalogue once, on a cruise. Seemed nice and it said such _romantic_ things about this beautiful city, so I just _had_ to check it out, figured I'd see something impressive before I got arrested or murdered. A last perish song, if you will."

"That… is the biggest pile of crap I've ever heard in my life. A five year old could come up with a better story than that. You're lying to my face?"

Riven pretended to look surprised. "Yeah, I believe that's what they call it. You know, when someone deliberately tells you the not truth for the sake of hiding something? I'm surprised you're not aware of such a delightful aspect of human nature."

" You're digging yourself deeper every single time you open your mouth, do you know that?"

He hesitated for a moment. Then nodded vigorously.

" Are you insane?"

"I like to live dangerously."

She ignored him, continuing despite the climbing annoyance she was feeling. "Our caller said that you went by the name Riven Cerul, only that isn't your name, is it? When you signed up at the battle tower-we know that, by the way- you listed your hometown as Littleroot. Only there is no Riven Cerul in the League databases. You're no trainer. Who are you really? And what are you doing in Hoenn?"

Riven remained perfectly calm, not showing any signs of surprise, even though he was pretty damn surprised. _If I signed up in Birch's lab, my record should be there. Why aren't I there?_

Equally as lost as the detective, Riven quickly got the idea of using this to his advantage, after all, he had absolutely nothing to lose, and he had no idea what the hell was going on.

He smirked mentally. They were cooking up a story about him, connecting things that probably weren't even connected in the slightest. That's what detectives did, according to Will. Oh, this was going to be fantastic. The best thing about being a paranoid? You knew how other paranoids thought. How they thought, what they thought, what kinds of things could make them think a certain way. They had a tell, it was just about looking for the right things.

If you said nothing, or gave them a smug grin, or _any_ sort of tell-tale sign of confidence or _lack of it_\- a simple… slip, they'd essentially lie to themselves by believing their _own_ paranoid assumptions as truth. If Gale wasn't the person she was, he'd have thought she was trying to sell him out or blackmail him a long time ago. That kind of thinking was outright _unhealthy_. And in this case… it could work to his benefit.

So he did just that.

He shrugged and gave the most wry grin he'd ever given, with an extra dosage of smugness for added dickery. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

The other two detectives exchanged glances, exhaling through the nostrils, but they looked like they had just won. The paranoid test worked. Whatever they thought he was involved in, was now truth. Only they had to prove it, and that was going to be far more difficult. That was the fun part.

Riven sneered at them before his attention returned to the female detective in front of him, who appeared unfazed.

"You had pokemon. And a fake license to boot. And yet, we found you with nothing. The I.D.s, the pokeballs. Your things? You don't even have a belt on. Did you hide them, pass them off to someone? Where are they?"

"In a place."

"Where is this place?"

"Somewhere."

"You're not helping your case at all, Gray. Keep this up and you're facing jail for a very long time. Cooperating might save you some years. _Might._" She stared at him straight in the eyes, blue eyes as fierce as the sea. "I'm going to ask again. Where. Are. They?"

Riven went serious, edging closer.

"Not here," he deadpanned, before erupting in laughter. Genuine laughter. If this was how being an utter asshole felt like, then he wondered why he hadn't tried it sooner. The look on the detective's face was _priceless_.

She stood up and left, gesturing for the other two to follow her to the back room.

"You think he's lying?" Waver asked Browning.

The other man turned around to look at him. "He confessed about lying. Of course he is."

"But what if he's lying… about lying?"

"What?"

"Well, I mean, it's a possibility."

"What would be the point of lying about lying? That means he would be telling the truth."

"No, now you're thinking in double negatives, Brown. I just said that he might be lying about lying. Not that he's telling the truth."

"I think you watch too much movies about dashing rogues and pirates."

Waver blinked, and shut his mouth in acceptance.

"Well, at least his personality certainly matches the Petalburg report," Maller said, gripping the bridge of her nose with two fingers. The detective who filed it described him as, egotistical, arrogant, selfish, irritating, and a fuckstick with his own cranium forcibly jammed up his sphincter. Maller wasn't sure if that was entirely appropriate to include in a police report but it drew a small laugh from her. That detective Williams sure did hate this guy.

"You mean complete dick?" Waver suggested.

She nodded."Complete dick. He's not going to tell us anything, bastard's practically toying with us. Who confesses to lying? No one ever does that. Except stark raving lunatics hell bent on making our lives difficult." She breathed in deep, willing away irritation. "The guy knows he's not going anywhere, not matter how much he cooperates. Even if he can fight-which he can- he can't fight a whole police building by himself. Mad but not stupid." _So_ _why is he so calm if he's screwed either way?_

Browning shrugged. "True, but now I want to find out what his motives are, just because he wants to be a difficult little punk."

An idea clicked in Maller's brain, and all of a sudden everything fell into place. "He's working for someone," she stated suddenly. "He's not a lone wolf."

"What makes you say that?"

"Look at the facts, they don't add up, not in a way that traditionally makes sense. He's a regional fugitive, with the _entire_ police force in _every_ single major city after him. Yet he shows up at LaRousse? He knows the risks and still does it anyway? Only a complete idiot would make that mistake- only he isn't, is he? There's _serious_ bounty hunters looking for him, who _have_ been searching, by the way. And they are _much less_ forgiving than the police; the Black Garchomps, X-zers, Rekla, even Five-seven put him on their list."

"Holy shit, Five-seven too?"

"Yes." She paced around the room. "Let's see... No records, no birthday, no schooling, no hometown, no history. The only time his face shows up is during and after Petalburg. No time before. He used the alias of Gray, presumably for personal and minor interactions, and Riven Cerul, for any sort of official documentation or database, no doubt made by a professional. I don't think him being at the Petalburg incident was an accident. Far from it. Whoever he's working for used him to get something they wanted, but the other party wasn't happy with that. Hence the fight and the political sandstorm it kicked up. Unfortunate conflict with a rival underground crime ring turned into a massive misunderstanding. Ironic. I'm guessing it was supposed to be low profile."

"Okay… but May kept the jewel after…" Waver clapped a hand on his forehead. "Norman reported a break-in a couple weeks later, only it wasn't a break-in. It was like they got in and out, with no one noticing. Like a ghost. Oh, oh man. Gray was just the fall-guy, the _perfect_ fall-guy. You couldn't trace him back to anyone if you fucking tried. God damn professionals."

"Now you're getting it. So, he comes to LaRousse, picks a fight, gets his name out there, probably to contact his employer. They see it, and being such a high-profile suspect, they decide to anonymously notify the police. The caller _was_ using a disposable, untraceable phone."

"Wait." Browning held up a hand. "Why would they call us on their own guy?"

The three detectives paused, not even daring to move. They all turned to see Riven, who was absent-mindedly picking his nails, looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

Maller's eyes widened, and it felt like someone had flipped her stomach upside down."Blackmail… If we have him, he's in a tight spot either way. Either he complies with what they want, or he stays in jail. They don't trust him, which means he may just cooperate with us, depending on what we offer him. If it's an illegal operation, they _really_ don't want us to find them. We need to go back there and find out who he's working for. _Now._"

"Why now?" Browning asked, dreading the answer.

She swallowed, enlarging a pokeball.

"Because they're coming to get him."


	40. Between a Rock and a Titanium Wall

The interrogation room door flew open, and the three detectives all but rushed inside with a sense of urgency Riven had only seen on maniacs or someone in deep, deep shit. The female detective sat down and looked at him straight in the eyes, again.

_Here we go._

"Who are you working for? Tell us. Now," she demanded, holding out a pokeball. "If you don't, I'm going to go through your mind and get the answer. Telepathic takeovers are illegal, but in this case, and with your threat level, the higher ups can excuse this one."

Riven glanced her over, probably guessing that her telepathic takeover trick would bounce right off. If Baron couldn't even use telepathy on him, he very much doubted her psychic could. Not only that, but she seemed very by the book; the most probable assumption was that she was bluffing, trying to scare him into compliance. Playing along wouldn't hurt, but in all honesty, he had no idea what she was talking about. He weighed upsides and downsides.

On one hand, if he agreed to spill what he didn't know, he could come up with another pile of steaming bullshit. Which one, could cover his tracks, and two, establish the fact that Riven Cerul wasn't, in fact, his real name. They seemed to think it wasn't already; it was only logical to have them keep thinking that, giving him ample opportunity to slip in another alias and potentially… disappear, as it were. Getting accustomed to all the record keeping of modern times was mentally vexing, but it was good he started learning _now_, considering he attracted shitstorms like honey attracted Beedrill.

Internally smirking, Riven swallowed, feigning worry. "I… don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play the fool, it stopped working already. You know far too much that you aren't telling us. Like the name of your employer. Who. Is. It?"

"I'm not telling you anything," Riven said, eyeing the pokeball with disdain. He purposely added a little discomfort in his voice, so as to make it much more credible. To bullshit was an art- an art that had to be _very _well done to be believable, especially with people like detectives, who practically waded into seas of it for a living. He wasn't the best liar, that was certain, but he could manage a halfway decent fib.

"Do you know what a telepathic takeover is, Gray?" Maller asked sweetly, like silk over steel.

Riven had a vague idea, from what Will described, but his takeover seemed very benign. Interrogation with one would probably be significantly less so. "No?"

"Let me give you an idea. Imagine losing control of your body- hands, feet, toes, arms. But worst of all, imagine losing control of your mind, rendered completely at the whim of a psychic. They probe your brain and all of your deepest, darkest secrets are unraveled before you, and there isn't a thing you can do about it," Maller described, inching closer with every second, until she was right in his face, radiating intensity. "You're at the mercy of your captor. Complete and absolute control. Imagine what they can do with just one, simple… command."

A shiver crawled up Riven's spine. Being unable to teleport and hold telepathic conversation with his own pokemon seemed like some sort of blessing now, even despite its overall tendency to suck rather than be beneficial. If that was what telepathic takeovers were like, then he hoped he could never experience it. At least he'd been fully asleep with the memory visualizer.

Still, he needed to keep the ruse up. Spin the bullshit it was. And spin it _hard_.

"Fine! Just don't get that psychic out of its ball. I'll cooperate damn it. It's…" the captive sighed, slouching in his seat. _Now to pick a name. Maybe something ominous or… awesome? I think I like awesome better. As for what they do… maybe rare items would work? Steven does collect stones,_ he mused to himself, taking a moment of hesitation to appear uncomfortable.

"It's a group of rare item collectors. The Edge of Dawn. They just send me on jobs. Pay in cash. Do the job and get out, wait for further orders. That's how it's been ever since they picked me up in Orre."

"They picked you up from _there_?"

"Actually it was from the sun."

"Funny. Enough with the sarcasm. Keep talking."

Spreading his hands, he continued, "they smuggle me out, I don't ask any questions, and I do what I'm told. That was the deal they gave. Naturally, I said yes. Why wouldn't I? That place is nothing but desert and wasteland-not to mention it's crawling with assholes. I'd do _anything_ to get out of that shithole."

"What kind of jobs did they make you do?" Maller asked, eyes narrowing.

"Mostly… physical?"

"Did that include murder?" She pounced.

"Don't ask me questions you already know the answers to. I get things. Meaningless things to me really- items, stones, whatever. If the person doesn't want to hand them over, I break a few legs- get what I want, disappear. But if people get in the way… I make sure they aren't."

"Is that right? Then it must have really went south in Petalburg didn't it? You got a lot of unwanted attention and they _burned_ you. Getting sucker punched like that must have stung," she said, almost sneering.

Riven swallowed, clenching a fist. Part of it was genuine anger, considering he had to part with his team and the others just to end up in a cell answering a detective's inane questions.

"So if you got burned then why are you _here_?" Maller went over the details again. The explanation didn't make sense. If this organization had burned him, why did he come back? Unless of course they did have some sort of blackmail over him. She guessed that was the only reason. Or maybe he was an idiot.

Riven shrugged, grinding his teeth. "I don't have a damn clue. They found me, told me to come here and said if I didn't cooperate, I'd get stuck in jail. If I did, well, I still don't know, they did call you on me, didn't they? I'm as lost as you are."

The detective refocused her gaze on him. "I don't believe you."

"Fan-fucking-tastic. I told you everything I know, and if you think I'm lying, which I probably am according to you, then that's _your _damn problem. I'm done." Riven crossed his arms and shut his mouth. With luck, they'd take the bait and eat the lies.

Maller narrowed her eyes and grasped the pokeball again."Don't make me resort t-"

The detective was cut off as part of the precinct _exploded_, the deafening sound piercing the air and rocking the building. The blast tore open a gigantic hole in the wall, taking out several offices. The force of the explosion sent a cloud of dust and debris down the entire floor, as well as knocking several people and pokemon off their feet and into walls. _Hard_.

Police scrambled, desperately drawing pokeballs and summoning their partners while screaming out orders. It was utter chaos as another explosion shook the buildings very foundation, this time on the opposite side, showering the ground with glass and other pieces of the walls that had been blown clear.

The three detectives in front of Riven ordered him to stay where he was, leaving the interrogation room to join the others outside, chucking pokeballs into the cloud of smoke and dust.

Riven wondered what the hell was happening, no- actually, he had a general but nonetheless _very good_ idea of what was happening, and from that moment on, he knew life was about to get ten times shittier. If this is what that caller meant by "resolved in a few hours", then he was batshit crazy. Setting off explosives in a police building? And on the _twelfth _floor?

There was one word for that-_insane. _

That meant that everyone on all the other floors were most likely going to bum rush the floor, and going up against that many police with no way of escape meant very bad news for whatever nutcase decided blowing a hole in a police precinct was a good idea.

Still handcuffed, he stepped outside into the smoke cloud when a gale of overpowering whirlwinds blasted through the hallways, leaving a storm of papers and dust in their wake. Riven caught a glimpse of numerous detectives, officers, and pokemon being flung back into numerous walls and other flat surfaces, the force of the winds too strong for them to even stay on their feet. The dust and smoke from several burning objects obscured visibility and even made breathing difficult.

"HELLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!" A voice boomed down the hall. Riven poked his head around the corner, catching sight of a man standing in front of the gigantic hole in the wall, face obscured from view by the dim lighting and dust cloud. Something flapped behind him, like a… cape? "Lovely day for explosions. Nothing quite like it, eh?"

"Who the hell are you?" asked a recovering officer, stumbling to his feet. The Growlithe at his side bared its fangs, wisps of fire dancing around its mouth.

"Me? I'm, uh… Smith. Now if you'll excuse me officers, I believe it's sleepy time," the caped man said.

The Growlithe shot a stream of fire at him, only for the flame to be blown away by another whirlwind, knocking the staggering humans and pokemon back once more. The nutjob smirked as a Gengar emerged from his shadow, sporting a wicked grin.

Raising a finger, he gestured to all of them,"Now, that was a very good attempt, but a poorly thought out one. Sleepy-sleepy," he ordered, shooing motions with his hands.

The Gengar's eyes turned pink for a brief second, and a strange hum like sound was heard throughout the floor. Shouting, sparks, and gathering flames all but stopped as every person and pokemon thumped onto the floor, dead asleep. Everyone except for Riven of course, who stood there in the middle, dumbfounded.

Turning his attention to the caped lunatic, he stood in place, waiting. Not much else he could do anyway, his hands were cuffed and he had no pokemon of his own. This guy had a ghost and what looked like a yellow dragon behind him.

Riven groaned, his track record with dragons being- for lack of a better term- _abysma_l.

"And here I thought you were going to make this easy and go sleepy like them," the man said, walking forward a few steps with a drunken gait, but not unwarily. "Then again, should have expected it. Regardless, you're going to be comin' with me, boy."

"And if I say no?" Riven challenged, all but an empty threat. He flexed his feet, ready to use just kicks if he had to.

"Well then that's too bad isn't it," the man said ruefully, and pointed at the ground with a giant grin on his face. "Shadows mate."

Riven's eyes widened, and looked down at his shadow. It was far too large to be his own, shifting and changing in volume, almost as if something was emerging from it. Something _big_.

As he turned around the last thing he could remember was a glowing white fist connecting with his face.

* * *

Steven sat idly in his chair, glancing out at the sea of clouds below the airliner he was riding in. The setting sun's light reflected off their surfaces, giving them a warm orange glow.

The view was the one thing he missed out on while teleporting everywhere. Flying high above in the sky was breathtaking, and the feeling of freedom was unparalleled. He would do it of course, but too many a time he had lost precious stones or items because his Skarmory was too much of an enthusiastic flyer, and had a tendency to do fancy pirouettes and other unnecessary aerial maneuvers. His wings being razor sharp meant bad news if he ever fell too. For that reason alone he figured it was better to just rely on Meta to teleport. Although, he'd been pushing the psychic too much lately, so he wanted to give him a chance to rest.

Nearly closing his eyes to take a quick nap, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Reaching in, Steven sincerely hoped it wasn't Wallace again. That man grated on the nerves when he was stressed out, and Steven had enough on his mind to worry about at the moment, Wallace problems weren't needed too.

Gale being the caller genuinely surprised him.

"Hello?" he answered, a little curiosity evident in his voice.

"Hey, erm, Steven," Gale replied nervously. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course, what's on your mind?" A large intake of breath could be heard over the phone. _She sounds distraught._ "Gale? Are you okay? Did something happen?"

"Y-yeah. It did," she said solemnly. "Are you somewhere private?"

"I'm on a plane right now," Steven answered, looking around the area. "I can go to the bathroom if you'd like, nobody can hear me there." He stood up and opened the door to the restroom, switching on the occupied sign. "Okay, I'm here."

"Okay… Well… how should I say it? Riven ummm…"

"Riven what?"

"Riven got arrested," she said.

"What do you mean he got _arrested_? What did he _do_? Did he kill someone? Did he assault an official? Did he steal something? All three?"

"No! He did- well, nothing! But uh… he told us not to tell anyone else but, you know he's Gray right? The one everyone's looking for?"

"He never specifically mentioned it to me, but I had a feeling."

"Really?"

"Yes. It wasn't hard to put two and two together, considering what I know about him and his history unfortunate violence. Wattson, Roxanne, and Brawly know too. They just haven't said anything to anyone else about it. The other gym leaders don't know yet though. We tried keeping it secretive but…"

"Someone found out," Gale finished. "And they called Riven on his holocaster and told him they were going to report him to the police. They also told him to say goodbye to us. They weren't lying since the city practically shut down in five minutes after that. The police robots went nuts!"

_That's bizarre_, Steven noted. "Did they mention why they wanted him to say goodbye, by any chance?"

"No, Riven never said. He just shoved all his things and his pokemon into my hands and said goodbye. He even let me hug him- he never does that. Right now I don't even know if I can handle telling his pokemon about it… Lucia and Will are tearing their heads up in knots and-"

"Gale, breathe," Steven advised. "If Riven hadn't given his pokemon to you, the police would have separated his team. That would have destroyed them- I've seen it happen. It's not pleasant, for either trainer or pokemon. I'm sure you can handle them just fine. Riven wouldn't place them in the care of someone he didn't trust. He doesn't do that with just anyone."

"H-he… he said he would come back for them."

"I'm sure he will," Steven said. "If he's anything, it's determined."

"Why? If the police have him, they'll never let him go off on his own again. His pokemon may never see his face again. What do I tell them when that happens? I just don't know…"

"I'm sure he won't be in custody for a very long time."

"What makes you say that?"

_Whoever's looking for him must have watched the battle at the tower, it's broadcasted everywhere throughout LaRousse, it'd be impossible to miss it._"The caller was clearly interested in him, right? If they called the police on him, there must be a reason, and I doubt it was to collect a bounty. If they called him Gray, then it must have something to do with the Petalburg incident, and whatever it was May had that's so important."

But Steven had to consider other possibilities.

"Maybe it might just be the blue sphere he gave me, _if _they can trace Riven to Lavaridge and the desert too. And because they told him to say goodbye to you three, that must mean they don't want you getting involved either, which is a good thing. It means they _aren't_ after you three, and Riven would rather them go after him than any of you, trust me when I say that."

"I guess…" she said sadly, worry coloring her voice.

"Gale."

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." _He's been through worse. _Much_ worse._

"I hope so, for his pokemons' sake…"

"Stay calm, get some rest, and you'll be fine. Where are you three now?"

"We're flying over the ocean right now, near Lilycove I think."

"Good. My flight should arrive in the airport shortly. I'll meet you three there and we can discuss things further on the ground and in private. There's been something I wanted to tell you three about Riven that I think you need to know. Especially Will."

"Oh… okay then. We'll see you there. Bye."

"Bye."

Ending the call, Steven let out a breath, feeling another weight come down on his shoulders. He wasn't sure in the slightest if Riven was going to get out or not, but Gale sounded extremely worried, he had to say _something_. The girl cared for the brash young man, as paranoid, hostile, and sarcastic as he was.

Trainer friendships were hard to break, and many of them often remained strong well into adulthood. Some trainers even got romantically involved and started families. Steven really didn't know whether it was just genuine concern over her friend or if it was because Gale saw Riven another way. The two did seem close, but the fact of the matter was that he was not in a good situation at the moment. Not even Wallace could break him out of this one. Far too risky. If the champion did use his power to release a wanted fugitive, he'd incur the wrath of the council and the entire region would turn against him. The results would be disastrous, for the league and for the region.

Checking the local LaRoussian news on his phone, he saw the headline: **Police Precinct Attacked By Terrorist, Wanted Fugitive Escaped!** Steven cursed under his breath. _Riven… how do you even get into these kinds of messes? _

Then his phone vibrated again. Wallace.

Steven sighed.

* * *

A loud groan filled the dark room Riven had awoken in. The room was scarcely decorated, the only thing present being the small mattress he was laying on, as well as a toilet, but other than that it was as barren as the desert. He picked himself up, bringing his hands up to grab his face, tracing the bruised portion of his right cheek. While his fingers examined the damage to the skin, a clink of metal was heard, and the cold sensation of steel registered in his brain.

He was still handcuffed. Wonderful. Extending his arms out, Riven struggled futilely with his restraints, waving his hands about like a madman while letting out the longest string of profanity he'd ever released up until that point. Sighing, he stopped fiddling with them and looked around the room. No lights, but that hardly fazed him, he could see just fine.

_Hmmm. Looks like a glorified cell. Toilet but no paper? So they're sadistic too? What the hell did I get myself into?_

Just as his thoughts ended, the door opened and light filtered in from outside. Two men with reddish-brown hair and identical faces stepped inside, but by that time, Riven's feet were already careening through the air. His flying kick collided against one man's face, sending him sprawling to the floor. Riven jumped back to his feet, letting loose a multitude of kicks at the second man. The bad thing was he didn't have the element of surprise this time.

The man dodged and blocked the blows, demonstrating that he was far more experienced in martial arts than anyone Riven had encountered previously. Riven's leg shot forward again, aiming for the knee, but his captor was already prepared, catching the foot and looping an arm around it. He placed another hand on Riven's quadricep, and swung him directly into a wall using his leg as a handle. The young man hit the wall hard enough to force air out of his lungs and create a small crack along its surface.

Riven tried getting up to attack again, trying for another kick, only to be interrupted by the flash of light from a pokeball. A Lucario materialized a moment later, wasting no time in effortlessly ducking under the attack and sending an extremely painful jab into the human's diaphragm. Riven staggered for a moment, but the Lucario closed in again, palms glowing blue with energy. The fighter brought both palms inward, blasting the human back with a powerful blast of ki.

The force of the attack sent Riven through the cracked wall, shattering it and several of Riven's ribs like powder. He rolled along the ground, coughing up blood while gasping and wheezing for breath that couldn't seem to reach his lungs fast enough. He was hauled up to his feet by the two men, an immense stab of pain piercing his torso from the injury. The pain receded as the Lucario's palm lit up a bright pink, sending healing waves through Riven's body, repairing the damage he had sustained, his breathing growing more level with each passing moment. The man on his right shook him, bringing the captive out of his shock.

"Shit, just _had_ to try and fight didn't you? Now a part of the wall is missing and Helio nearly killed you. I didn't think that would cause as much damage as it did. Ki attacks really mess you up, don't they? Word of advice, don't do that again," he warned. "Or I might just let Helio beat you up again and not heal the damage." He glanced at the guy on Riven's left. "Took you long enough to recover from that. Didn't hurt _that_ much, did it?"

"Hey, you're not the one that got a flying kick to the face. I'm going to need a damn icepack after this," he complained. "Kid's handy with his feet, I'll give him that. Gah."

"You can go see Isole for that later. Come on."

The men took him down a long corridor in what looked like some kind of housing facility. The doors to the rooms were made of reinforced steel, with nothing but numbers painted at the top for identification. Actually, the place felt like more of a prison- a high tech prison, or some place used for detaining things that a normal jail cell couldn't.

"Where are you taking me?" Riven asked, not even bothering to put up resistance. That Lucario's attacks were no joke, those aura spheres practically destroyed his ribs with the difficulty of a knife cutting through butter. Had the fighter not healed him, he'd probably be dying from internal massive internal bleeding by now.

The two men responded by shoving Riven forward into a sparsely lit room. The sound of the thud echoing across the room meant that it definitely was no bedroom- more like a grand hall. Riven was lifted onto his knees, where the others' hands kept him firmly in place. He struggled slightly, but one look at the Lucario forced him to calm down.

Behind a table sat a hooded figure, calmly staring down at him. Riven felt his eye begin to sting, his nerves growing restless. He closed it, ignoring the sensation.

"Hello, Riven," the figure said warmly. It spoke with a woman's voice, the tone not deep enough to belong to a man.

Riven remained silent, glaring hostilely right back. Woman or not, he was in unknown territory, with people that had unknown intentions, he needed to expect anything and everything.

"I said hello," the woman repeated, sounding somewhat offended.

"And I chose not to answer," Riven bit out.

The hooded woman chuckled. "Rude and distrusting. Not very appealing qualities for a young man to have. They're not terribly popular with women, you know. "

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing really, just some friendly banter to ease the tension. I can feel your glare from here. You're quite frightening, but I wouldn't expect anything less from the infamous Gray."

"Infamous huh." What, were they going to start telling the children horror stories about him now?

"That's right. Made quite the impression too- not just among the officials, but other _unruly_ groups as well. However, while not a very _good one_, it was considerable regardless. But that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about. That issue is none of my business."

"Then what am I here for? Or did you want to ask me how pretty the flowers grow in Littleroot?" Riven said flatly.

"You and I both know you're from nowhere near Littleroot. Cutting to the chase, I want to know something about a certain object of interest."

Riven rolled his eyes. "I told your asshole caller already, I don't have anything worth mentioning. Much less valuable. And can you tell him he's an asshole?"

"He knows that," she smiled. "As for having nothing of interest, I believe you. But what you do have is knowledge _of it._ I have very reliable sources that can confirm that."

A short hmph came from the kneeling captive. "Someone tried interrogating me about something like this before, I'll have you know." Riven grinned viciously, flashing teeth. "Let's just say it didn't end in their favor."

"They didn't have you captive though," the woman replied knowingly. Riven could almost hear the smirk behind the words, which only served to aggravate him further. "Gray, what did you find in Dewford?"

_Dewford? How could they…?_

It was possible they had been tracking him since then. But if they had, he would have noticed by now, especially in places like Lavaridge or the plains. And going by that logic, they'd have known that he was in contact with Steven, which would have rendered his own questioning completely unnecessary. Unless, of course, they weren't strong enough to take him on- he was a former champion after all, holding power few in the _entire region_ could match. Fighting someone like that outside of a controlled situation was ill-advised and probably suicidal.

So that left him with the fact that he was here, of all places. Being actively questioned about his finding in Dewford meant that they must have acquired that information from some other place, and most likely didn't even know what it was they were truly looking for, or that he was even remotely affiliated with the former champion.

"Dewford? What does that have anything to do with me?"

"Everything?" The woman clicked her tongue, then starting tapping her fingers on the table, "we're not the police, Gray. They have jurisdictions, and rules. _We don't_."

"And who is we?" he shot back, not missing a beat.

Her finger tapping stopped."Tell you what, how about a question for a question? You want information, so do we. Then maybe you'll stop being a difficult little ass and we both win."

"I go first then."

"Very well. Ask whatever you like. I may answer it sincerely, I may not."

"Who are you?" Riven asked, gesturing not only to her, but the two others behind him. "You're not officials, or police. So what and who are you?"

"We're just… _mercenaries-_ trying to find something that's been lost," she responded calmly. "Now you'll answer my question. What did you find in Dewford?"

Riven ignored the question, completely engrossed with just three words, sensing a link._ Mercenaries. LaRousse. Dewford._ He tried connecting the three, seeing how each could possibly involve one another. Nothing came at first, appearing to be totally unrelated at first glance, but then it hit him.

Benjamin Thern.

He almost laughed at the irony. Of course, it only made sense. Benjamin had been the one there at Dewford, waiting outside of the cave. He'd been the one that had insisted on staying in Slateport, despite mentioning being an extensive traveler. Benjamin had advised him about going to LaRousse and looking for mercenaries, even though a backpacker would otherwise have had no knowledge of the subject. But most importantly, he had Riven's phone number.

They didn't even need to dig. They had it along. They were just waiting for the perfect moment.

_God damn it._

"Gray… Here I thought we had a deal-"

"Benjamin Thern," Riven ground out, cutting the woman off mid sentence. "He's the one who told you didn't he? You sent him there, to Dewford, to find whatever it is you were looking for. Except he couldn't, could he? He would've recognized anyone who entered the cave, except he didn't see me ever go inside, only come _outside- _so he figured the only one who could have taken it was me_._ Then that call some time ago? Asking me if I'd found anything? Pointing me to mercenaries in LaRousse? There's no way in hell mercenaries would set up in a place like that. No- too noticeable. It was a trap. And LaRousse was the _perfect_ place to spring it. You ruthless, cunning pieces of tauros shit. I'd applaud you if I could, but then I'd rather stab you in the spine."

The hooded woman drew in a breath and began to laugh. "Oh my! You really do catch on quick, Benjamin said you were sharp-witted, he never told me you had such great deductive capabilities. Or was it your rampant distrust of others? I told him that it was a risky move to prod you so forwardly to LaRousse, but things were dragging along very slowly. Besides, you didn't go there because of his advice, did you?"

"It's a beautiful city," Riven diverted.

"Indeed it is. But you didn't answer the question."

"Yes, I did. Like you said, I may answer sincerely, I may not."

"Listen, Riven," she said icily, losing patience, "you're a man with goals. You do things to fulfill those goals, it can be said that's the _only _reason you do things. And from what Benjamin told me of you, passing whims aren't one of your defining features. I've met so many others like you. Now, what would a goal driven person like you be doing sight-seeing in LaRousse?"

"And what do mercenaries want with some artifact in a dusty old cave so much that you had to set up an elaborate trap months into the making just to get a chance to question me? Either they must be paying you tons of money, or someone has one hell of hobby," Riven chuckled to himself, bemused. "I can do this all day."

"Cerul. Is that a name you picked randomly?" She began, shifting the conversation in a completely different direction.

"What does that have anything to-"

"Your last name. Where did you get it?"

_My last name? What does she want with my last name. Unless she… no, she can't be… like me?_ "Who. Are. You?" He asked, gaze intensifying.

She smiled beneath the hood. "Someone you've probably heard of. Aero, Aere, hold him down. I'm getting tired of playing with your wit, _Cerul_. Certainly this might give you reason to act a little seriously." Their grip tightened on Riven, and the Lucario began charging an aura sphere. Bringing her hands up to her hood, she pulled it off, letting loose a wave of hair that burned like crimson flames. Her eyes were a bright orange, the color of the sky at sunset, burning just as intensely as her hair. She looked like a young woman, despite the fiery presence she radiated, both deadly but warm at the same time, just like the sun. "My name is Nera. Nera Rose, eighth daughter of Reklan and Theia Rose."

Steel chains all but snapped.

* * *

"Sir," a man in white came in, bowing his head slightly.

"Yun, how goes the interrogation of the Claydol?" the director responded, idly looking into a monitor.

"It's not breaking sir. We've tried everything. The normal way of _interrogation_ doesn't work," he stated, gulping. A drop of cold sweat ran down his cheek. He'd seen the director shower a man with acid before, and ever since then, he'd been mortified of crossing him. Death by sulfuric acid wasn't a glorious way to go.

"Oh? Why is that?"

The man laughed nervously. "Well- it's hard to injure something made of rock… sir." He winced, waiting for an explosion of anger, but it didn't come.

"Hmph, I see your point." He waved a calming hand. "Yun, why so nervous? Don't worry, I won't pour a tank of acid over my men for something like that. That would be wasteful. The only reason that fool received that punishment was _because_ he was wasteful, and not just with resources, but with the lives of men that could have been used elsewhere. I _hate_ wastefulness."

Yun let out a breath of relief.

"Now then, do you have any other ideas for making the Claydol talk? We need to find the secrets of that machine quickly. There are things to be done. It's been delaying us significantly, and capturing that creature took no small amount of work."

"Ummm, we thought about bringing in another psychic and using a takeover- they usually work on humans so we thought that maybe…" Yun trailed off.

"You are aware you would need to find a psychic more powerful than the Claydol, yes? Who knows how old that Claydol is, such a thing could possibly require a psychic of a caliber equivalent to a champion level Alakazam, or even Mewtwo. Catching either one would likely require a tremendous effort, one we are simply unable to spare at the current moment. That Claydol is all we have," the director reminded, tracing a finger along the page he was reading.

Yun scratched his head, feeling a little stupid. "Ah, sorry." Glanced at the director, who looked far friendlier than he appeared. "I-I… don't know, sir. We've tried everything, but it's still defiant. We're at our wits end here."

"Hmmmm, bring in a ghost," the director said simply.

"Sorry, what? A ghost?" Ghosts usually frightened people, not make them talk. Past history showed that using ghosts as interrogation tools often fared extremely poorly, and most captives usually went insane from repeated interaction with one. You wanted intimidation, promise of grievous bodily harm, not unmitigated terror.

"Yes, a ghost. One with access to dream eater, preferably."

"But… why?"

"Psychics are strong beings. To attack with your mind requires control, precision, and most importantly, a strong will. They cannot be broken like lesser creatures and men. Their bodies can be tortured and abused, but their minds will fight and resist. So then, Yun, how do you make something like that talk? Think."

"You weaken their minds?"

The director smiled slightly. "Precisely. Dreams are often said to reveal some of the deepest secrets of our minds, would it not be the same for a psychic, whose minds are far more advanced than ours? A journey to the center of the mind to retrieve an idea, no_\- information_, from a psychic's mind? A ghost can do it, for you see, psychics are terrified of them and of the darkness. Their subconscious walls and defenses will erode away from a ghostly touch. It is the only thing that scares them, because they cannot comprehend them. It's hard to be defiant when you're petrified in fear, even more so when you are at your most vulnerable."

"Yes. That's it! Thank you, sir! We're going to uncover that machine's secrets, one way or another!" Yun exclaimed, heading off excitedly back to the lab.

The director turned back to the monitor, smile settling into a grimace. _What are you hiding, ancient ones? What are the purpose of the Claydol? I will uncover your secrets, and then, so will the world._

* * *

The handcuff's chains clanged off the floor, and Riven brought his elbows up, driving them into the twins' midsections. They doubled over, releasing him. He launched himself up, hand already reaching for Nera's neck. The Lucario- Helio- shot a small, concentrated lance of ki at his leg, easily passing through flesh and bone. Riven toppled over, where the Lucario held him down with a glowing palm. Face flat against the cold surface of the table, he glared up at Nera, expression cold and hateful.

Helio grabbed Riven by the collar and flung him back. After the blood settled in his veins for a brief moment, the pain from the wound in his leg began to register. It was extremely painful, the ki attack had hurt more than an arrow ever could. Blood flowed out of the injury, creating a small pool of crimson fluid beneath his leg. He winced as he moved his pant leg up to inspect it, having already stained most of his pants a deep red below the knee.

"I thought you would try to kill me as soon as you saw me." Brought her hands down, telling everyone to calm down. Riven flicked his eyes towards the back of the room. "You saw the others hiding in the dark the moment you walked in, right? I should have remembered you have amazing eyesight in the dark," Nera mentioned, motioning for the twins to hold Riven down again as he struggled. The four others hiding in the darker corners of the hall relaxed, pocketing pokeballs and weapons. "Riven, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this. I'm not your enemy. I don't want to hurt people like you, people like us."

"The hell you aren't. I'm not telling you shit," he snapped, baring teeth. "And us? What do you mean, _us_? Don't lump me together with _monsters_ like you."

Nera walked out from behind the desk, stopping in front of Riven. After his outburst, he breathed out, outwardly calm, the only thing betraying that image were eyes that simmered with hatred and pain he'd presumably been holding for years. With everything she knew of his people and their horrific destruction, she couldn't bring herself to refute what he was feeling.

"I didn't kill your family, Riven," she said sadly, reaching out to touch his face.

He whipped his head back, snarling like a cornered Mightyena. "But your father did."

"Yes. My father- he… was a sick man. War twisted his heart and corrupted his mind. Not everyone agreed to what he did. Some were even appalled. The other clans abhorred us, called us monstrous, just like you said we are."_And maybe we were_. "But I wasn't there Riven. You can't blame me for my father's mistakes! I may be a Rose, but I'm not your enemy. Please believe me."

He glanced away. Here was his enemy, a Rose, and one of _that bastard's_ daughters. For all intents and purposes, Riven would have loved nothing more than to choke her and watch her die, just like he'd seen so many of his own. But at the same time, he had to look past his own hatred and see the facts, the logical side of his brain overpowering his emotions. It was a vortex of focused effort, and it took every ounce of mental strength he had to prevent himself from lashing out.

"Nera… eighth daughter," he muttered, then looked back at her, wincing as the twins' grip on him tightened. His body was shaking, and something inside kept nagging at him, pushing violent thoughts into his mind.

"That's right," she said, forming a weak smile. "I was the youngest, and when I was old enough to understand what happened…I couldn't even look at my father in the eyes anymore."

"Old enough?"

She chuckled, looking down at the floor. "When I came here- to this world just like you, I was only sixteen. It's been eighteen years since then."

Surprise came over the young Cerul's face. "Eighteen? That would have made you…"

"Six when my father committed genocide against your kind."

Riven clenched his jaw, hatred slowly draining away as he realized that she could have only been a little girl at the time. As much as he hated her people, he had to accept the fact that she was just a child that had been cursed to live as the daughter of a tyrannical and genocidal monster. "If I'm not your enemy…then why?"

"Why what?"

"Why go through all this trouble? Why trap me? Why the cocky hooded captor play?"

She hesitated, grimacing. "I-I didn't know how you'd react. Or if you'd see reason. When I saw you at the battle tower, I couldn't believe it. You looked so calm… There was no way to tell if you had any sort of resentment towards me and my clan, but I should have guessed. Still. I couldn't believe that there was another one of us out there, and someone like you as well. You're even rarer than a shiny pokemon. I thought…"

"All the Ceruls were dead?" Riven guessed, in what came out as a half-snarl. "Everyone thought the same thing. Surprise, surprise."

"Not just them, but everyone else. Your entire civilization was gone. To think even just one of you made it here was… unbelievable. But those eyes of yours, they're cold. Staring at them right now, I can see your pain."

There was no life in them. So young and already his eyes spoke volumes of what he'd lost, what he'd experienced. It was like looking at an empty husk, one that refused to die, refused to give up, despite losing everything. In a way, such determination was fascinating, but on the other hand, it was the saddest thing she'd ever seen.

"You fought with the Remnant army, didn't you?"

Riven paused, thinking it over. Gave a brisk nod. "Frontlines until I was sixteen. Then I switched to scouting after Nimva plains. I assume you heard about it in your city, considering the losses your army sustained."

Nera closed her eyes in acknowledgement. "You drove our forces back, and killed one of our commanders, as well as the Liran mercenaries my father hired. The men came back with horror stories of the fury and sheer skill of the Remnants. But many of them talked about the young soldier that killed Commander Saroq." She smiled, eyes dancing. "The one with two differently colored eyes, whose unit cut through men like a whirlwind, and the woman he fell alongside with, but not before shooting Saroq dead with an arrow. That was you, wasn't it? I never could forget that story. Always left me breathless."

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't," Riven shrugged, " I don't remember. Wars are only glorious to those who've never fought in them. We lost half our people that day. There was nothing amazing about it. Good people died- people I cared about, people I'd risk my life ten times over for."

He fell silent.

"Aero, Aere let him go," Nera ordered calmly.

"What? He'll kill you!" They protested.

"Helio wouldn't let that happen, right?" She said, putting a hand on the Lucario's head. The fighter kept his stance stoically, but he briefly felt his face flush. "He will break your legs if you try anything, Riven. Oh, that reminds me. Helio, can you heal his leg? His face is looking a little pale and there's a blood puddle on the floor now."

The Aura pokemon did as he was told, healing back the hole in Riven's leg, propping him up onto his feet again before pushing him forward. Riven sat down across from Nera, stone-faced but glad his leg wasn't causing him grief anymore. The air was tense for a moment, but Riven didn't feel angry anymore, just tired. "What do you want with me?" He asked, gripping the bridge of his nose with two fingers, feeling conflicted.

"I just want to know what you found in Dewford."

"Don't lie to me Rose, you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble if you just wanted to know that."

"Nothing slips past you it seems." She drew in a breath. "Riven… this world- it's… different. People like us, we need to stick together. We come from a different place- a horrible place. We-"

"Don't quite fit?" He replied tersely. _I'm still wondering when that feeling will go away_.

"Yeah. And no one would believe us if we told the truth, I'm sure you realized that by now. That's why… that's why I've been working all this time to find others like us. We may have come from different places in the past, but that's all gone now. We can start new."

"Some of us can," Riven said quietly. "If you and the wonder twins there are like me, then you must have come here the same way I did."

"A roar that seemed to split the earth in two?" He nodded. "Sudden unconsciousness?" Another nod. "Then yes, it seems universal. We're not the first either. And I don't mean the people I've collected so far."

Riven raised a brow. "You mean there were more? In the past?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. Some of us came a long time ago, and others just recently. There'll be more in the future, I'm sure."

Riven just eyed her, keeping quiet.

"How long have you been here, anyway?" she asked eagerly, orange eyes alight with curiosity. The twins behind her both groaned, muttering something unintelligible amongst themselves. She always did this with the others- questioned them down to the very bone, but she never looked _this_ intrigued.

"About two years?" Riven answered, backing away from a suddenly delighted redhead. She looked like those rookie trainers that had just gotten their first pokemon, anxious and eager to see the world.

Wincing, she let out a small "oh". The twins behind her nodded vigorously, sporting identical grins."Nevermind, trying to explain it to you would require me to sacrifice some of my brain cells. Let's just call it wizardry at this point," she deadpanned. "It'd make more sense. Riven, did you ever wonder why you healed so quickly, after the Dragon Festival? Those wounds would have killed a regular person easily."

"How do _you_ know about that?"

"The guy who brought you here is the one who used shadow sneak to get you to safety. He works for me, so naturally, I'd know."

"You mean that nutcase who blew up the precinct?" Yeah, Riven remembered him pretty well, even before that focus punch called it lights out. Hard _not_ to remember half the building being blown to bits and being caught right in the middle.

Nera sat in place for a few moments, the gears of realization turning in her brain. Suddenly, she turned her neck around so fast that Riven swore that if she did it any harder it'd snap. "He did WHAT?" She roared at the twins.

Paling, they raised their hands in defense. "W-we didn't know! Swear!"

"Did he tell you to get explosives?"

"Uh…."

"DID. HE. TELL. YOU. TO. GET. EXPLOSIVES?"

"Maybe couple blocks of it…?" they answered sheepishly, praying she would be merciful.

"_My god_. Get Styx in here!" Nera huffed, furious. She looked down at Riven strangely, who simply sat in place with a nonplussed look on his face. "You're so calm about this. You're not even bothered by it in the slightest? Isn't it weird? I mean, you did get captured, assaulted, and now you're listening to me lecture my idiots. Not only that but the whole 'other time displaced' people thing only got dull surprise from you. Usually, other people go catatonic for a while."

"I've seen some shit," he snorted. "After seeing a dragon pop out of a ball the size of your fist, a Castform with a voice strong enough to cause auditory suicide, and a ten year old brat with a Tyranitar named Terry, you tend to stop asking why and just accept the weird shit as it comes along. Less stressful that way."

"Agreed."

A few minutes later, the same lunatic from before was shoved in, ass first. He stood up and dusted himself off, about to give a pretend bow.

"STYX!" Nera shouted. He jumped, giving a little hop."WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID YOU BLOW UP PART OF THE PRECINCT? WE TRY TO AVOID COLLATERAL DAMAGE! NOT CAUSE IT, YOU IDIOT!"

He raised a finger, then put it down. "I, um, well- I actually meant to blow up the front door and get my effects like a proper gentleman but then I figured it wouldn't be as fun." He spotted Riven and went over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Ah, you there. Sorry about the face, had to make sure you weren't going to do something incredibly… stupid."

"Maybe you're the one that needs to apply himself that logic," Riven said flatly, brushing the man's hand off. He smelled like alcohol too, and the way he walked was just utterly ridiculous. It looked like a drunkard and a clown had combined into a single being. Probably not the most healthy of combinations…

"Welcome to the club. By the way, I saved your sorry ass back at the festival. You should thank your friends Mr. Blues and Blondie for that."

_Seab? Amy? _

"Oh, and Nera, I am so sorry about the police building, it was so pretty. But I like to make dynamic entrances. They're incredibly fun."

"No more dynamic entrances, Styx. And no more explosives! Remember what happened in Viridian City?" Nera pointed out, slightly irritated. He grinned stupidly at that, in a way that reminded Riven all too much of a certain Quilava with a thirst for explosions and arson. Oh shit, it was Quil in _human form_. If that wasn't a sign of impending disaster, Riven didn't know what was.

"Shenanigans aside, Riven- I really need you to tell me what you found in that cave."

"I'm afraid I can't do that just yet," he refused bluntly.

"Why not?"

"You _did_ call the police on me."

"He has a point there," Styx interjected, only to be silenced by a disapproving look from his boss. "Sorry."

"We needed to make sure you wouldn't go anywhere, and… wouldn't be in a position to argue with our demands if you refused."

"And that makes me trust you more how?" Riven chuckled. "Just because you came here from the same world I did doesn't mean I have to trust you. For all I know, you're planning to get rid of me after I tell you what you want to know."

"That'd be in poor taste, mate. She doesn't want you to kill you."

"And why wouldn't she do that?" Riven asked, confused. Not kill him? That didn't make any sense, it's what he'd do if he was in her position. It only made sense.

"Because she wants to recruit you, get it?" Styx said, amusingly looking at his nails.

"Wait , W-what?" Riven sputtered, looking like he'd been slapped.

"I could use someone with your combat skills," Nera stated. "Well, I don't think you have a choice anyway." She raised a hand as Riven was about to interject. "Let me explain. In order for our plan to work and get you on our side- with or without your approval-, we kind of had to… delete your trainer record in the League databases. We also wiped your hospital records in Lavaridge. And you've only been here two years, I doubt you have any friends in high places or any kind of relevant connections. Going back out there would only get you caught again. With no pokemon, you can't defend yourself either. It's either us, or jail. Take your pick. The former involves money and eventually, your freedom. Who knows? You might even like it!" She beamed at him, the true face of evil.

Riven blinked, then silently adjusted his head six inches above the table. What followed could best be described as a montage of self-abuse.

Styx looked at him, then back at Nera, before whispering, "I think you broke him. Might be worse than Gealen when you first showed him what a pokeball did. Poor bastard's mind nearly broke in two. Still don't think he's recovered from that actually."

"Shut up Styx."

The young man stood up, face red from the repeated face to table abuse. "Now I do want to murder you," he hissed. "Not only did you fuck me over once, but you fucked me over AGAIN? PERMANENTLY? And you dare ask me to trust you? You evil, _manipulating_ bi-"

Helio hit him on the back of the head, dropping the outraged human like a brick before his anger got the best of him. The Lucario snorted and left the hall.

Nera sighed once again. "Aero, Aere, take him to his room please," she ordered, massaging away an inbound migraine. "And introduce him to the others will you? When he wakes up at least. Make sure he doesn't piss anyone off, ok?" The twins nodded and hauled Riven off.

Exhausted, Nera rested her head on her palm, closing her eyes for a few seconds. Styx nudged her, oddly serious.

"Why didn't you tell him?" He asked.

"Tell him what?" She replied, eyes still closed.

"About what you people are? His damn hair's already turning fuckin' white, Nera, it's only a matter of time before his mind goes to pot. What'll you do then? That kid erupts and a lot of our own are going to get hurt. Those damn Ceruls are no joke to put down, you've read the scripts."

"We'll deal with that when it comes. If he has to be taken care of, I'll do it myself. But for now, as long as he keeps me in the dark about what we want, I'm not going to tell him anything. He doesn't realize what's happening to him yet. After the reaction he had when he saw me, I wouldn't be surprised if it pushes harder at him. I just hope it's not too late for him to recover."

"_If_ he can," Styx said ominously.

"Yeah… If."

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait time, had stuff to do.**

**To all the people asking why he doesn't just tell them about Steven, consider how **_**bad**_** of an idea that would be. Steven is an extremely influential person, both in the business world, and in the trainer world. Not only that, but he's the only reason Riven hasn't ended up in jail because of his friendship with Wallace. Add that onto the fact that Riven can count his connections on two hands, and narrow his friends down to one?**

**Yeah, no.**

**Burning the only bridge he has would be the stupidest thing he could do, and if anything, he wants to **_**avoid **_**bringing up Steven. As long as his captors don't know the whereabouts of the sphere, Riven has some degree of leverage over them, which practically saves him from being entirely screwed and turned into a lapdog, or end up in a bodybag and thrown into the sea.**


	41. Scenery Change

_New room, new cell,_ Riven thought depressingly as walked around yet another room. Granted, this one was far nicer than the other one, with a bed, furnishings, and even a separate bathroom.

_At least this time it has toilet paper_.

The interior design appeared homely, like the bedroom in Irene's house, but without the inviting presence of a warm home. It was designed to look inviting. It was not.

There were no windows to speak of, no natural light to filter in and illuminate, no kitchen to cook in, and the door was made of thick, reinforced steel. Riven had tried opening it to no avail, being locked from the outside; he was very much a captive in an environment designed to comfort whoever was unfortunate to be trapped there. Maybe if he had a pokemon he could get out. But they were probably miles away with Gale and the others.

So he did the only thing he could do. He sat down.

Sitting in perfect silence, things felt eerie. He'd gotten used to the sounds of the city or the wild. Without them everything was just…off.

_No sleep tonight, or maybe ever, _Riven sighed, resting his head on the back wall. _Mercenaries… And others from the past. I had a feeling there'd be more but… I didn't expect to meet them like this._

All of a sudden, there were others like him, living their lives and trying to adjust to the new world. Others he would have once considered enemies or neutral at best. Before, it was easy to identify who was an enemy and who wasn't.

Are they trying to kill you? Yes? Kill them. No? Wait for them to try. Then kill them.

But now… now was different. The line between friend and foe was blurred, and that was _infuriating_. You didn't know who to trust, or where allegiances lay, and people didn't regularly try killing each other. There were _rules_.

Hoenn- no, the world- was a melting pot, with different kinds of individuals, from scum like the poachers, to people like Gale, Will, Lucia, and the gym leaders. Riven couldn't place everyone into one group and go from there—doing something like that would be impossible. Everything was diversified. No clans of people ruling over each other, and most importantly, no armies. This world combined the small scale and the large scale into one, making things incredibly hard for a person so used to fighting against insurmountable odds and armies of men and pokemon. Easily identifiable. Easily seen.

And as such, things got confusing as all hell—his current predicament being a major case in point.

Here was his enemy, offering him a job with pay and the eventual promise of freedom. Any reasonable person would accept the deal. But deep seeded hatred twisted and pushed, making it an impossibly hard task of convincing himself that Nera wasn't an enemy. It was akin to holding acid in his bare hands. His brain told him that setting aside differences and accepting her offer was the logical thing to do, despite any feelings of resentment. After all, her offer seemed genuine at first glance. But if it wasn't…

Well…it didn't really matter, did it?

Genuine or not, the Rose was right. As much as he hated admitting it, he really had no choice in the matter, regardless of his ability to disappear or not. With his pokemon gone as well, and his trainer I.D., he'd effectively be no better off than a bum. Dodging the authorities with no method of transportation, money, or weapons to fight off pokemon that wanted a piece of him would be nonsensical and most likely result in him dying or getting locked up.

_And I can't afford that. I have to get back to my team. Somehow. I just hope they don't hate me for this. They should be fine with Gale, I think. I hope._

As he went over multiple scenarios that all led to catastrophe, a loud beep came from the steel door. The lock made a loud clunk, allowing the door to slide open soundlessly. Riven remained seated, cracking open an eye, watching the twins from before standing at the foot of the room. They looked hesitant as they stared into the pitch black darkness. Helio was at their side, eyes glowing a slight blue. The fighter pointed in Riven's direction, locating him through some unknown means.

"Yo, you awake in there?" Aero called, staying safely behind the doorway in case any flying kicks or sudden attacks came his way.

"No," came a voice from the shadows.

The other twin snorted.

"Smartass. Well, least now we don't have to go in there. Why is this room so dark anyway?" Aero asked, squinting into the darkness. "You know there's lights right? There's a switch, you flip it, lights magically turn on? It's an amazing invention."

"Fascinating, I've finally attained enlightenment. What do you want?" Riven replied.

Aero spoke up. "Nera wants you to meet the others. She also told us to warn you not to do anything stupid while we're at it, either. I think you're smart enough to figure out that fighting isn't going to do you any good with Helio here, even if you're unrestrained. He'd kick your ass up, down, and sideways. Understand?"

"Yes. Blasting a hole through my leg made that _perfectly_ clear," Riven said through grit teeth, glaring burning holes at the Lucario. Those blue energy blasts of his hurt more than anything he'd ever felt before, and that wasn't even mentioning how easily they tore his body apart either. If that Lucario wanted him dead, he would be.

"Good." Aero clapped his hands together. "Let's go make some introductions then."

The twins led Riven to the other side of the complex, where a collection of what looked like workshops and living quarters were located. Voices and the clanging of metal filled the air, contrasting with the eerie silence of the opposite side. Laughter could be made out amongst the noise, and shadows could be seen through the slits of the doors.

They led him to one of the open rooms. Even just approaching it, Riven could feel the chill coming from it, the metal along the outside of the hall frosted over in intricate patterns of snowflakes. Very artistic. Walking in, it looked like Riven's, except for the blue paint of the walls and the frigid temperature. Ice sculptures were held in what looked to be refrigerated display cases, with several medals and ribbons adorning the walls. Upon further inspection, it seemed that the room was originally made out of some kind of cold storage.

"Why are we in a freezer?" Riven asked, rubbing his arms to generate some form of heat. The air inside was cold enough to frost his breath, and he didn't have a jacket or sweater to keep him warm. The twins didn't even bat an eyelash though_. Damn their internal furnaces_.

"Doesn't your head hurt?" Aere asked, tapping a finger against his temple.

Riven waggled a hand, feeling only minor discomfort compared to when he'd last woken up. The Lucario's _tap_ had been light compared to getting a face full of focus punch. Still didn't know who or what slugged him that time either, only that it was freaking huge.

"Ah, well. We figured you'd want an ice pack," Aero said. "Helio did knock you upside the head again. Pretty hard too, from the looks of it."

His brother nodded enthusiastically, "Yup. Helio hits pretty hard, man. I remember this one time we were out on a job and I was hitting on this girl-"

"Aere," Aero said sternly, shaking his head.

The twin nervously rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling lamely."Not important, right… I'll go get Isole. She must be working on something in the back." He treaded off into the backroom, whistling a tune.

"Isole? I heard you mention the name before," Riven asked. "Is she a doctor?"

"Not really, but she'll give you an icepack for your head," Aero explained. "And she's a Raksa, if you must know. She was a trainer before, kinda like you. Few years ahead of course."

"Raksa? Ice clan. Huh. Explains this frost bitten cube at least—any regular person would be _insane_ living here."

Aero shrugged, not even bothered by the cold.

"I've never seen a Raksa up close before. They were always neutral during the war. Basically told us to fuck off when we asked for refuge," Riven said, bringing up tidbits about their dealings with them. He inspected an ice sculpture of a Snorunt idly. "Can't blame them though, picking a fight with their type advantage would be stupid. It was the smart decision to do."

"That it was. Glad you understand practicality, but then again, your people were well versed in the more… _practical_ methods. " He crossed his arms. "As for the Raksas, they usually never left their lands, or wanted anything to do with us. Guess whatever happened to all of us didn't give two shits though, since somehow Isole ended up here too."

Aero waved a hand, dismissing it. "Anyway, someone introduced her to training in Sinnoh and she went _pretty_ far after that. They used to call her 'Permafrost' in some trainer circles because of her ice types but she quit after the Victory Road and decided to see the rest of the world instead. Nera picked her up in Snowpoint a while back. On far friendlier circumstances than yours, of course. Hah."

"Oh, I'm sure," Riven smiled acidly.

"Ah, here she is."

Riven stopped looking at the sculpture and turned his attention back to the doorway. The woman that walked in with Aere held herself just like some of the experienced trainers Riven had seen in the centers and in the battle tower. Confidence. Power. Pride. Strength. They always seemed magnetic, and in a way, she reminded him a lot of Lucia, except for the blue eyes and white hair. She looked just like he'd expected an ice obsessed Raksa to look.

Isole curiously looked Riven over, tilting her head slightly. "So this is the guy Nera was pumping so much time and resources into. A Cerul and a soldier from the Remnant army." She frowned, and looked at Aero. "From all the stories Nera talked about… I kind of expected someone a little-"

"Taller?" Riven guessed.

"Older," she said, mulling over the word choice. "And far more built. You don't exactly _look_ like a kid but you're probably not even in your mid-twenties, are you?"

Riven's scowled, eyes completely focused on hers. "Terribly sorry I don't meet your little band's expectations. I've only been in and out of hospitals, an almost _unbelievable_ amount of shitstorms and misfortunes, and I spend most of my time living on trainer food and tauros jerky when things aren't trying to wreck my shit something fierce," he said dryly, making no effort to conceal the disdain.

"Heh, definitely a trainer," she said, smirking. "With a whole slew of cynicism thrown in there too. You might even beat out Cormac, and he's one negative bastard, let me tell you. You'll fit just fine here," she said, smirk now a small smile.

"This isn't my home," Riven half-growled.

"You're a drifter. You don't have a home to begin with." She chuckled. "Well… I guess none of us did when we first came here. But Nera can offer you one."

"Think I'll pass," he scoffed.

"Then why are you here?"

"Blackmail," he replied angrily. "Nera's a ruthless bitch."

"That's what makes her effective," Isole said, drawing a synchronous nod from the wonder twins. "Have to be, for what we do."

Riven clenched his jaw and let out a small, almost inaudible growl, upper lip twitching.

Isole looked the young man over again. He reminded her of a feral Mightyena in more ways than one. Ticking him off wouldn't be a good idea; causing Nera more problems than Styx already had would be troubling. Not to mention earn her a slash in her pay. "I heard you're a trainer. Errr, _were_. How did that happen? Trainer isn't something many of us 'oldies' gravitate towards."

Riven's brows furrowed."Let's see…The first building I walked into was the pokemon lab in Littleroot. I had two wild pokemon following me from the forest, so when Birch saw them… He assumed that I was, uh, a trainer to be. Then he signed me up for the League without even letting me speak and sent me off. I had no idea what in the hell I was doing or what was happening, much less what trainers were supposed to do. But it was something to do so I guess it was fine."

"And you didn't kill him when he did that?" Isole asked, raising a white brow.

"To be honest I was too baffled by the sliding doors and the TVs to do anything," Riven shrugged. "At first I thought he poisoned me or something. But there's no way in hell that jolly bearded bastard would do anything of ill-intent. In fact, his energy was almost infectious. Reminds me of Wattson… sort of. And when he showed me how a pokeball worked…"

_Are those two in the back giggling?_

Isole grinned, muttering something about him being just like Gaelen. She looked at the twins."You taking him to meet the others? Hurry up if you are, Nera's going to fill us in on another job."

"Already? Where?"

"In region? Or…?"

"Don't know. Didn't say. I'm going over to the debriefing room right now. Better hurry." She stepped past them, pointing a finger behind her and at Riven as she walked away. "By the way, stop touching my sculptures. I worked _extremely_ hard on those, don't ruin them. You break one and Yuvir will freeze your hand solid."

Riven immediately stopped touching the sculpture, setting his hands at his sides. _"_Who's Yuvir?" He whispered, waiting for her to leave the room first. Exactly like Haona. Maybe being a jerk was an ice thing.

"Her Glalie. Which _has_ frozen people solid before, no fucking joke man. Don't mess with her unless you can live without a couple limbs, and possibly your balls. Frostbitten castration? _Definite_ pass. Moving along though, I guess the introductions will have to wait," Aero said, "let's go get debriefed. Circuit must have gotten us a job already. Maybe it's another snatch assignment, those are fun…"

"Ain't excited?" The other twin asked Riven as they started down the hall. At the end of it was a large sign that read: **Debriefing Room**.

Glancing at it, Riven flatly replied, "My joy is caving in on itself. And Circuit? That's a strange name."

"More or less. He's our tech guy and the one who finds us assignments—also handles all the finances and clients. Fitting name since he's practically married to the damn computer. He's not from where we come from, but he's a workaholic, and a damn good one at that. Still not sure if the guy sleeps or not. It's a real mystery."

"I bet he's the asshole who called me—he was, wasn't he?" Riven asked, glaring at Aero.

He only chuckled nervously in response, focusing his sight elsewhere.

_Definite yes. Fuck that guy. And his noodles._

Aero pushed open the door to the room, and held Riven back with a stiff arm. "No outbursts or anything, alright? Keep quiet until it's over, unless you want to exchange pleasantries with another focus punch."

"Do I look like a person who's prone to outbursts?" Riven huffed.

"Weeeellllll….You nearly went ballistic when you heard Nera say who she was, _while_ snarling like a feral pokemon. Oh, and you snapped solid steel chains like paper _then_ tried to kill her with your bare hands," Aere reminded. "Did I miss anything?" His brother shook his head and gave Riven a considering look. "You were saying?"

Riven bit the inside of his cheek, looking like he had just swallowed a pitcher of salt. He grumbled a few curses under his breath as he followed the twins inside.

Standing in the back, Riven absent-mindedly occupied himself with a particular piece of the wall, staring at it in a daze. The debriefing was mostly a bunch of babble and other things that he didn't care much about, discussing clients and objectives of the others' respective jobs. He kept his mouth shut, mostly because Helio was standing beside him, watching his every move, like a Staraptor tracking a fish.

The debriefing ended shortly, and every "merc" in the room with an assignment turned around, gleefully discussing their jobs. Riven's presence raised a few eyebrows and drew a couple of hushed whispers, probably because he was new and they hadn't seen him before. Helio gestured with a shaking of the head, signaling that everything was under control. The others simply shrugged and left the room.

Nera spotted him and beckoned him over with a hand, placing him next to Isole and a black-haired man, who looked about ready to keel over and fall asleep.

"What did you think of the debriefing, Riven?" Nera asked merrily.

"I almost fell asleep standing up-"

"Thank you," the other guy interrupted, lifting his hands. "Finally someone else acknowledges that your debriefings could put a hyperactive Buneary to sleep."

Nera looked heart-stricken, putting a hand over her chest. "Argh, _fine_. I'll try to spice it up next time. God, why is everyone so cynical around here?"

"That's an interesting question. Maybe because you blackmail people into working with you while simultaneously eviscerating their chances at living a normal life ever again?" Riven deadpanned. "I'm sure everyone _really_ appreciates that."

"I like him already, heh," the black haired man sneered, twisting his body to let out a jarring crack from his back.

She frowned in response, rolling her eyes. "God, he's another you. One of you is enough to turn any situation into a cynical mess. I don't think this much negativity is good for group cohesion."

"Neither is blackmail," Riven fired again.

Nera grinded her teeth together, pointing an accusatory finger at the other guy. "Riven, this is Cormac. Or you can call him Sharpy." Cormac twitched. Nera held a sly grin, amused that she was pushing his buttons.

"Sharpy?" Riven cringed. "Poor bastard."

Cormac groaned loudly, raising his hands in defeat. "God damn it, Nera. Stop telling everyone to call me fucking Sharpy. It isn't my name. Don't listen to her. Call me Cor or Mac instead. Or just Cormac, I don't care- anything but Sharpy. These idiots just call me that stupid name because I was born with- Eh, screw it." He opened his mouth, revealing four incredibly pointy canine teeth, probably almost as sharp as a Mightyena's, or an Absol's. "The nickname stuck after I bit a guy in a fight, pierced a blood vessel and got blood _everywhere_. Getting that out of my clothes _killed, _let me tell you_."_

"I know that feeling, unfortunately," Riven agreed, remembering having to buy new clothes every time he got caught up in a shitstorm and got cut, stabbed, or blasted. So far three pairs of pants, shirts, and vests had met their untimely demise.

"Welcome to the dysfunctional little family though," Cormac shrugged, scratching the side of his head vigorously. "But... from what I know about your situation? You probably want to stab anything in the vicinity with a fork, and I wouldn't blame you. Being babysitted by Helio must suck some incredible ass," he said, leaning back on his chair, a smug grin plastered on his face.

The Lucario took that moment of disregard to kick the chair leg and send him sprawling to the floor.

"Well, now that you two are finished with introductions… Wait, you've met Isole right?" Nera asked Riven. "I wouldn't want to leave her out of anything."

"She threatened to freeze my hand solid," he deadpanned again, face flat. "_Very_ friendly."

Isole cracked a small smile.

"…Oh. That's… great? Let's jump straight in then," Nera announced, her voice losing all semblance of cheer. "Isole. Sharpy. Circuit located something of _interest_ in another region, and we need to check it out. We also have plenty of jobs available there, mostly protection detail and investigations of more than a few reported attacks in the area. The rangers also need some help quelling wild pokemon. They've gotten increasingly hostile lately, in more than a few regions, not just where we're going."

"Argh," Isole and Mac groaned loudly. "Protection detail. How exciting," they both sighed.

"Isole, you and Mac are going to go after the object of interest, you can accept the wild pokemon assignments later. The item takes precedence. You guys are going to be there for a while, presumably err…. six months to a year? Give or take."

"What about the investigations?" Isole asked, tilting her head, a white brow raised. "And just us two? The foolish twins aren't coming?"

"Hey!" They both snapped.

Nera shook her head. "I might send others in case any thing happens. Gealen if it's bad enough. But for the most part, you two are going to act as handlers for a certain someone." She flicked a quick glance at Riven, just enough to get the message across.

Riven stood idly for a moment, taking a few moments to process what she was saying. "Wait, what?"

"You're going with them," she said bluntly. "And you're going to wear this." She pulled out some sort of contraption, handing it over to Aero.

"What the hell is that?" Riven asked. It looked like an ankle brace with a tiny red blinking light on it.

"It's a tracker."

"A what?"

"It's so we can monitor your position at all times. Psy locks don't work on you, for erm, various reasons, so we'll have to settle for trackers. Goes on your foot and only comes off with a key. And if you destroy it, we'll know."

"I'm not putting on your fucking tracker, nor am I leaving the region. Especially not for a damn year." He snarled in response, fists curled white. "You could leave me there and then what? I'd have to find some way to come back to Hoenn? If you want me to go to another region to do menial, shitty jobs that not even your own people want to do, then you can take your tracker and shove it in your asshole. Should end up in about the same place as your head."

"Riven… please don't make this difficult," Nera pleaded, trying to diffuse the situation. Guy looked about ready to implode.

"Don't make this _difficult_? Oh, I'm _so_ fucking sorry! I'm only being held here against my will, away from her and my team, and now you want to treat me like I'm some Growlithe on a leash? What's next, I'm going to have to ask for permission to take a piss too?"

"I know you're upset but-"

"Just do what she says, Riv," came a familiar voice from the back. "Nera wouldn't do something like that to one of her own."

Riven turned around, rage filled eyes locking with the voice's owner. "Benjamin Thern." His tone was ice. His body was shaking, so eager to beat the traitor's face in with his fists, the only thing holding him back being the twins and Helio. "Let. Me. Go," he snapped, resisting against the ones attempting to restrain him.

"They will, but you will not hurt Ben. If you do, I promise that Helio won't be as lenient as he was last time. I _know_ you don't want a repeat of what happened earlier," Nera warned.

The angry young man's growling only intensified. "I didn't ask for this."

"I know. And for that I'm sorry, Riven. I truly am," Ben apologized. "Separating you from your team was a cruel thing to do, but it was the only way. You were too dangerous to approach while you were armed with weapons, pokemon, and accompanied by a Victory Road trainer. "

"You lied to me," Riven shot back acidly. "About Slateport, about everything. You pretended you knew nothing about me or about any mercenaries so I'd suspect nothing. Even your little 'smile' comments were fake."

"Yes, I did lie!" Ben countered. "But you're the one that lied to me first, then you lied when I asked you if you'd found anything in Dewford. _Gray._ Even though we both know that isn't your name. For someone claiming to be the victim here, you're awfully prone to be loose with the truth. So who was _really_ the dishonest one here? You didn't trust me. This was a result of your own rampant paranoia."

Riven bared his teeth, hissing like a beast.

The others backed away slightly. The twins and even Helio were having a hard time holding Riven down. Black wisps began to dance along his feet, and his eye slowly darkened, losing its blue tinge, turning red.

Cormac whispered into Nera's ear, drawing a knife. "Uh-oh, you better calm him down quick, or we'll have one dead Cerul. And if it goes badly… _we'll_ be the dead ones instead."

Nera cursed and nodded at Ben. He acknowledged it with a quick glance.

"Riven, I made Nera promise me that no harm or actions of ill-intent would come to you. You'd be treated like the rest of us, with all the benefits. You're not my enemy. I-I still consider you a friend, that won't change. If you do this assignment, we'll let you contact this girl you speak of. Is she the one holding your team?"

Riven said nothing, but he visibly calmed down. If growling like a wild pokemon rather than the feral snarling of a Mightyena could be even considered calm. Relatively speaking.

Cormac looked at Isole, then gestured in Riven's direction with a dip of the head. Isole gulped, not at all delighted with the task of cheering up a very unhappy Cerul. She went over and stood in front of him, putting a sort of friendly hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry! We're going to be your handlers, we promise that we won't leave you in region. Just uh, look for the silver lining! After this assignment, you'll get a hefty paycheck! Which means no trainer money problems! You might even be able to afford a permanent residence for you and your umm… woman."

"She's not my 'woman', she's just a friend," Riven replied, somehow more convinced of Isole's words than any of Ben's or the ruthless bitch's. "I'm more concerned about my pokemon. She can handle herself."

He was let go after he sufficiently stopped snapping and hissing, turning around to look at Nera. "I'll take the assignment then, and I'll wear your anklet." He pushed past her, stopping to level a _menacing_ glare at Ben. "Friends don't betray each other over stupid rocks. Find a dictionary and look up the word friendship, you might fucking learn something." He shoved Ben back a step with a forceful palm and stalked off.

As soon as he left the room with the twins and Helio trailing behind him, the others let out a collective sigh of relief. The tension in the air could have been stabbed with a pitchfork, then cut up and served on a plate.

"Jeez. Only two years and he's already raised this much hell," Ben said, shaking himself. "When you said Ceruls were harbingers of disaster, you really weren't kidding. Ends up here and he ignites Sinnoh's leftover trainer fallout, starts a region wide manhunt for him, almost gets killed by dragons, and with the added issues of increasing trainer related property damage, he's managed to steer most of the non-trainer population into full protest. _And_ he stumbled upon what _we_ were looking for in the first place too? All by being in the wrong place at the worst possible time? Fucking hell. I would understand if this was done on purpose, but by _accident_? Good lord how isn't he dead yet?"

"I'd say luck, but if I called that luck, then I'd hate to know what he considers _bad luck_." Nera said, watching the doorway. "And to call that boy trouble incarnate would be like calling a Gyarados just another fish. Let's just pray to whatever higher power we can that he _doesn't_ raise more hell somewhere else. Which isn't factoring in his volatile state at the current moment, either. He's going to make things _extremely_ difficult for us if he continues on like this. Hopefully he can mellow out in time."

But why did she seriously doubt that prospect?

"How _much_ time being the primary concern. Whatever he found was important, and you can't wait that long."

" Yeah." She sighed deeply. "Isole. Cormac. You have one week to get ready. Can you stop by the armory and pick up something for our bad tempered friend? We got him something he may like, based on what Ben told me, as compensation for losing his team. We can't have him defenseless out there now can we?"

They both agreed wordlessly, turning on their heels and leaving the room to go to the armory.

Ben scoffed. "Bad tempered? Hah, even when he didn't want to rip my entrails out he was terrifying. Threatened to throw me into Sharpedo filled waters for entertainment value. Did you know that? Other trainers are even scared of looking him in the eyes. And you know them, a ten year old will stare down a street thug to have a battle. You should have seen him at the beach. He's a damned mess."

"If you lived through all the things he has, you would be too. And we're making it worse. Way to leave an impression on someone, right? Blackmail them, take away what little they have, and then force them to work for you? I'm not sure he'll ever trust me or us. Oh god, just listen to me. I'm feeling guilty."

"…You? Guilty? Get that checked immediately. If you do it fast enough, they might find out you have a heart," Ben joked briefly. "Seriously though, he'll come around if he sticks around long enough." …_Maybe._ "He may have horrifying trust issues and paranoia to the nth degree, but he _wants_ to have people that can have his back, so he doesn't have to watch it all the time. Circuit told me he looked happy around those other three."

"That's a bad comparison," Nera sighed again. "I saw them at the battle tower. Two attractive girls and a kid versus mercenaries who lie, cheat, steal, and kill for a living? Who would you trust?" She held up a finger. "If you say the mercs, I'm going to slap you."

"On second thought, that's… a fair point," Ben acknowledged, rubbing his chin. "Still. Don't beat yourself up over this. Playing the villain must be hard- but he understands practicality. He's only furious because he feels he has no control over what he can do. When he's over there, just let him wander a bit. Hmmm… he likes the wild so… maybe he can take the ranger jobs?"

"And fight pokemon? On his own?"

Ben shrugged. "We can lend him some. We have plenty of extra pokemon that have been anxious to go back into the field."

"Have you _met_ a trainer, Ben? They're too damn proud to use lent pokemon. It'd be like betraying their teams. I remember trying to do the same thing with Isole. She said she'd rather get into a fistfight with an Ursaring than not use her team."

"But Isole's scary." Nera gave him a flat look. "I was joking. I guess you're right though. Well, time will tell. Good luck with him, I'm going back to my room to get some rest."

"Rest. Why don't I believe that for a second? Just to give you a heads up, Ben, these walls are _not_ soundproof." Nera crossed her arms, giving him a disapproving look. "Madelyne has a strong set of lungs. She should use them for something like singing, not _disturbing_ peoples' sleeping habits."

"Ah, ha-ha. Sorry." He laughed nervously.

"Just go already. And be glad no one's used a blacklight in there."

"Heh. Oh, by the way, how much prep time are you giving them?"

"About a week. We'll have Riven in the practice room tomorrow. See what he's got. Should be _fun_."

* * *

_Fucking snakes… get the chance I'll cut his throat and hers… Shouldn't trust…_ Riven thought to himself, punching his fists raw into the steel walls of his was interrupted by the door, light shining in from outside, followed by a light knock on the metal door frame. Two people."Fuck off wonder twins. You and your Lucario."

_Is that what he calls those two_? "We're not the wonder twins," Cormac replied, stifling a giggle and flicking on the light switch. _Too damn dark in there_.

"Cormac and Isole. What did she send you to do? Convince me that she isn't a bitch? Because trust me, that isn't happening," he said, continuing with the wall smashing.

"That's not what we're here for," Isole said firmly.

"Then what _are_ you here for?"

"Catch." She tossed something towards Riven, who turned and caught it in mid air, the weight of the object feeling familiar to him. He held it up, incredulously gazing at it like a child in a candy store.

"It-it's a sword," he stuttered, noting the freshly polished steel and razor sharp edge. He twirled it in the air, testing its balance. It was longer and heavier than he was used to, but the design itself meant that the blade probably had no difficulty cleaving through armor, at least conventional human armor. A pokemon could be a different story. "I don't recognize the design."

"That's because it's based on a sword design from around here. These types of sword were used in the Sahra region a _long_ time ago. You may know it as Orre now though. It may not be the same weight and size as the one-handed blades you and your army used, so it may be a bit off for you."

"No, it's fine," Riven said, slashing the air, the zing of sharp metal being music to his ears. "They taught us to use two handed swords too. I like it, nice and balanced. Edge is razor sharp too. Wonder how long that'll last. What I'm truly curious about is _why_ you're giving me this. I could easily kill both of you at this distance if I wanted to."

"But you won't," Isole grinned. "You're not stupid enough to do that when you don't know the layout of this place and have no pokemon. The others would kill you within a minute."

"Heh," Riven clicked his tongue, feeling far better now that he could swing around a sharp piece of metal. Swords made him feel safe. Or anything that qualified as a sharp piece of metal. You could depend on a blade, they didn't betray you or fail to deliver as long as they were well taken care of.

"Got something else for you too," Cormac mentioned. He took out a knife from one of his pockets, handing it to Riven.

"Nice knife," he noted, unsheathing the blade and admiring its design. Not black steel, but that was a minor detail, a blade was a blade. Viciously curved too, just like Yanine's, but shorter with an insignia engraved near the handle. "What's this represent?" He asked, pointing to it.

"Our group insignia. Ben had Nera order those two made. He said you'd like them, since your other ones fell into the sea."

"Hmmm, so that bastard is the one responsible for these. Can I stab him in the spine as thanks?" Riven sheathed both knife and sword, strapping them onto his person with belt buckles. "Or just _lightly_ slash him from balls to mouth?"

"I don't think so," Isole said, exchanging an uncomfortable glance with Cormac. "Anyway, have some fun with those later. You need to get something to eat. Tomorrow we're going to put you into the simulation room, where you can test what you got. Should help you get all of that anger out of your system."

"I get to kill something?" Riven looked almost _ecstatic._ When Ben mentioned the kid was scary, he wasn't lying, no one looked _that_ happy about getting to stab something with a blade nearly as long as their body.

"Slow down there buddy, holograms, not people," Cormac corrected. "Disappointing, I know."

"Very," Riven frowned. "But better than nothing I guess."

Sure enough, the next day he was put into the simulator, where he got to cut holograms apart, reveling in almost maniacal joy as he weaved past attacks and struck them down with skill gained only through years of combat experience. Nera and the others observed from the viewing deck, watching the crazed frenzy.

At first they didn't believe Nera's seemingly far-fetched stories about the skill of the Remnants, and how they were absolute monsters with blade, shield, spear, and bow. Skilled enough to even fight other soldiers and pokemon with just weapons and a few Mightyena, and still hold their own, let alone win battles.

But seeing Riven cut, slash, and tear through holograms in the most effective way possible made them believe, as well as unnerve them a little. He severed limbs and targeted critical areas, the face and neck, without missing a beat, no doubt being taught to kill the enemy quickly. There were no unnecessary movements in his style, everything he did serving a purpose- to kill or incapacitate. Not many people knew how to use a blade in this day and age, maybe the Kanto practitioners, but they were far more focused on style and finesse than Riven's _kill-them-fast-and-make-sure-they're-dead_.

Riven passed the combat test easily, breathing a sigh of relief after letting out his frustrations. He couldn't really place why he felt so thrilled to sink a blade into something, even if it was just a projection. Intoxicating, but hell if it wasn't fun.

As he left the training room, Cormac and Isole greeted him outside, commenting on his performance.

"Remind me not to fight you while you have a sword," Cormac said jokingly. "Feel better now?"

"Loads," Riven said, still catching his breath from the exertion. "Felt good. Really good."

"We noticed, you savage," Isole laughed. "You had this crazy smile on your face, like you were having a blast. It's been a while since you've had a fight hasn't it?"

"Since Petalburg, but those were batons, not lethal weapons. Training is more of a test of mental ability, which is nice, but I don't actually get to fight much," Riven replied, comparing training to real battle. "I guess… I kind of miss it. Somehow? Maybe not killing people-holograms aren't people, so don't start- but sparring is always fun. Pokemon shouldn't be the _only_ ones training."

"Yeah, some trainers say the same thing. Although, they're usually the fighting type trainers, so it makes sense. I agree though, trainers should be able to defend themselves too, or take a life if needed. " Isole paused. "Regardless, we have to get ready to go on our assignment. I hope you are too, since you're coming with us."

"How long until we…?" He flicked a finger at the air.

"Less than a week. You can just sit tight and relax for a few days, Cormac and I will sort things out," she said, smiling at him. Giving Cormac a nod, they turned around to go iron out some kinks with Circuit.

"You didn't say where we were going." Riven's eyes narrowed, suspicious.

Isole stopped, pivoting her body slightly to look at him with a knowing eye, a wide grin on her face. "Why, we're going to the beauty capital of the world."

"And what's that?"

"The five pointed star, Kalos."

* * *

A key twisted in a lock, unlocking it with a brief clunk.

Gale shuffled inside her darkened home, setting her things down. She ran a finger on the table, looking down at it in the dim lighting of the quiet house. The inside had remained just as she left it. She'd been away from home for months; she nearly forgot she had one. Going through what little rooms the home offered, she stopped at her bed and sat down.

Will and Lucia wanted to return to Slateport, suggesting laying low for a bit to stay out of trouble for the time being. And so, here Gale was, back in the plains.

Head in her hands, she thought about what Steven had told her, Lucia, and Will. It sounded ludicrous, and so unlikely that no one would have believed it. Only it was crazy enough that they started to believe it. Steven had also presented numerous pieces of evidence, and had revealed what he'd seen from the memory visualizer, to further solidify the explanation.

After hearing about everything the former champion had said, after hearing about Riven's story, and after the cave, she didn't know what to believe or feel. Lucia was much the same, baffled, but at the same time, a little annoyed. Annoyed that Riven had lied to her… by telling the truth. She had called him a sly bastard more than a few times before she sat down and made herself breathe. Will had looked conflicted, having had no idea that his new fire tricks were very similar to the ones that- well, the ones the destroyed everything.

_He's a resilient guy_, Steven had said. _He'd never hurt you just because you can shoot fire out of your hands. You didn't ask for it. He knows that._

Which reminded Gale of something she'd been dreading all this time. She took a deep, steadying breath of air and took Riven's trainer belt out of his trainer bag, removing the pokeballs from their magnetic clips. Staring at the four minimized pokeballs, she found herself unable to start. What would she tell them? And who would she tell first?

_I have to do this. Better sooner than later._

Gale put Riven's translator around her ears, maximizing the pokeballs and throwing them outward to release his team. A large flash of light followed, and four very confused pokemon emerged, wondering where they were.

"_Huh? Where are we?"_ Baron asked, looking at the unfamiliar walls of the house.

Aine hopped on a foot, looking out the window and at the sun-lit plains of green grass outside. She pointed a claw at the door. "_We're back in the plains_!" she cried, more excited than she should be.

"_Why_?" Haona questioned. _Weren't we in a huge city?_

"_I SENSE THE PECULIARITY AS WELL_!" Boagrius decreed. The floating cloud of grey shot around the house, making impossibly loud statements about the strangeness of human houses. _"SO VERY PECULIAR! EXPLANATION PLEASE, GALE HUMAN."_ He demanded, voice bellowing throughout the house.

Gale remained seated, expression tired and solemn. She looked down at the floor, shaking her head.

Baron's spike lit a bright pink, connecting with her feelings. He had to put in extra work to do it, ever since he had evolved, which had somehow complicated the process. Gale felt all kinds of uncertain, worried, depressed, and angry. "_Gale, what's wrong_?"

"_You're not hurt, are you_?" Haona sniffed her, noting nothing out of place from her scent.

Aine walked up and sat down next to her, a fuzzy storm of feathers and warmth. _"Did something happen?_" The Combusken did a sweep of the room, noticing something important. _"Where's our trainer anyway?"_

Gale shook, dragging in a breath. She refused to cry. And she _wouldn't_, not today. "That's the thing. He's not here. He's gone."

"_What do you mean- gone? Explain_," Haona demanded, shocked_. He better not be dead, he better not be dead…_

"_Gone?"_ Baron repeated. "_Gone how_?"

"_Did he… perish?"_ The Castform asked grimly, voice lowering. "_Or is he…?"_

Gale hesitated, not sure how to put this. "He, um, I don't know whether you understand human laws or not but… he got into trouble with the authorities and they caught him. They were going to lock him up for a long time, but someone must have broken him out. I don't know where he is right now. Or when he's coming back. I'm sorry."

"_Why didn't he let us fight?" _Haona growled, red eyes flaring with anger. _"That idiot! He always does this! Always getting hurt, always getting blamed, always getting in trouble! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Doesn't he realize that? _We're _supposed to be the ones protecting _him_! Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Right, Aine?"_

"_Y-yeah,"_ the fire-type confirmed._ "The others at the lab told us that if we protected out trainers, they would protect us, and care for us."_

"He was protecting you," Gale clarified sadly. "He still is."

Baron and Boagrius remained silent. Human laws were strange, finicky things. Some of them made no sense, and they didn't understand why humans followed them, yet they did it without question.

"If he had used you to fight," Gale continued, _"_the police would have been authorized to use lethal force, and all of you would have died. Or get sent off somewhere individually. That's what they do to pokemon that belong to a criminal, or someone… dangerous. So he took you all and asked me to take care of you instead. He didn't want to risk you all getting caught."

"_So he left us?"_ Aine asked somberly, looking dejected.

Gale put a hand on her head, stroking her feathers. "No, no! He didn't leave you. He's coming back, he promised."

"_He promises a lot of things," _Haona said harshly, "_that doesn't mean he's going to keep them. He does it all the time!"_

"Haona, please don't hate him," Gale pleaded. "I know I'm not a good substitute for him, and I'll never be your original trainer, but I'll try my best. Please understand. This was the best he could do given his situation."

"_I am trying to understand but- human laws are… confusing,"_ Boagrius said, still swirling above them. _"BUT I HAVE FAITH! FAITH THAT MY MASTER WILL RETURN AND LEAD US TO RIGHTEOUS GREATNESS! AND THUS, I SHALL WAIT, EVEN FOR ETERNITY IF NEED BE. FOR GLORY AND FAME ARE ETERNAL, AND NEVER DYING. SO, I SHALL LEND YOU, GALE HUMAN, MY STRENGTH UNTIL MY MASTER RETURNS! I AM AT YOUR SERVICE!"_

The Castform's enthusiastic speech drew a small giggle from the human girl. Humor turned into surprise when a green blade flicked outward. Baron stood in front of her, arm bent in a salute, with one blade extended.

"_Boagrius is right. There's no sense moping about it, Gale. If you said he's going to come back, then I- we-have no choice but to believe it, and hope for the day he returns. And even if it doesn't come-"_ He extended his hand. "_I'd be glad to help you in any way I can. Riven respects you, and because of that, so do I."_

"_Me too!"_ Cried Aine, puffing out flames. "_But when he comes back, I'm gonna punch 'em!"_

"And you, Haona?" Gale asked, wondering if the Absol would be okay with this.

"_I still think our trainer's a supreme idiot."_ The dark type hesitated for a moment, red eyes focusing on the small black stone that hung around her neck. _"Just had to open your mouth though, didn't you, Bib?"_She sighed. _"Unfortunately, where he goes, I go, that's how it is. And I'm not about to walk off without giving our stupid human an ice beam lecture. And you're a girl too, maybe we can think of something to punish him with."_

Gale smiled widely. "Thank you. Thank you for understanding. I'm grateful. I really am."

"_Good, because I'm hungry,"_ Haona said, holding up a claw. _"Do you have any food?"_

Baron brought a palm to his face.

The brunette let out a silent "oh" of realization. "I don't have any _fresh_ food. Whatever I did have probably went bad weeks ago, sorry. Unless you can take down a Tauros?"

"_Oh, that shouldn't be a problem,"_ Haona said, licking her lips. Her horn flashed green as she looked at Baron and Aine. _"You ready?"_

"_Pssh, I can take them all by myself now that I'm a handsome and powerful Gallade,"_ Baron boasted, puffing out his chest.

"_And if Baron gets whooped, I'll just burn them to a crisp_!" Aine exclaimed. _"But the meat might not taste good…"_

Haona smirked at Gale. _"See? We'll be right back. Bib, open the door, you have hands."_

Gale shook her head as the three practically leapt out into the plains, eager to hunt down some juicy Tauros meat. _They're just like him, hiding what they really feel to save face... Looks like you passed that onto them too. You have such wonderful pokemon, Riven. Don't you dare die on them._

"_WOULD YOU LIKE ME ACCOMPANY YOU, GALE HUMAN?_" The Castform boomed once again.

Cupping her ears, Gale smiled once again.

"Sure. Why not?"

* * *

**Sorry this got delayed, finals and work ate my time more than usual.**

**Wulfrye: I see your concern, and while you do raise a valid point, it also raises a very important question.**

**What exactly **_**is**_** evil, truly? And what exactly classifies as actions of ill-intent. Both of these are subjective, and depend highly on the person observing them. What we may classify as evil may not necessarily be the same as what a pokemon classifies as evil. If it all.**

**A Lucario may hurt a person and be considered evil by **_**us**_**, but to it, it sees itself only as defending its trainer/master. Which is what sort of occurred last chapter, Helio wasn't going to stand there and let Riven kick his masters to death.**

**Still, pokemon would have a sort of blue and orange morality compared to a human, if they were raised in a non-trainer/ non-laboratory environment. Trained pokemon are slightly different. An individual's morality is a result of their social upbringing, as well as the beliefs they have been exposed to by other people. Considering that pokemon are already very intelligent creatures, the same can be applied for them. The pokemons'owners would probably have the biggest influence on their sense of right or wrong, being sort of like parents. An amoral trainer would probably have amoral pokemon(like a merc), and a heroic trainer who doesn't want to kill anybody would most likely have pokemon that reflect these views.**

**And next comes crime. Crime- a socioeconomic construct that directly depends on the existence of laws- is inherently neither evil nor good. It is simply the breaking of these laws. Being primarily human laws, the Lucario wouldn't have a very tight grasp of them, as most of these laws and regulations don't necessarily apply to pokemon. Yes, a Lucario is intelligent enough to potentially have a good grasp of human laws(Lucario and the mystery of mew), but for the most part, pokemon are seldom concerned about them, if it all. Crime and evil are also not synonymous, although they often coincide more than they should.**

**For example, a person who steals from the rich and gives to the poor has committed a crime, but can they be considered evil?**

**Looking at this, we can see that a Lucario not doing evil things becomes **_**very**_** loose in practice, and what a particular individual does depends on its own morality and beliefs. A shitty upbringing would only increase the chances of the pokemon being more amoral than say, a Lucario raised from a Riolu in a loving household. Nonetheless, when it comes to morality, there are very loose lines of black and white, and often it is very subjective. This makes a lot of room for different streaks of gray…**


	42. Astre

_Doesn't look half bad._

Not bad meaning his hair. With one day left until departure, Nera had insisted(more demanded really) that Riven get a haircut, because apparently Kalosians didn't take kindly to unruly looking people, given their fashion craze. They gave passes to trainers and shot them full of disapproving looks at the same time, but nothing beyond that. Non trainers though? Utter blasphemy. If you looked like a bum, they wouldn't even look you over twice, much less notice you exist.

That wasn't the only issue. Riven's skunk streak also made him too noticeable, so Nera suggested he paint his hair completely black again so as to avoid suspicion of who he was. Although, she was visibly distraught when Riven insisted that they give him a brown contact to hide his mismatched eyes too.

_But it's such a beautiful color! Why don't you get another blue contact instead?_ She whined, reminding him that she acted more like a kid than a mercenary leader.

_No. I want brown. If you're going to ruin my life—which you've done masterfully, by the way, you might as well give me things I need to help me be less conspicuous_. _You don't want all of Kalos coming after you because of me, do you? Because I will bring you down with me._

After five minutes of bickering and shouting, Nera conceded. He still didn't see why she put up such a fuss. It was practical. Medium length black hair, brown eyes, and tall? That was the description of every young male trainer _everywhere_. Sure, they could recognize his face, but he very much doubted that. According to Cormac, Styx didn't just stop with blowing half the police building to shit. Oh no. He went into the records room and had a Magnezone manipulate electromagnetic fields, _then_ discharge them.

Less discharge, more _blast them into space_.

Simply marvelous idea in that although it _did_ erase most of the records they had on Riven from his capture, it also had the _unfortunate_ side effect of creating a god damn _EMP blast_ that knocked out power to half the bloody city.

The officials were just a _tad_ bit displeased. Relatively minor, seeing as how they had news stations broadcasting a bloodthirsty manhunt for the mysterious group _Edge of Dawn_, and their alleged terrorist attack on the LaRoussian infrastructure for apprehending the infamous Gray. Wallace even appeared in a news interview, eyes bloodshot and with far too many bags under his eyes, not even bothering to make up a story, preferring instead to say, "we're looking into it," before stalking off and presumably screaming into the nearest pillow.

Tad bit indeed.

When the broadcast finished, Cormac turned to Riven, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Man, just how big a pile of bullshit did you feed them?"

"Probably about as large as Mt. Chimney's summit," he replied, sniffing the air. "I can still smell it too. Nice and steamy."

"Edge of Dawn? They are so off it's not even funny..."

"You two done watching Styx's reign of idiocy in there? We have a flight to catch. We should get there sometime… tomorrow? Around midnight to early morning, I think," Isole said, stepping into the room with a few bags and a suitcase. She settled her eyes on the large sword on Riven's back, face flat. "Are you really going to prance around Lumiose with a huge piece of metal on your back? Guy with a mean face and a weapon? Everyone and their mom will notice you walking around. Weapons like swords and guns are hard to come by you know. They stand out. _A lot_."

Riven sucked his teeth. "That's why I have a case to conceal it. I learned from Petalburg that if you walk around with two blades at your hips, people will think that you might be a _little_ dangerous. But if you put them in a long enough case, no one bats an eyelash. Makes you wonder what other people have concealed in places."

"You'd need a pretty long case for that sword though."

He shrugged.

"Doesn't matter, as long as they don't know what's inside they won't bother to question it." _Might be a pain to draw it in a pinch though. _"I didn't choose this sword either, the asshole did. It has more power than the one handed blades, but it's a lot heavier. So if you have concealment problems, take that up with him, get me another sword, or give me my pokemon back. I prefer two and three at the same time, having something sharp and swingable makes me feel cozy inside."

Isole glared at him icily before turning around. "Just hurry up. You too, Cormac. Get your team, we're heading out."

When Riven went outside with them to where the plane was, he noticed they weren't anywhere he recognized. They were in the outskirts of a city some distance away, one he'd never been to, but the sea stretched for miles, so it was a presumably an island of sorts. Isole then informed him that it was Mossdeep. Kind of made sense, really. Nera had a safe house underground for her people there, just in case. According to Cormac, she had spent years building them around the several regions while on jobs, if anyone of them found themselves in a pinch.

_So the seventh gym is here_. Riven looked in the direction of the city, unable to see the iconic building, even though he knew it was here. _Too bad I'm not a trainer anymore. Haona would have had a field day battling here…Psychic gym and all._

"Yo, you coming?" Cormac called from the plane. "We're taking off in two minutes. Step it up."

Riven nodded hesitantly and boarded the plane, staring through the window at the shrinking city as they ascended, every moment passing reminding him of his short-lived trainer career. He sat down in his seat near the tail-end of the plane, taking off his sword and setting it down, having felt like lead on his back. Unsheathing the blade, he held it in his hands, tracing a finger along the edge.

_Just like old times, I guess… I should be glad. But I don't feel any different, even though I should be. Isn't this what I wanted? _He put it away, taking a glimpse at a sleeping Isole's trainer belt._ Or do I want to get back to my team? But what are they to me now that I'm not a trainer? Are they weapons, or friends? Hmmmm, not thinking straight. Too tired._

"Maybe I should go to sleep before I start thinking about the origins of a pencil," he said to himself.

Shaking his head, he leaned back into the seat, noting instead the strangeness of flying in a plane. There was no wind on his face, no feathers to grab onto, no exhilaration. Just like riding in a car, or a bus- just in the air. Sure didn't feel like flying. After riding with a pokemon, planes just didn't cut it. Substantially less terrifying, maybe, but not nearly as invigorating at the same time.

Drifting to sleep after a few hours, he was shaken by a hand on his shoulder. Peering an eye open, he saw Cormac sitting next to him, a suspiciously warm smile on his face.

"Yo," he waved a hand. "How you doing, Riven?"

Riven's eyes narrowed as he took the mercenary's hand off his shoulder. This didn't feel right."What are you doing here, Cormac? You're seat is up next to Isole, up _in front_. You should be there, not next to me. What do you want?"

"What makes you think I want something?"

Riven shot him a look.

"I just wanted to talk," Cormac clarified. "That's all."

_Talk. Sure. I can see those eyes. You're not fooling anyone. _Especially _not me. _"You mean discuss. Talking is for friends and friendly people. And we're definitely not _either_ of those. Stop pretending, it isn't your style. I don't even know you and I can tell. My paranoia is a mighty powerful sensor for bullshit."

The mercenary's smile fell into a knowing smirk, hmphing under his breath. "No beating around the bush, huh? _Good_." His face darkened into a glare, with a severity that betrayed the warm behavior he'd just displayed. "I don't like babysitting brats. When I first saw you, I had my doubts. I still do. And when I look at you, I can't help but feel uncomfortable, and believe it or not, unsafe. So let's get this straight. I don't trust you."

Riven returned the gaze, brown meeting light blue. He grinned, expression wry. "Excellent, we can _finally_ understand each other. Now you don't have to worry then, because I don't trust _any of you._ I may look young, but I'm neither a child, nor an idiot. Don't _you_ ever dare make that mistake."

"Arceus. Psychologist wasn't kidding when he called you batshit paranoid. Hold onto it, it'll save your life," Cormac said, bemused.

"It already has. Never really had much cause to doubt it. But that doesn't answer the question. You. Here. Why?"

"To warn you," the mercenary said bluntly.

"Because you didn't already do that?" Riven sneered. "Warn me about what?"

"Nera? Us? This life you're about to start? I know you didn't have a choice in the matter. That creates… personal issues. _Apart_ from the ones you already have, and trust me those are pretty extensive. I don't have enough fingers to list them all, so I won't bother." He waved a hand. "And while that's something I don't agree with, I need to let you know what you'll be in for," he said. "There might be some things your conscience will disagree with. Things like that break people. Slowly, but surely. And broken people have a tendency to do…stupid things."

"Tsk, if you mean killing someone, then it's fine. It's not something I haven't done before. I'm perfectly fine with that sort of thing," Riven scoffed.

"That's not what I meant," Cormac clarified. "This life gets to you, and sometimes makes you question _why_. Word of advice, don't make the mistake that any of us are your comrades. That includes me. I'm not from where all of you guys are, I was born in Castelia, so I don't know how fucked up your world really was. But there's one thing I know, and that's that this isn't the army like you're used to, where everyone would take a fire blast for you. We play for keeps, and that means you're going to get your hands dirty and if possible, cut your losses."

"And I already told you, I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is being treated like a marked Growlithe on a leash. Getting my hands dirty is all I ever seem to do, no matter how hard I try to go straight. I've been trying to reach the ocean while stuck in a puddle of mud that keeps dragging me down every time I try to pull myself out. I can see the water, but I can't ever touch it. It's the entire reason we're having this conversation."

Cormac nodded, standing up. "Fine, I'll take your word for it for now. But let me tell you something. I've been a mercenary for a good thirteen years. I've been in lots of groups, and I've seen them splinter and fragment because of wild cards. Watch yourself, because we'll be watching you. But most of all, be careful of Nera. She's one of the most ruthless people I've ever met, and you _don't_ want to cross her. Fire is in her blood, just like- nevermind. Point is, always question why you do things, don't just follow orders like a soldier. Sometimes, there are orders that aren't meant to be followed. Remember _that_."

_Right. The blackmail and the tracker being shoved down my throat whole-heartedly agree._ "I'm confused. Are you helping me, or threatening me?"

"Both," Cormac replied, and walked away. "It's part of the newbie initiation process. See you on the ground."

Riven eyed him as left, replaying his words in his mind. He picked the meanings apart, trying to make sense of them all. _I don't trust you, but I'm willing to work with you. That's good. Better than being a friend at least. I don't _have to_ trust him, either. I can stomach that much._

With nothing else to do and slightly at ease now that he knew he didn't have to make friends, he drifted to sleep, waiting to see just how incredible the city of light was. Couldn't be that great after going to LaRousse. He doubted there was anything that could surprise him.

* * *

Wrong.

See, Riven's thought process about cities was, when you see a city like LaRousse, you think you've seen them all. Sliding sidewalks, high tech vending machines, and electric train rails over the ocean were pretty impressive, so there was little else that could top that. Sorry, but no. Lumiose took that notion, set it on the ground, grabbed a giant hammer, and mercilessly smashed it to little itty bits. Then threw the pieces at him and whispered, _silly, puny human_.

Looking at Prism tower at the current moment reinforced that feeling. As for Lumiose, it was…

"Sizable," Riven gawked, mouth agape and staring stupidly up at the giant tower, its multitude of lights drowning out the darkness of night. He was in awe at the sheer size of Lumiose, feeling just like when he'd seen Petalburg for the first time. If anything, it made the city of flowers look tiny in comparison. He approximated that he could fit like fifty Petalburgs into the damn place, and it was only a sector of it. Probably exaggerations, but _damn_.

From the air it looked impressive enough, and boy did it earn its name as the city of light, there were so much lights that Riven was able to see it before they even got close to the place. And that was flying several thousand feet above it. On the ground was something entirely different.

The streets were busy with people and restaurants and businesses were bustling despite it being the very early hours of the morning. Nothing like Hoenn, where you were lucky to see a single person passing through at this time, usually being an exhausted trainer on their way to the pokemon center.

_And here I thought I'd seen everything._

Isole giggled a bit. "Understatement, much? It rivals Castelia as one of the biggest cities in of all the regions, what do you mean big?"

"Think it's the awestruck kicking in. Look at him, he's turning in circles like an idiot tourist," Cormac cackled, pointing a finger.

"But he is kind of a tourist, isn't he?"

"Hmmmm, you're right. Guess idiot tourist is accurate," Cormac mused. "Figures. Not too many cities like this in quiet ol' Hoenn. But we should probably head to our place, get acquainted. 'Sides, people are looking, and you know how these people take to tourists. Ain't Unova, but we should go. I'm exhausted anyways."

"Oh?" The group of people staring at them in a nearby café were rectified immediately by an icy glare from Isole. "Yeah, this place isn't nearly as xenophobic as Unova, but they sure do care a lot more about appearances. That's Kalos for you."

They headed south, peering into shops and cafes.

Riven read the sign overhead."Vernal Avenue. Why is everyone sitting outside eating?" He asked, bewildered. "And what the hell are they doing to those poor pokemon? You call that fashionable? They look terrible." He pointed to the people who were coming out of a shop with what looked like ridiculously groomed white dog pokemon. Like an Absol, just fluffier and probably less pushy.

Isole nodded."That store's Friseur Furfrou. People take their Furfrous there to get groomed. Furfrou is like the Kalos equivalent of Poochyena, if you will. Yes, peoples' styles for Furfrou grooming are ridiculous, but you don't want to tell them that. The shops where you see people eating outside are called cafés, they're very popular here, but not in other places like Hoenn. Although it's is gaining popularity in Mauville, I heard. Kalos is weird like that, and Lumiose is chock full of the things."

"Even this late they're that busy?" Riven raised a brow at a passing Furfrou.

"Open twenty four hours, they're _that_ popular. You see that store over there?" Cormac pointed over to the one called the _Stone Emporium_. "That store sells rare evolution stones for a hefty price. Don't even _try_ to haggle with the guys in there, they _will_ rob you blind. Trust me when I say to avoid that one like a plague. But what's even more ridiculous is that store right over there."

"Boutique Couture?"

"Your French is terrible… You butchered the name, but yeah, that one. _One_ pair of pants costs more than a _fire stone_."

Riven turned around slowly, incredulous. "Seriously?"

"Oh, he's not kidding," Isole said. "And what's more, they don't allow you in unless you look stylish enough. That's why Nera went through all that trouble of making you and us look halfway decent. Mostly you though. So don't ruin your clothes too soon, or it's going to burn a hole in your wallet looking for new ones. Hoenn's clothing prices have _nothing_ on this."

"Duly noted," Riven gulped, hoping he didn't get mauled by anything any time soon- which was sad really, considering he was more worried about having to pay for expensive clothes than getting his face ripped off by a vicious pokemon.

Priorities were a funny thing.

"So where are we staying?" He asked, figuring he could explore this behemoth of a city later, after he taped his jaw to his face thoroughly and learned not to stare at weird shit. There was a lot of weird shit though.

"Over there," Isole answered cheerfully, gesturing to a large and very wealthy looking apartment complex a short distance away from the boutique. "When you get there though, take off your shoes and leave them at the door. Kai likes his floors clean. Riven, don't give me that look. Just don't. He was raised in a traditional Kanto household. It's his place, so be courteous."

She knocked.

"Is he a merc too?" Riven asked. "If so, then I have absolutely nothing to be courteous about. You're all assholes anyway."

"No, he's not. He's a friend of mine, not Nera's. In fact, they never really liked each other much. He didn't agree with her ways, so he didn't join her, but he's good friends with me and Mac, so don't be a dick to him. He just said it would be okay if we stayed there, as long as there's no trouble. Nera's house here is outside of Lumiose, so staying there would be inconvenient for the task at hand. Being so close to the emporium has its perks too."

The knob on the door turned, opening a second later.

The man who answered had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, and was wearing some kind of robe, with a sash along the waist. The inside of the room behind him looked far different than the usual rooms Riven had seen. The floors were polished clean, and the doors appeared to slide open, rather than push open. There was a light smell of incense and a warm orange glow from lanterns hung on the walls. Is this what homes in Kanto looked like?

_It looks so… mystical?_

"Ah. Isole, Cormac, it has been a while," Kai said, voice surprisingly calm, like a gentle wind. He leaned in for a hug and a handshake, chatting idly about appearances and the usual. When he finally noticed Riven, he halted for a brief moment, looking him over. "Who's this?"

"He's the new guy I told you about," Isole said, looking over his shoulder. "He's going to handle the ranger requests and other minor details, you don't have to worry about him too much. He keeps to himself mostly."

"I'm _quite_ capable of speaking for myself, thanks," Riven cut in, slightly irritated. He extended a hand. "Riven. I'm the new guy, nice to make your acquaintance."

Kai took his hand, smiling warmly. Giving a slight bow, he gestured them in with a hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Riven. I hope you have a good stay, do be careful with the floors though, they are freshly polished. Your room is the one nearest to the balcony, Isole informed me you like the outside, and prefer quick access in case anything… occurs."

Riven nodded, adjusting the strap on his bag and heading over without a single complaint.

"Well, I'm beat," Cormac yawned loudly, following suit and going directly to his room as well, feeling too tired to continue."Night, Kai," he said, raising a hand.

"Good night, Cormac. And Riven too!" Kai responded. His cheer fell, mouth becoming a thin line. "Why is it… black?" He murmured.

"What is?" Isole wondered.

"That boy's ki," he said, feeling a shiver crawl down his spine. "It's pitch black."

"I'm assuming that's not normal?" Isole guessed. Black usually meant bad things. It's not like she could see the stuff anyway.

"No. Not normal for many at least. Others… perhaps, but for humans it's seldom seen." He put a hand on his chin. "And the streaks of red in it… not well. Is that boy troubled?"

"HAH. Troubled doesn't _begin_ to describe him," Isole remarked sharply, letting out a sardonic chuckle. "He has more problems than a Gyarados on a bad day. That's not factoring in his desert dry sense of humor. It's dry and dark. He's like a swirling ball of negativity."She made a motion with her hands, forming a ball.

"I noticed. Is that boy here on his own accord?"

Isole hesitated, avoiding his gaze. She wanted to lie, but Kai knew her too well for that. "Um…no."

"Isole, you know you-"

"I know, I know." She sighed heavily, glancing up into his eyes before resting them elsewhere. "He's like me, Kai. But different. He's one of the ones Nera talked to us about. A Cerul."

Kai winced._This is... worse than I believed._

"What _kind_ of contract did Nera put on him? I know how she is, and you have to tell her that forcibly keeping him here against his will work terribly. It will only get worse… she knows the risks! She told them to us herself!"

"He has information about something of great importance. An artifact of sorts. The one she was directed to, remember? This is the only way."

"And you think by doing whatever she thinks she's doing will get him to cooperate? He is not a regular human that can be goaded and threatened into submission! His condition is going to get worse if that dreadful energy is anything to go by. What did she _do_?" He shot back, raising his voice. "He could be a danger to everyone here. Those of black ki are not typically harmless, and breaking one is a task that borders on the impossible."

"Everything is under control Kai," Isole assured. "If he decides to cooperate, Nera will let him go. And if he gets worse, she'll take care of it." _She promised._

"Is that what she told you?" He shook his head. "Why do you believe in her so much, Isole? She is a ruthless person who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. Such is the fire in her. But he… he won't give in the more you pressure him, it's not in _their_ nature to do it. They're strongest when driven into a corner- _let him go._ This is reckless, and reckless is not what you are._"_

_He has a point_, Isole sighed_. I don't like keeping him here either, and neither does Cormac._ "You know I can't do that just yet, even if I wanted to. This is more important than we know, we have to go through with this! It's so much bigger than we are. If it wasn't, I would have broken the tracker on his leg and sent him into hiding myself. It's not that easy though, sometimes we have to do things we aren't comfortable with. I'm sorry if that disturbs you, Kai. If you don't want us here, that's fine. We'll leave."

"No, no it's fine," Kai said, hesitant and visibly troubled. "I very much do not like it, but I can live with it. However, in return, you must give him free access to the entirety of the city. Lumiose is a beautiful place, let him enjoy at least that. It may stabilize him, however little."

Isole smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I was planning to anyway. Don't worry about that. Besides, how else is he going to find his way around this maze of a city if I don't let him explore? You know, he did used to be a trainer."

"I do not see any pokeballs with him."

Isole shrugged."Yeah, he kind of… sent them off with someone. Due to circumstances and such. Nera doesn't want him to get them back, might try something. She offered to let him borrow some, but he refused."

"And why would he not? A trainer is proud, and he is no less different. You should know, considering you're the queen of stubborn yourself," he joked lightly. "Just like the blasted ice on the roads during the winter."

"Normally, that would sound like an insult. But that was a compliment, wasn't it?" Isole grinned. "Want something, do you?"

"I only wish to reminisce. It has been a few years since I last saw you, so I would like to hear what adventures you've had without me. A trainer does not become a mercenary because it is a boring life, I presume?"

"Hah. No. No it is not." She paused, then hugged him. "I missed you, Kai. You and your weird ki meditation talks. I take it you're not a trainer anymore too?"

"I am not officially in the Kalos circuit, although I do battle selectively when in need of some funds. Living here gets quite expensive you know. Training is great fun, but some day even we have to settle down."

"Kai, you're only thirty seven. Quit talking like an old man."

"Old? This is not _old_. This is wisdom."

"Sounding like a fortune cookie does not make you wise."

"Lies. I do not sound like a fortune cookie."

"Yes you do."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Fine, I sound like a fortune cookie. Arguing with you is bad for my health." Kai smiled slyly. "Shall we reminisce instead then, iceberg? How about a game of chess? You never once beat me, and I don't think you ever will." He turned around with a smug smirk, kimono flowing behind him. "You're not too tired for some leisure, right? I would battle you if it wasn't early in the morning when everyone is asleep."

"I slept on the plane, so I'm good- but even if I was tired, I'd still floor you in any kind of battle, not just pokemon. Bring it, monk boy, you're king is _mine_."

* * *

"Quil, lava plume!" Will ordered as his Quilava deftly dodged an incoming thunderbolt from Lucia's Electivire. Firmly planting its feet into the ground, the fire type's back flared into flames, blasting fire back at Murphy with a deafening roar. Molten rock shot out of the ground, threatening to engulf him and block escape.

"Protect," Lucia responded coolly. Keeping a level head during battles was always key, even if it was pretty difficult for her at the moment. Murphy's tails curved outward and back in, forming a pulsing electric shield, effortlessly blocking the attack and leaving the electric pokemon unscathed. "Retaliate with thunder punch, leave no breathing room for another lava plume. Pressure him!"

Murphy nodded, charging both hands with electricity. He rushed forward, electrified fists seeking to hit the smaller fire type, each swing coming close and closer. Quil dodged back and forth, weaving and sliding under the larger pokemon's legs, too busy dodging to bother with attacking. Will tried to weaken Murphy, commanding Quil to wither it down with a flamethrower to the leg. The electivire foresaw this, however, and used its tails to propel itself into the air and bring down a massive fist of electricity. The resulting radial blast knocked the Quilava off its feet and sent it rolling a few feet away.

"Quil! Watch out, he's going to-"

Too late. Murphy had already closed in, wrapping his two tails around Quil's body and letting loose a torrent of electricity, letting him go after a couple thousand volts. Quil hit the ground smoking, out cold.

Will frowned. "Lost again. I don't have to pay you, do I?"

Lucia shook her head, returning Murphy in a flash of red light. "No, it was a friendly match. Don't look so upset though! Quil is getting faster, he faced the Murphy Onslaught Supreme and still managed to live. That's pretty impressive."

"But I lost to my sister," Will whined. "Do you realize how embarrassing that is? I can lose some serious rep for that."

"You can't lose what you don't have," Lucia joked. Will gave her a dirty look, whispering curses. "I was kidding, shake that face off. You look just like Riv-" She cut herself off, ruining the mood. "Ummm, Will? You're not concerned about him? Riven, I mean. He is your friend."

"Nah," Will shrugged. "This is Riven we're talking about. This guy drank his own piss. And I don't know about you, but if someone's willing to drink their own piss that's brown and stinky to survive, I'm sure they could handle hiding from police or something."

"Didn't you drink your own too?"

Will shivered, remembering how awful it was. "Yeah, and that's why _I'm_ a badass too. How many trainers can say they got stranded in the Mauville desert for days after a sandstorm, floods, creepy Cacturne, freezing temperatures, and hot as fuck sun and _still_ survive? Let me tell you, _not a lot_. And plus-"

He shot a lick of fire out of his fingers, whispering,"I'm going to be the freaking _firelord_."

Lucia nudged him with her elbow and ruffled his messy hair with her other hand. "Going to go on a quest for a legend to regain your lost honor, are we?"

"Damn right."

"Calm down, Prince Will. Jokes aside, you still planning on going through with the gym circuit? You can do quite a lot with five badges." Lucia asked, heading over to a little cooler and pulling out a soda pop for them both. She handed him one, opening the lid with a hiss of fizz. "We were near Mossdeep at the time. You could have challenged Tate and Liza there."

"Yeah, I guess," Will said, taking a sip. "I kind of want to go in order though, and flying is cheating. If I'm going to challenge a gym, I want to get there myself, not on Marcus' back. Not fun that way, just like infinite health hacks in games. SOOOOO boring."

"I had a feeling you'd say that. That's definitely the stubborn trainer in you talking."

"Weren't you like that too?" Will pointed out. "I remember mom ranting off about how you insisted that you were going to train in the forests for a few months and live like a crazy cavewoman. She said it would ruin your beauty and I don't know what the hell else. It was top quality entertainment though, I wish I could have recorded it, pure gold."

"Yeah, well on that trip I managed to get poisoned by a Beedrill and nearly died. I crawled into Fortree looking like a mess and poured enough sweat on the bench in the hospital waiting room to drown a small town," Lucia recalled, laughing nervously at her younger, more reckless self. "Then I threw up in the bathroom several times while the poison was getting flushed out of my system. Wasn't too bad compared to some periods I've gotten though. Finding ways to stop the blood in the wild is hard."

"Oh god, too much information. I don't need to know about your… girly problems!" Will shrieked, edging away.

"You check girls out and tease Riven incessantly about how endowed they are, yet you can't handle us talking about the grosser details? Last time you and Riven had a pretty _lengthy_ conversation about what kinds of defecation are easier on the butt. You think Gale and I weren't grossed out? You're the sicko here."

"That's different!"

"Sure it is."

"We're guys, we have no sense of shame!"

_Sad part is he admits it too,_ Lucia giggled.

"Teasing Riven is fun too, he gets so flustered. Shoulda seen him with Flannery. I've never had more fun in my life," Will cackled evilly, bringing his fingers together like a villain. "Now all I need is to lead Riven into the restroom while Gale's changing, then lock them in."

"You're evil, you know that?" The siblings began to laugh, only stopping after a fluffy brown tangle of fur yelped up at them.

"Yip!" Seren cried, standing on his hind legs and raising his paws up at Lucia. She picked him up, holding him in her arms against her chest. He seemed to have taken a liking to her recently, now that Gale wasn't there to hold him anymore. He probably thought a girl's chest made for a nice pillow, and settled for the nearest substitute.

"Will, what do you think you want him to evolve into?" She asked, scratching under the fox's chin. "You could evolve him into an eon that could give you better type coverage, that's what most battlers do. Coordinators pick the prettiest. Usually Glaceon and Vaporeon win that one. Which one suits you?"

Will looked up at the sky, pondering the thought. He hadn't really put much thinking into what he wanted Seren to evolve into, or what was best suited on the team. He had a fire type, a dual grass and dark, and a part dragon and ground type. Maybe a Vaporeon would be useful…

"No, fuck that noise!" Will exclaimed, deciding instantly what he was going to do. "I'm going with the awesome. Who cares if the evolution isn't practical, it's awesome!"

"And what evolution is this, exactly?" Lucia asked, cocking her head. Seren cocked his head as well, continuing his strange habit of mimicry. Maybe he should evolve into a Mr. Mime.

"Either a Jolteon, or an Umbreon. Mostly a Jolteon though, since he can go fast and still be useful in battles. What do you say, Seren? Do you want to _go fast_?"

The brown fox yipped happily, voicing its approval while snuggling further against Lucia's chest. She smiled. "I think he'd be happy with anything you decided on, really. He's a very happy pokemon. So cute too. Although, I don't think I'd be able to hold him once he evolves. Any person who does is going to get a face full of electric spines."

"I should paint him blue," Will realized. "Then he could be just like-"

"NO," Lucia nearly shouted. "Do not paint him blue so you can call him Sonic and sing the theme song while you're battling. Stop coming up with crazy ideas. That's almost as bad as having Quil give you fire control lessons."

"Why? Quil is a fire type, he can help me control my firebend- errr, I mean my fire power thing." Will twirled his fingers, dancing small flames in between them.

"Will," Lucia said flatly.

"Yeah?"

"Quil can't even control _himself_. If you let him go out in the wild on his own, I'd guarantee you most of Hoenn's forest land would be burning already. Oh god, if it's this bad, I can't imagine when he evolves…" Lucia broke into a cold sweat, imagining a city go up in flames while a Typhlosion laughed maniacally in the background. Yeah... no.

"He can't help it," Will pouted. "It's his nature. He likes it when things are on fire. Fire's pretty."

"And I'm sure you paying for property damage is pretty too? Jeez, Will. With the trainer protests going on and Hoenn's history with Team Magma, fires caused by pokemon are going to make the rest of us look even worse than we already do. And that's without the stigma from Sinnoh's mess."

"Yeah… guess you're right. No blue Jolteon..."

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, drinking their soda pops in silence, listening to the hush of the waves and the cries of the Wingull. It was a perfect day, and the view at the base of the lighthouse was fantastic when coupled with the cool ocean breeze. Will had forgotten how gentle Slateport was, with the craziness of the past few months. He turned to his sister, less than happy.

"Are you going back to Unova? To get the rest of your badges too?" He asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant. "You still need two more, right?"

"Why, you going to miss me?" Lucia grinned. "Aw, my brother does love me. Don't worry, I'll miss you too."

"No! I was just asking!" He crossed his arms. "Hmph. Go to Unova, I don't care anymore."

Lucia pulled him into a hug, careful not drop a sleeping Seren. "I'm serious though, I'll miss you. I do get really homesick, you know. Unova is so different from Hoenn… I like the tranquility here. Over there it's so different, and the people are so rowdy and vibrant. I remember when I fought Elesa, she nearly recruited me to model for her on the spot after I beat her. In front of a huge crowd too. I flushed so much I thought the blood rushing to my face would cause it to burst!"

"Wait. Does that you mean you turned her down? _Why_? You could have been famous!" Will sputtered. "She's Elesa! Do you realize how many guys have fantasies about her?"

"Er… no, I don't. And I don't think I want to know, thanks. The reason I refused was because I just loved training more. Modeling is nice, and I'm honored that she thought I was good enough for it, but I really love the freedom that comes with training. There's no one that tells you what to do, and it's amazing to see new places. As a trainer, I don't have to worry about anyone judging my appearance either. But most of all, training helps a person grow far more than anything I've ever seen. And that's why I'm proud of you."

Will blinked. "Proud of me?"

Lucia smiled. "Yeah. You're growing up fast. You may not notice it, but I have. You've been through some rough patches, those rough patches are the most critical teachers you'll ever encounter, where you risk everything. Most trainers would quit after something like the desert, or Lavaridge. But not you. You're strong, and you have just as impressive a will as Riven does. Friendships mold the person you're going to be, each one leaving something behind." She pointed at the knife on Will's belt. "And who knows? You might even be champion some day! The charisma's all there."

Will huffed, thinking she was only saying that to be nice. "I doubt it, you'd probably reach champ before me anyway."

"I'm not too sure about that," Lucia admitted. "I don't like being grounded too much, and something else caught my eye this time. I think I know what I'd like to do if the league doesn't work out for me."

"What's that?"

"Be like Steven. Chase myths, legends, things lost to time. They're incredibly interesting," Lucia said, recalling Steven's retelling of what he saw in the memory visualizer. "Just like Riven, the man out of time… I knew something was off about him, I just didn't know what. That sly Skuntank told me the truth too, but the way he said it made it sound just too ridiculous to believe. He's an interesting one, but his story is more interesting still. There's still so much we don't know, and it gets me excited thinking about what we can uncover. You stumbled upon a long lost mystery. Or maybe it was fate?"

"Maybe? I don't know. We have to talk to him again. I just wonder when we're going to see him. Who knows when he'll show up. Better be soon though, that way you can chew him up and down, then question the hell out of him," Will grinned wryly. "But I'm sure Gale would rather do that, she's pretty pissed now that she has to take care of his pokemon too. She was all worried, and now she's mad? I don't get girls, you're all weird. Pokemon make more sense than you."

Lucia shook her head, a faint smile on her face. "I can say the same about boys too. You're guys are always doing reckless things, even when you're not trying to. Testosterone. Let's just see if that recklessness doesn't get Riven anywhere unsavory, I want him alive, not half dead."

"But he's always half dead, or getting himself killed," Will corrected. "When he's not doing something stupid, like challenging dragons or getting caught in things he shouldn't be."

"Hmmm, touché. Where do you think he is right now? You know, considering that a group of terrorists abducted him, or whatever the news is spewing at the moment."

"I don't know, probably in a cave getting his face punched in, getting interrogated by an evil mastermind."

"I think you watch a little too much movies."

"Nah, I guarantee it."

* * *

_Chirp, chirp._

Bird.

_Chirp, chirp,chirp._

Annoying bird.

_Chirp, chirp. Chirp, chirp-_

"SHUT UP," Riven shouted, chucking a nearby object at the Fletchling that had stopped near the balcony to sing the song of its kind, which no one asked for, thank you very much. "Stupid Kalos bird... Trying to sleep... giving me shit this early in the-" He noticed an amused looking Kai in the doorway, holding a steaming cup of tea. "…Morning."

"Please do not throw random objects out of the window, they may hit something on the way down. That's Vizi, a Fletchling that comes by here often. I leave birdseed out for her. She has a beautiful voice and is extremely friendly," he said calmly, opening the blinds to let some sun in. "Please don't kill her with a solid object. I find her chirps soothing."

"Says you." The light hit Riven and he recoiled. "Hnff. Too bright, it burns…"

"Not a vampire, are you?" Kai asked, still amused. "It's only sunlight."

"I _just_ woke up. Shining sun into my face isn't going to feel good. Sun is bright today too," Riven complained, holding up a hand to shield his face from the dreaded daylight. He looked around the room. "Where is asshole one and two?"

Kai nearly spit out his tea. "You mean Isole and Cormac?"

"She's one, he's two."

"Interesting name choice… aha. They went to go see the clients. They start work early, and they also left you here to explore the city, since it's your first time. I'm going to act as your guide!" Kai announced, cheery.

"Did she put you up to this?" Riven scowled. "It's not exploring when you're supervising me. Exploring implies freedom."

"Oh, sorry," Kai apologized. "I suppose I didn't clarify myself. This is almost entirely a decision of my own. I'm not supervising you at all, I'm just showing you around Lumiose so you have an idea of what can be found where. You're entirely free to go exploring on your own, but Isole was worried that you'd wander into an unruly area of the city and get into problems. You have a knack for that." He raised his hands in surrender. "Her words, not mine. I'm just here to warn you about what places to steer away from."

Riven eyed him carefully."Well, as much as I hate to admit it, and I do, she's entirely right. With my luck I'd probably run into a group of cocky idiots and get trashed by pokemon, since I don't have mine with me. Or run into a police officer and get arrested for _breathing_."

"You must be terrible misfortunate." Warm brown eyes lit up, excited. "Regardless, this is wonderful! I can show you around after breakfast, I made it simple for you, since I don't know what you like. It's in the living room, so as soon as you're done we can go."

Riven stared at him. He didn't know whether to be wary of this guy or not. Isole said he wasn't a merc, so that automatically gave him some trust points, even if they were small. Not acting like a male reproductive organ helped substantially too. In fact, the guy was pretty friendly. But friendly people scared Riven, truth be told. He could handle assholes, but he was lost when it came to nice people. He decided to forget about it, and take Kai up on his offer. Might as well.

After breakfast, he showed Riven around most of Lumiose, including the different color themed plazas, and most of the Northern and Southern boulevards. He also informed Riven about Lumiose's central location and how it was a useful access point to different sections of the region. It had gates that led to routes 5, 4, 13, 14, and 16—acting like a crossroads of sorts. Pretty straightforward compared to the enormous backtracking Riven had to do in a desert, go to the mountains, circle back around to Mauville, head back up to Fortree, then cross an entire sea. Good god. No wonder people complained about Hoenn.

The tour took a good two hours, and Riven had intently listened to Kai mention various little details about Kalos and the outlook its people had here. Of course, he mentioned that beauty and appearance were very important, but he also answered Riven's question about the war of swords. Interesting topic. Kalos had only recently become a peaceful region, and in the past suffered from many bloody wars and revolutions, which ultimately led to the decline of kingship, but failed to eradicate the presence of the nobility, who fought for status in a place called the Battle Chateau. Or something.

Stopping in a café called Café Kizuna, Kai ordered two drinks for them both. When Riven received his coffee, he took as much sugar and cream as possible and dunked it inside.

"Sweet tooth, eh?" Kai asked, watching the young man dump sugar cube after sugar cube.

"Maybe," Riven said, holding back some embarrassment. _Overdid the sugar just a little bit_. "I ate really bland food for a long time, so when I got here, I went nuts with sweet things. It's nice having something to look forward to in food."

"You'll like the restaurants then, they serve delicious food," Kai said. "Although you may want to invest in some pokemon, since the waiters and chefs often battle their clients. Strong trainers make lots of money there, while also eating great meals."

Riven peered around the café with a quick glance, then stared down at his sugar spiked coffee. "Going to be a bit hard catching pokemon without pokemon. Swords aren't typically used for leaving things alive."

"But it isn't impossible," Kai assured. "I have plenty of unused pokeballs laying around. Feel free to take them if you like. Kalos has many strong pokemon to choose from, and if you use them in Hoenn, you'll definitely turn heads."

"I don't want to turn heads though. And speaking of Kalosian pokemon, what was it you said Isole wanted me to check out?" Riven asked.

"Ah, yes. She said there are a group of rangers who are asking for help from strong trainers to assist them in umm… quelling an aggressive pokemon." Kai's voice went low, so other nosy café-goers couldn't eavesdrop. "I heard it's killed five people, mostly non trainers, with two being starter trainers."

Riven's eyes widened."Young?"

"Eleven. Brother and sister," Kai said sadly.

Riven winced.

"Unfortunate, that routes are not always the safest they can be. That's why the rangers exist."

"Why haven't they stopped it yet, then?"

"It fled into the woods, and they've been tracking it, but any attempts to trap it or get rid of it have been unsuccessful. It hospitalized two rangers and nearly killed more than several of their pokemon."

"And Isole wants me to _help_ them?" Riven chuckled darkly. "So she_ is_ trying to kill me, just not directly. Death by mauling. Fantastic."

"It must be done," Kai said. "Calling a mercenary group is usually a last resort for the rangers, and at that point, the situation has gotten out of hand. They aren't looking to capture it. They-"

"Want it put down for good," Riven finished, sparing a quick look at his case.

"Yes."

"Makes sense. When do they want me to go?"

"They've found its lair and, they're taking a squad of rangers to defeat it in approximately two days time. You'll want to head out of the gate leading to route 4, then head down to Santalune City. Speak to Viola, she's the gym leader there. She should direct you to the rangers in Santalune Forest, I think. Oh, that reminds me, I have to buy you a longcoat after this."

"A longcoat?" Riven repeated.

"And a mask," Kai added.

"Why?"

"Mystery factor. It's all about the impression here. Isole says it's important that you remain a mystery, for reasons I will not wonder nor inquire about. Also, longcoats make for very cool and stylish clothing just about anywhere."He paused. "Viola's a nice girl too, so I don't think she'd turn you in, even if she recognized you, but it is better to be safe. Might I add she's very beautiful too?" Kai winked. "She has dazzling green eyes."

"And I have a stunning ability to woo women, with my infallible enthusiasm" Riven muttered dryly. "Sword, longcoat, and mask is _surely_ going to get me a date, Kai. I'm going to the restroom, I need to take a piss."

"…Right." Kai's smile dropped. He focused his eyesight on Riven as he asked where the bathroom was, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as the black ki circled around the young man, twisting and writhing like shadowed flame.

_Negativity and evil... Shadow of blood and pain..._

* * *

**Sorry for the delay, was binge watching shows I had to catch up on. Pardon if this is a slow chapter, but I can't pull things out of my ass, now can I? I'm not Tite Kubo.**

**Hue. Hue.**


	43. Swords

Riven and Kai walked into the house around sundown, carrying various things. Setting some grocery bags down on the table, Riven whipped his head around to see Isole and Cormac playing some chess in the living room.

"You didn't get the longcoat? Should have gotten the longcoat," Cormac remarked, moving a rook to take out a pawn. "Gives you more of an effect. Also makes for one incredibly badass silhouette. Might certainly help our rep here in Kalos, because let me tell you, it's severely lacking. You could be our poster boy, showing up and saving the day from an evil pokemon, then mysteriously vanishing. Very dramatic. Very romanticized. Kalosians eat that stuff up, you know."

"Good for them, because it isn't happening." Riven rolled his eyes. "Yes, the coat looked insanely cool, but I want to be a ghost, remember? Get in, do the job, get out. Not wear something extremely attention grabbing while saving the day. You know very well how it turned out for me the _last _time I decided to be a good samaritan."

"Alright, fine. Didn't mean to disrupt the stick you have shoved up your ass…" Cormac muttered, frowning at the loss of his bishop.

"At least it isn't my head," Riven coughed into a fist.

"Oh? You want me to shove my foot in there too-"

"I tried to convince him to get the coat!" Kai piped up. He nodded at Isole, trying to cool down tempers before the punches started flying. It worked, seeing as how the other two broke eye contact and focused their attention elsewhere."He insisted that he would only wear one if it wasn't so, erm, 'god damned fucking hot'." He coughed into a fist. "His words, not mine."

"It was somewhat in the thirties today," Isole mentioned. "I almost melted it was so hot."

"Thirties? What do you mean hot? That's nearly freezing!" Cormac said incredulously. "You're just an ice queen that lives in a freezer, that's why. Can't handle the heat."

"Thirties as in Celsius, idiot."

"Bah. Celsius. Who even uses that?"

"Every region, except one." Isole smiled smugly back at him. "So so backward."

"Which one?" Riven asked.

They all stared at Cormac.

"I was, uh, born in Unova. We use the other scale there..."

"Wait, the F symbol on the signboards? I saw that in Slateport too."

"See, I told you they used Fahrenheit somewhere else." Cormac grinned. "You're full of shit, Ice Queen! It's not just Unova then, hah."

Isole snorted. "Maybe they use it because Hoenn gets so many Unovan immigrants seemingly unable to grasp the idea of what Celsius is? In case you didn't notice, they use both there. Your region is the only one that uses the other one almost exclusively. Let's not even get started with metric, that _almost _started a war once."

"Do you always kill my moment, Ice Queen?"Cormac frowned.

"You set yourself up."

"God," Riven interrupted. "Enough flirting with each other, makes me want to stab myself just watching."

"Please do. I have a perfectly good spork here," Cormac suggested. He waved it in the air.

Riven ignored him.

"I need to know what I'm going to do tomorrow when I head over to Santalune. That's the place, right? Kai told me you went to get me a Nav device so I don't get lost getting there. Wouldn't want to be late and ruin your 'rep' now. I'm sure that'd be just _dandy_ for your boss, the red headed devil incarnate."

Isole blew out an exasperated breath, using her queen to violently knock out an enemy knight. "I'm going to ignore your comment at the beginning there, but yes, we did get you this." She took out a phone sized object out of her bag and all but flung it at him. Riven caught it with a slight oomph, flipping it open. "It's a holo caster. You'll only be able to contact us and any number within Kalos, but no interregional calls, in case you get any _ideas_."

"Oh, I have _plenty_ of ideas."

"Good, because I don't trust you enough to let you carry them out," she smiled sweetly, watching him open up the phone. "You're familiar with one right?"

He stared at it for a few seconds."How do I turn it on again?"

"_My god_. Green button. Push it. It has a power sign. Two years here and you still can't operate a holo caster even though you _owned_ one?"

"That was a joke," Riven deadpanned, pushing the on button. "Wanted to see how you'd react."

"If that's your sense of humor, I'd rather take someone who makes lame puns." Her expression twisted into mild horror. "Actually no, I take that back. I'll take dead and dry."

"We're similar then. Ice is as cold as death," Riven shrugged. The caster lit up, showing the home screen."Phones. I hardly ever used mine anyway."

"Not even for pictures? I hear taking pictures of your food is a thing."

"That's a _stupid_ habit. Why do people do that? Last time I tried looking at my pictures I ended up changing the language settings to something ending with an -ese?" Riven explained, "Bunch of unintelligible symbols. Nothing but nonsense, who even uses that?"

Kai choked on his tea.

"I think it's a good idea that thing's untraceable," Cormac remarked to Isole."Captain tech-savvy here might find that useful, considering his tech skills are the equivalent of a _six _year old'_s_. Actually, I think a six year old's are better."

"I will punch you," Riven warned.

"Try it," Cormac sneered.

"ENOUGH," Isole ordered. "Stop flaunting testosterone everywhere. It's sickening. You're going to be stuck together for a good year, so strap in and shut the hell up. Why do I have to live with three guys again?"

Cormac smiled lecherously. "Heh, look at the silver-lining, you can get attacked on all-"

"Finish that and _die_," she hissed, smiling icily. Riven and Kai both took a step back as frost bloomed on the floor.

"Mercy?" He pleaded, giving her his best baby Furfrou look.

"Keep your perverted comments to yourself." She looked at Riven. "As for your assignment, I'm pretty sure Kai gave you most of the details already. It's fairly simple; go to Santalune, meet up with Viola, and check the place out. Assist them with taking down the pokemon, get paid, and leave. Easy."

"Yeah," Riven nodded. "Why do I have a sinking feeling of dread, despair, and rapidly approaching physical pain or trauma? I don't want to get hospitalized again. Getting impaled hurts just a bit, second to stubbing your toe."

"You'll be fine." She waved a hand. "It's probably just a wild Yanmega or something."

* * *

_Just a Yanmega? Right… Does she realize how fast those things are? Easy. I'm sure it would be if I had some damn pokemon with me_, Riven grumbled, en route to Santalune City. He'd left the Lumiose gate two hours ago, making it about halfway towards the city, according to his holo caster.

Cursing his situation, he looked up at the sky, a beautiful blue stained with wisps of white below an admittedly much too warm afternoon sun. He wiped the sweat off his brow, taking in the scenery of route 4.

Fairly strange layout, considering he hadn't expected a hedge maze to be spread out across its entirety. It almost looked _too clean_ to be a route. Gardeners trimmed hedges and ferns, battling occasionally when on their breaks. Beginner trainers scurried up and down the road, challenging practically anything that moved to a battle. They somewhat seemed to know what they were doing, so Riven guessed they had all beaten Viola, or were coming down from Lumiose like him.

The more fearless trainers kept staring at him, eyes issuing unspoken challenges as he walked past. Some of the braver ones came up to him asking to battle, but were disappointed to find out that he had no pokemon to battle with, so his trip went largely undisturbed. The hedge maze was fairly impressive, but since he was on a task, and didn't feel like sticking around longer than he should, he went straight through to Santalune. Traversing routes took substantially less time when avoiding battles and having no pokemon to battle with.

Arriving in Santalune some time later, he checked in at a nearby hotel Isole and Cormac had arranged for him and changed clothes. Putting on his facemask, he headed down to the gym. One peek into the gym convinced him that traversing the spider web of shit Viola had going on in there was a complete waste of time, so he informed the doorman about the "urgent" business, and to contact the leader immediately.

She came out of the gym shortly after trouncing a poor boy and looked up at Riven, slightly intimidated by the all black attire and facemask. Her look only deepened as she saw the rather large case behind his back.

"Ummmm. Hi? Are you the, uh, guy? That they were going to send, I-I mean…" She stammered, watching his hands as well as his waist for any signs of weapons or pokeballs. "They said you'd come soon but I didn't know when so-"

"Calm down, Viola," Riven said, gesturing with his hand. _Sell it. Pretend to know what I'm doing and it should be enough. _"I know mercenaries have certain reputations, but a ruthless merc wouldn't be taking a job helping rangers now would he? But that isn't important. Where are they?"

"They're in the ranger outpost near the Santalune Forest." Viola swallowed. "...That facemask makes you look really ominous."

"Is that not the point?"

"Ummm… should I answer that?" Viola asked, shifting her feet. Her eyes were fixated on anything but Riven's. It was kind of funny actually, seeing how uncomfortable people got when faced with an ominously dressed individual with a mean look and imposing presence.

"Probably not." Riven shrugged. "Fill me in on the way, my partners didn't tell me much, I'm afraid. They said to ask you. So, care to show me the way, Viola?"

"Y-yes!" She agreed, leading him toward the forest after she changed her clothes and geared up. For the first gym leader, she had an awful lot of spare reserve pokemon. Probably her "real" team, not the ones she used for gym battles, just like most of the beginner leaders.

Viola trailed ahead of him, taking pictures for god knows what reason. Riven admired how similar the Santalune forest looked to the Petalburg Woods. From the sun obstructing canopy of the trees to the rays of light shining through the dimly lit shadows, it very much reminded him of where that pack of Ariados nearly murdered him. Although… it was a bit troubling that was the strongest memory he had of the place.

"Erm, what's your name?" Viola asked abruptly, putting down her camera. "If you don't mind me asking? I just, you know…"

Riven shook his head, distracted by a Spewpa that was eyeing him with curious intensity. "Pardon me, I was a little distracted. What did you say?"

"I asked what your name was," Viola repeated, uneasy. "If you don't mind, that is."

"As far as you know, my name is Maximus Prime, Bob, or Fluffykins. I don't really care." The blonde looked downcast, her eyebrows furrowing. Riven walked up next to her, waving a hand. "Look, it's nothing personal. I'm not trying to be an antisocial dick here, but the anonymity comes with the job. Just safety, that's all."

"Y-yeah, I get it," she said quietly.

They walked absently, the only sound able to be heard was the sound of wild pokemon scampering about and fletchlings chirping in the trees.

"How much further?" Riven started, feeling a bit bored. "These are fairly large woods, you could easily get lost here. Bit nostalgic, actually."

"Really? This reminds you of a place? Where?"

"Petalburg Woods."

"Oh! You're from Hoenn? I've never been there myself, but my sister has. Are the woods as beautiful as they are here?"

"Sure. Best part was the pack of Ariados that tried biting my face," he chuckled. Amusing to him, but not to Viola, who looked like she got blindsided by a brick.

"Ummm…" She trailed off.

"I have a bad sense of humor."

"T-the outpost is an hour's walk straight ahead. I'm just going to go… over there." She stuttered, speedwalking ahead and fiddling with her camera lens. She pretended to snap photos, probably to ease up the discomfort.

Riven noticed her unease and the way she kept sneaking suspicious looks at him. He held back snickers, this was so fun."Viola."

"Yes?"

"You're not used to dealing with my kind, are you?"

She stopped to look at him, then grimaced, shaking her head. "No. We- the league- has only turned to mercenaries recently because of the increasing pokemon attacks and the rangers being spread thin. Beginner trainers getting killed scared the league, and that it happened in the Santalune forest…"

_I wasn't expecting cheery rainbows to fly out of her mouth but damn, that turned grim really quick. _"Increasing pokemon attacks?"

Green eyes held faint surprise. "You haven't heard? Increasingly strong pokemon have been ending up in places far from where they should be, and we don't know why. The rangers have been trying to fight them, but these pokemon are much much stronger than the regular kind, and very aggressive. So now the gym leaders have to help, especially after… _that_."

_Explains why a group of Scyther wanted to make me into a carving figurine_."But even the gym leaders aren't enough, so they turned to the best worst thing," Riven concluded. "Not sure if that's a wise decision, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Can't complain though, it's money."

Still, it bothered him considerably. How could the League expect the gym leaders to handle someone else's job? That was like asking someone to be a scout and a frontline fighter simultaneously. It just couldn't be gym leaders couldn't be everywhere at once, they had duties in their respective towns. They weren't respected for no reason, after all.

However, it spoke volumes about the state of unpreparedness the League both in Hoenn and in Kalos were experiencing. No contingency plans or backups- practically a recipe for disaster. There were many things wrong with the system at the moment, and the glaring weaknesses of it worried him greatly.

And if they let things go as they were…

_Sinnoh. The _definition_ of spiraling straight into shitstorm._

As for not having enough rangers, it was a by-product of the absolutely horrid volunteer based system of recruiting. Living in secluded outposts in the wild and patrolling routes while holding back in battles must have been counter-intuitive to the trainers that made up their recruit majority. The danger involved in fighting those aggressive pokemon must have turned off many potential rangers too, further dwindling the pool of would be recruits. Running the risk of dying did that to people. At least ones that weren't used to getting killed on a regular basis.

_Can't be helped_."This is one of those monster pokemon, isn't it?" Riven asked, tone bleak.

"Yeah."

"Fun. You said they normally aren't that strong. How strong is this one? Like a trained pokemon?"

The blonde breathed out again, shoulders drooping. "Worse… Victory road level, maybe high gym circuit level at the least? It's still way above anything the rangers can handle. Or me by myself. And it's already repelled attacks against it. So many hospitalized people and pokemon… That's why we called you."

"As pokemon bait?" Riven snorted sardonically.

"Huh? Of course not!" Viola blurted out, waving her hands as if apologizing. "The woman I spoke to said you had years of experience fighting extremely aggressive and deadly pokemon. She said you were a professional and that you've done this before, so we didn't have to worry about you."

_Don't have to…?_ Riven's eyelid twitched. He laughed darkly to himself. _Expendable. I missed being expendable. Who doesn't?_ _Damn it, Ice Queen. Just because I fought war trained pokemon doesn't mean I'm looking to get myself actively murdered. D_efinitely_ going to suck_.

When they got to a compound further into the forest, they were greeted by rangers wearing red berets emblazoned with the Kalos ranger emblem and matching red uniforms. Riven got some uneasy looks and suspicious stares, but they let him pass, probably as uncomfortable with letting a mercenary walk into the building as Viola was.

Coming to a planning room, six rangers were standing around a circular table, drawing plans. They noticed Riven and Viola walk in, giving them pause. An older ranger with a graying beard saluted her with a curt hand gesture, followed by the other five.

"Viola," said head ranger Sargos. "We were waiting for you."

The gym leader gave him a small smile and introduced herself to the others. She saw them watching Riven and swallowed. _He looks so… out of place. I better do something before one of them says something to get him angry. I don't know what he's carrying in that case._ "Ummm, this is… erm…"

"Prime," Riven said plainly. "Just call me Prime."

"Well then, Prime, I suppose you're the specialist the League sent over?" Sargos said, sizing him up. "Must be hot in those clothes, with how humid it is today."

"In hindsight, bringing black was probably not a wise decision," Riven admitted. _Look menacing, they said. Sure, if the air didn't feel like hot soup._

"I'm sure it wasn't. But where are my manners? I'm the head ranger, Sargos. These are my enforcers; Targis, Pierre, Aline, Volma, and Andre."

Riven nodded at them.

"We will be the ones taking on the aberrant," Sargos continued. "You will assist us in quelling this beast, correct?

"Aberrant… Is that what the rangers call these monster pokemon?" Riven asked, eyebrow raised. "Interesting term."

"Yes. Since the attacks started, they've started to be referred to as aberrants, due to their deviance from usual behavior. Is that an issue?" Sargos asked, still analyzing him with those aged eyes.

The two men stared at each other for a few seconds. Riven closed his eyes, chuckling silently. "No. It's just- haven't you ever wondered if this is what pokemon are truly like?"

"Of course not!" Volma refuted, appalled. "Pokemon are friendly creatures!"

"She's right. Pokemon aren't like this, that's why these are deviants and have to be stopped," Aline agreed. The others nodded, determined. "They're just angry."

"Because they're different from what you perceive to be normal, you think they're deviants?" Riven glossed over them, steely eyed. "You keep saying 'quelling' and 'stopping'. But when I look at you all, I can't help but feel that you think these aberrants can be trained, and reformed. Well let me tell you why that's wrong. And why you've failed at stopping it so far."

"And why's that?" Targis asked carefully. He was holding just a little tighter onto his rope coil.

"You think pokemon are friendly creatures?" Riven grinned viciously beneath the facemask. "You can't be more wrong. Domesticated pokemon are friendly. But wild ones? There are no rules in the wild, and if these aberrants come from the deep wilderness where trainers don't dare venture, then you have to abandon that train of thought _right now_. I've seen what some of them can do to people. Flamethrowers that melt skin and bone, reducing them to nothing but black ash. Fangs that rip and tear muscle and flesh apart, and the messes they create. It's not a pretty place, no matter what you believe. These things are out there, and they're _vicious_."

The rangers looked positively horrified, enough to remain in astonished silence.

_But Pokemon bred for warfare are far worse. And judging by the state of this world, no one has seen them for three thousand years. They're lucky._"Tell me, rangers, how many pokemon have you killed?"

"None. My rangers don't kill pokemon," Sargos said sternly. "Hmph. I should've known better than to have trusted this malicious cretin for this line of work. All of you want to solve everything with as much violence as possible, just because it's easy. We believe in mercy. Unlike you."

"Viola," Riven called, flexing his fingers.

"Yes?"

"Remember how I told you that I felt nostalgic about the woods?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Well I feel nostalgic about something else." Riven took off the case, setting it down on the floor. He unzipped his jacket, removing it and also setting on the floor. The other rangers warily clutched pokeballs and their rope coils, waiting for him to do something drastic.

But he didn't take out a knife, or a gun, or even a pokeball. His hands grasped the lower hem of the shirt and lifted it upwards, taking it off completely. Riven stood in the room, bare-chested.

Instead of surprise, both Viola and the gym leaders stared in shock. The mercenary that had just took off his shirt stood in the center of the room, showing the worst scars they'd ever seen on a person. A jagged vertical scar ran from clavicle to waist, with various other jagged scars from similar cuts and gashes. They were treated, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that the wounds must have been severe, possibly life-threatening.

"My first day of being a trainer, I was walking to Oldale, watching the surroundings with my team behind me. Sun was nice out. Blue sky, white clouds. Pokemon running up and down, just like any beginner trainer route would be. And then-" He shook his head, admiring the irony. "Then I heard this buzzing. And where this buzzing went, parts of the forest got shredded to pieces. And all at once, things went to shit." Traced a finger along the largest scar. "Scyther. An entire swarm. The same swarm that killed _three other _trainers two months _before _that. The one that almost killed me and my Absol. I spent ten days in the hospital glued to a bed."

Viola paled. _Ten days? So little... Is he lying?_

"I barely survived. And so did my pokemon. I was lucky. I had weapons. I could defend myself." Riven looked at Sargos in the eyes, gaze piercing. "I had swords. Those other three trainers? Those trainers that your aberrant killed? They're the same. They didn't have swords. They didn't have any weapons at all. Their pokemon couldn't protect them, so they died. And you know what the rangers did about that swarm? Absolutely nothing. If I hadn't come along and ended them before they did me in, they would have killed someone else. And the cycle would have continued, turning on and on and on."

The rangers looked at each other, swallowing.

"So be their swords."

They looked up at Riven, unexpected surprise in their eyes.

"Be the swords that slay the monsters that prey on the weak. But remember." He unzipped the case on the floor, brandishing his own, its razor edge shining in the light of the room, pointing at Sargos.

"What a sword strikes, it cuts. It hurts. It is _not_ a tool of mercy. It's made to kill, nothing else. A sword without an edge is not a sword, but a useless piece of metal. No better than a metal stick." He put the blade away. "If you let this aberrant live, it will kill again, and on whose hands will that blood be? On the monster? Or the ones who let it live?"

Riven turned around, swinging the case on his back.

"We don't want another Sinnoh on our hands. It wouldn't be good for anyone. Don't let the cycle continue. Break it. We shouldn't waste any time." For a split second, Viola swore she saw a flash of red in his eyes. "Let's go hunt us a monster."

* * *

**Rather short. But I will have another chapter up sooner this time. You might have expected action this time, but you'll get your due next time, I think. Maybe.**

**Dzk: Yes, it was fairly obvious. I was aware a long time ago. Dramatic irony is a thing. The readers know, but the characters don't. However, the full story isn't there. Isn't that infuriating? Heh. Heh.**

**Seas: Keep up! Loads and Loads of Characters. A protagonist doesn't make up the story himself, and since most of the canon characters are pretty much rooted in place most of the time, I can't have them pop out at will. Only happenstance, so OCs it is. Hopefully, they don't end up static characters, even though sometimes that isn't a bad thing.**

**Vera: Thank you! **

**About battles and type weaknesses**

**The problem with translating gameplay elements into a story is factoring in logistics and how these attacks would play out in a supposed real battle. As with all battles and fights, how something does depends on a large host of factors. If a rock type were to be chucking rocks at a dragon type, the pokemon throwing the rocks would have to know how fast to throw the rock, where to lead the shot, how fast the dragon is flying, is it being attacked, and how high it is. In a non controlled environment(which is more or less standard in this story), many things fly out of the god damn window. No pun intended.**

**The dragon isn't confined to a specific area, or to any rules for that matter. It'd be like shooting a bebe gun at a flying sparrow. It's possible to hit it, but it'd be damn hard. Unless the trainer is a seriously intelligent mathematician that can calculate trajectories like lightning, or the pokemon is a god damn genius, those rocks aren't going to hit anything. Unless of course, it's rock spam, but that's just hit or miss tactics. So, while in theory a certain type is more effective than another, in a logical perspective, speed and tactics are far more important. And to quote Erwin Rommel, "****Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success."**

**After all, what good is hitting like a truck if you can't hit anything?**


	44. Monsters

**Sorry for any grammatical mistakes. **

* * *

Forests were beautiful. There was no denying that. But they were also frightening. Things hid in the shadows, in between the leaves, the trees, and everything deeper you went, the worse it got.

This time was no different. The coverage of the trees thickened, blocking out most of the light, rendering visibility minimal at best- at least for the others, whose eyes couldn't see in the dark.

The darkness didn't affect Riven in the slightest. In fact, it eased the strain on his eyes that the usual daylight put on them, meaning less squinting.

Stopping in a clearing, the others watched as Sargos held up a hand, signaling a stop. Scanning the area with a quick sweep of the eyes, Riven concluded there were no threats in the immediate vicinity… Yet. The enforcers were tense, judging from the clenched jaws and rapid breathing. Viola wasn't much better, shifting her weight on both legs as she waited, wary green eyes trying their hardest to make anything out in the light.

It was understandable to be nervous. Riven felt it himself; it wasn't often he fought an Elite Four tier pokemon. Especially not one who'd already put several rangers into the hospital and killed some of their pokemon at that. War trained pokemon were as strong if not stronger perhaps, but he had an army backing him up before, willing to kill and get through with it. These people though… they hadn't killed once in their lives. Not dependable enough to deliver the finishing blow. Any hesitation meant death if this thing was as strong as it was rumored to be. He couldn't afford that right now.

Yes, they had discussed strategy before departing, but from experience, the best laid plans often went to hell the moment something unexpected occurred. Walking into this blind made things far worse. They were outside the "aberrant's" lair in the dark, about to fight a substantially stronger opponent on its own territory. For all intents and purposes, this was a _terrible_ idea.

Still, the difference in taking the thing out or it taking them out was how well they could cooperate. Viola insisted that Riven and the others get used to their respective teams, so no confusion would go down in the middle of the fight. The rangers had a balanced assortment of types, but not many they could use in the present location. Fire types would be a bad idea for a fight in the middle of a forest, and they couldn't risk using physical based pokemon, for fear of them getting killed. The only exceptions were pokemon who could take a pummeling and stall for time- like a steel type. All things considered, that limited their choices to a few bug types, some water and ice types, and grass types. Hardly any powerhouse pokemon, and with the difference of strength in the ranger's pokemon, that lessened the offensive power Riven had to work with- which wasn't too high in the first place.

Grimacing about the daunting chances of success, he drew his sword, looking into the darkness ahead. The rangers stood ready, pokeballs in their hands. As they tensed, red eyes glinted in the black, menacing and crazed.

"Get ready," the mercenary warned, "it's com-"

A glimmer of purple light shone in the darkness of the forest.

_That's- _Riven reacted, just managing to kick Aline to the floor with a boot as he backed off.

A dark pulsing blast of energy cut forth, obliterating the grass and ground below it, narrowly missing Riven and Aline and slicing through a section of the forest behind them. A cascade of dirt and shredded grass rained down on them, followed by a cloud of dust. As the dust cloud cleared, black wisps of darkness rose from the tortured ground, contrasting with the sudden influx of light from the fallen trees felled by the blast.

The humans remained rooted in place, stunned. Sargos and the other rangers observed the sheer destruction that the attack had caused, rendering a part of a once lush forest into nothing but a heap of logs and debris.

"Pokeballs, now!" Sargos ordered. Several flashes of light followed, revealing a Greninja, Scizor, Roserade, Kabutops, Weavile, and Heracross. Viola let our her Surskit and Vivillion.

Riven picked himself off the ground, lifting Aline up with a hand.

She held the lower part of her back, grunting in pain. "You kicked me right in the kidney. A tackle would have hurt less! Mercenaries… ow."

"You're alive. I'd rather piss blood for a day than be dead forever," Riven retorted, kneeling down to hold a hand over the dark wisps rising out of the ground. Something had drawn his attention to them, almost like a magnetic pull would a stray piece of iron. As the wisps enveloped his fingers, a feeling of pure, boiling rage came over him, reaching into his ears, his thoughts, whispering-

_INTRUDERS MUST ALL DIE. ALL INTRUDERS. ALL HUMANS. DIE. FADE AWAY AND DIE. DEVOUR IT ALL._THEIR_ ANCIENT. STRENGTH. DISCOVERED. DESTINY. TASK. BLOOD. JOY. SATISFACTION._

Riven pulled his hand away, head swimming in dark thoughts, seeing faint traces of red in his vision. He shook his head, swallowing hard. His eye burned furiously, but he withstood it, shutting it closed.

"Mercenary, what's wrong with you?" Pierre asked, keeping an eye on the angry pair of red eyes glaring at them from within the darkness.

Holding his head with both hands, Riven coughed."Argh… I'm fine but the pokemon… It-it's not just angry. It's completely _insane_."

"I'm not even going to ask how you guessed that, but if it's insane, why the warning shot? If you could even call it that with a quarter of the forest fucking gone! And more importantly, why isn't it attacking _now_?" Targis pointed out.

The mercenary stood in deathly silence, giving them a grim glance. "Joy. Satisfaction."

"Arceus… It likes _playing_ with its food," Sargos snarled, letting out a small curse. "Just like in the reports of the victims. The lucky ones were crushed with a single hit. The others… Good god… "

"You mean _that's_ going to happen to us?" Viola gasped, laced with dread. _Is this what being a gym leader means? I have to fight this? Just like that girl in-_

"Focus," Riven snapped, calm brown piercing through terrified green. "Don't lose it now, Gym Leader. If you do, you _will_ die, Viola. That goes for all of you. I know you're scared, and there's nothing wrong with that. But you need to fight through it, or I promise you that you won't live to see tomorrow." He fell into a ready stance, holding his sword with both hands. "It's coming out now, I can see it. Targis, get your Greninja placed somewhere advantageous. Take note that it can see in the dark, so don't try to sneak up on it. Same goes for you, Pierre and Volma. Your Weavile and Kabutops are fast, take advantage and hit from a distance."

"And the rest of us?" Andre asked.

"My Scizor and Aline's Heracross will try to fight it head-on, buy some time while the rest of you weaken it with ranged attacks. Andre, your Roserade should try to poison it, it may slow its movements," Sargos said carefully. _I don't know how that mercenary is going to fight with just a sword, no matter how big it is. Against a pokemon, it might as well be just a stick. He's going to get himself killed. Does he even know what he's doing?_

Riven held up a hand and closed a fist, ceasing all talking.

Red eyes came closer and closer, the thud of heavy feet on the grass approaching slowly. When it came into the clearing, a mess of black and white fur could be seen, dyed red with what appeared to be dried blood that hadn't come out in days, followed by a deep, feral growl. Razor sharp claws and teeth shown in the afternoon sun, dripping blood from its interrupted lunch.

It was a Pangoro. A towering _hulk_ of a Pangoro.

"_Merde._" Andre cursed, making a prayer with his hands.

"And that was a curse. I'm not too familiar with Kalosian monstrosities. What am I missing here?" Riven asked, dreading the answer. From the size of that thing, not pretty. Not pretty at all.

Viola and the others exchanged looks in a mix of horror and shock. She tapped Riven's shoulder with a shaky finger. "Prime… Pangoros usually don't break seven feet. T-that one's n-nearly twelve."

_Merde_, Riven muttered mentally, eyes as wide as the moon. "Doesn't matter how big that thing is, just means we have to wear it down. Somehow."

"Somehow?!" One of the rangers sputtered, moving away in a different direction, like the other five. The Pangoro seemed to have enough of stalling, beginning its approach.

Viola, Riven, and Sargos remained in the aberrant's line of sight, serving as a target for its aggression. If it was angry, it was predictable. With the other rangers and their pokemon attacking from multiple angles, the Pangoro's attention would be split, buying them more time and taking the heat off of the frontline pokemon.

The Pangoro lumbered towards them, snarling and growling in a guttural tone. It barely seemed to notice the other rangers splitting off in multiple directions until a salvo of highly pressurized water shurikens buried themselves into its hide, drawing a faint trace of blood.

The dark pokemon roared, enraged. It slammed both of its glowing white fists into the ground, breaking the ground beneath it.

"Formation!" Sargos bellowed, shooting a hand forward. His Scizor nodded at him, launching itself off the ground to slam a metallic claw against the Pangoro's face, followed by another, and another. Spears of ice shot out of the darkness of the trees just like the shurikens, the blurs of both Greninja and Weavile dancing through the trees.

But even despite taking several metal claws, water shurikens, and icicle crashes, the twelve foot monster barely even flinched. One of its arms began to glow, colliding with the Scizor's steel carapace, drawing white threads of light out of the bug type. The threads coiled around the Pangoro, healing whatever wounds it had sustained, as well as restoring its energy.

"It knows Drain Punch," Viola gasped quietly, watching Sargo's Scizor trade blows with the Pangoro. It was holding on, but given the restorative property of each punch the Pangoro landed, eventually the Scizor would lose- taking down their frontline defense. If that happened, they probably _woul_d be dead.

"That may be a problem," Riven noted, still monitoring the situation. "Those ranged attacks aren't doing a damn thing. Not even the Roserade's razor leaves are doing anything. We can't have the Scizor take any more hits, it's like an energy vending machine to it."

He paused, furrowing his brow. A few seconds later, the grip on his sword tightened.

"You're actually planning to go out there and fight it?" Sargos asked incredulously, looking at Riven as if he'd grown three heads.

"No choice," Riven responded, unsure and not at all calm. He began to run ahead, glancing back at the others while he ran,"Tell your rangers we're switching to light hit and run attacks! Attack. Dodge. Attack. Dodge. All right? Viola, try to restrain its movements - Where is that damn Heracross?"

His question was answered as the Heracross rocketed out of a nearby tree and slammed a green horn of light into the Pangoro as it was about to hammer arm the Scizor. The creature stumbled back, roaring in pain before grabbing onto the Heracross' horn with both hands, snapping the mega horn like a twig and launching the blue bug pokemon into the nearest cluster of trees. The Heracross crashed into nearly seven trees, the force of the throw snapping them like toothpicks, sending a shower of splinters outward.

Aline screamed.

Sargo's Scizor however, wasted no time and took advantage of the distraction, letting loose a bullet punch at the larger pokemon's face, then opening a claw, its edge glowing a distinct green hue. The Scizor slashed diagonally upwards in a flash of green light, cutting skin and the tissues underneath with a powerful X-scissor. Fresh blood stained the Pangoro's dirtied fur, serving only to enrage it further. With one powerful swing of the arms, it tossed the Scizor aside like a ragdoll, red colored steel scraping along the forest floor as the power of the blow carried it along further and further. After a beating like that, the bug pokemon was barely able to pick itself up. Sargos hurried to its side, giving it a hyper potion so it could continue fighting.

Riven closed in, slashing at the monster's knees with his blade. The edge cut in deep, he could feel it, but he didn't have enough time to react as a fist came at him, just managing to dodge before it caved in his skull. He barely had enough time to swing again as an onslaught of punches struck at him with a speed he least expected from such a towering brute. Desperately trying to dodge them all, Riven angled the blade as a fist came at him, digging in deep into the Pangoro's knuckles as its fist collided with both Riven and his sword.

The impact nearly broke Riven's wrist and sent both sword and wielder flying out onto the ground, just like the Scizor before him. Rolling to his feet and covered in dirt and grass, Riven picked his bloodied sword up, panting heavily. His right leg and arm burned from the friction and cuts caused by the ground.

_It's fast too? I couldn't… even get another hit in… _If he had had the time, he could have used the sword to cut its tendons and ligaments, near the knee, ending the battle prematurely. If he had- which didn't mean shit at this point, since it seemed that the Pangoro had come equipped with a natural born set of moves to utterly wreck anything's shit and laugh whilst doing so.

_Fucking great._

Riven went over possible strategies again while he caught his breath._ Power won't defeat this thing, since we have little better than a dry noodle at the moment in comparison to that thing. It made that Scizor's defense a joke with only a couple of hits. A _couple of hits_. The power difference is too high... We need to strike fast, and strike hard. Vital areas, neck and-_

A sharp zing brought Riven out of his thoughts- another set of shuriken's and razor leaves assaulting the enraged pokemon, and this time, the Pangoro began to charge up another dark pulse. The attack reached maximum in a second, discharging in a howling screech, obliterating part of the tree covering that the two speedster pokemon were using.

Riven's eyes widened again, cursing. _It went for the trees? Trying to get its attackers out in the open, where they can't dodge as easily… Smart. Strong, aggressive, and smart. This is a wild pokemon? What in the fuck…?_

Eager to repeat its chain of destruction, the Pangoro opened its mouth to charge another pulse when a large blade raked down its face. Volma's Kabutops weaved through attacks, slashing with a grace and speed not often seen in rock pokemon. But for all its speed, it only took one of its blades to get impaled into the Pangoro's side for things to take a turn for the worst. The rock type desperately tried to free itself, but to no avail.

A drain punch hit the Kabutops directly in the chest, and a jarring crack of bony plates could be heard. The punch sent the pokemon face first into the floor, where it stayed, flailing uselessly in pain. The Pangoro placed a clawed foot on the Kabutops, pressing down with all its weight, causing more cracking and breaking. The downed pokemon stopped gasping in pain, unable to make noise from so much pain. The aberrant raised a fist, ready to deal the finishing blow-

"Volma! Return him, now!" Viola yelled across the clearing. Her Vivillion released a brilliant beam of energy, blasting the monster back with a signal beam. In the cloud of smoke and dust, Volma returned her pokemon back to its pokeball, tears in her eyes.

"Please be okay… Please be okay…" she pleaded, holding the red and white sphere in her hands. Droplets splashed onto it, as she fell to her knees.

"Volma get back!" Sargos ordered. "Retreat, both you and Aline! Your pokemon are too hurt to continue! Go back to the outpost, get out of here!" The two rangers nodded, anguish in their features.

Riven and Sargo's Scizor jumped back in to cover their retreat, the latter focusing on defending, while the former cut gashes into the pokemon's hide with his sword.

"Prime, Sargos, try to stall it more!" Andre shouted.

"Already on it!" Riven shouted back, rolling out of the way of another punch.

"I'm going to have my Roserade charge up a solarbeam. I need time!" Andre explained. "Viola can you help them cover me?"

The gym leader nodded, "Surskit, go help Prime and Scizor hold him off. String shot might slow it down. Vivillion, use poison powder! Guys, don't breathe it in, wait until the Pangoro does first, then I'll blow it away!"

Riven and the Scizor nodded, backing off when a cloud of purple powder descended upon them. Breathing it in, the Pangoro roared once again, throat stinging from the noxious powder. With a flap of its wings, Viola's Vivillion blew away the poisonous spores, allowing the others to resume their attack. Icicles and shurikens of water struck the aberrant as well; it was good to know that they still had some support left and that the dark pulse from earlier didn't hurt them too much. They were part dark type so it made sense.

Still… the drain punch was a major pain in the ass. The constant healing made things a lot more complicated than they should be, and the Scizor was starting to wane again. The poison definitely slowed the Pangoro down, but recovering substantial amounts of energy from the hits it was getting off made it a game of who could hold out the longest. Whatever damage they were doing was being outdone in a couple of hits. They needed to hit the monster with a devastating burst of damage so it wouldn't be able to recover in time. A solarbeam could work, but without a type advantage, there was no telling how effective it would truly be.

Sparing a quick glance backward as he thrust the point of his blade into the Pangoro's leg, he noticed that the Roserade's solarbeam was about nearly done, its glow nearly fully green. Ducking under a hammer arm and slicing into a bicep as the Scizor intercepted another Drain punch, Riven had enough time to deliver a multitude of slashes into the dark type's chest, splattering his clothes with crimson fluid. The injured brute let out another mighty roar and slammed a fist into the ground, releasing an explosion of force and debris, knocking Riven and the Scizor back.

An aqua jet blasted out of the trees and into the Pangoro, staggering it momentarily. Flipping back from the attack into the air, the twirling silhouette of a Greninja threw out several glints of sharpened water blades, combining with an array of floating bubbles it had set up in its flip. The bubbles didn't burst. Far from that- the water attacks melded together, forming explosive water shurikens, violently bursting highly pressurized water as they struck the Pangoro. The explosions tore fur, skin, and muscle. At the same time, ice impaled it, gleaming white spears jutting out of its arms and legs, restricting its movement.

Riven could only smirk as a small blue bug skittered around the massive pokemon, silver threads spewing out of its mouth, immobilizing the hulking beast in a cocoon of steel like silk.

Time to strike.

"Fire!" Andre commanded. His Roserade did as instructed, firing a radiant beam of sunlight that pierced through both air and darkness, heading straight for the Pangoro's heart.

The other rangers almost breathed out a sigh of relief. This was it. This was the end.

Or so they thought.

The Pangoro burst out of the cocoon seconds later, furious. But in its mouth was a flaring ball of energy, pulsating and shifting in size. Any trainer would recognize that move. _Anyone_ should recognize that move.

"HYPER BEAM!" Pierre cried out. "GET DOWN!"

Screaming followed. But Riven felt only the concussive blast of air and sound, an indicator of the clash between two beams. Lifted off his feet, he made contact with something hard, presumably the floor or a god damn tree.

The lights went out.

Pain. Head swimming. A piercing noise in the ears. Smoke. Dust. The smell of burning wood… Something was burning.

Riven staggered to his feet, dazed and disoriented. One of his eardrums had ruptured and he felt bruises along his body, along with numerous scrapes. He picked his sword up, watching as smoke rose from burning trees. The rangers had split up, trying to fight the Pangoro and put out the fire simultaneously.

He stood for a moment until Viola shook him, yelling out his name, panicked green eyes looking into his.

"…..!"She said.

"P…ri…!" She said again.

"PRIME!" She repeated, voice finally coming through. She shook Riven's face as his senses came back to him. "There's a fire, we need help!"

"Vi…ola?" Riven snapped back into reality after the threat of a fire registered in his mind. He could hardly hear a thing, but smell? He could definitely do that, and it smelled of shitstorm. "Get whatever rangers we can to put out the flames! If that fire isn't stopped, it's going to kill a lot more than just us. Send Targis and Andre; you, me, Sargos, and Pierre are going to fight that thing, keep it off them."

"Sargos can't," Viola said quietly. "His Scizor got severely hurt trying to protect us. The clash shattered his protect and he finally gave in to his wounds. We're lucky he didn't die defending us. The metal on his body was dented and _awful_."

"_Fuck," _Riven snarled, clenched fists turning white. He walked forward, limping heavily, feet feeling like they were about to split into two."Doesn't matter, we have to try. We need to kill this thing. Now."

"But you can barely stand!" Viola pleaded.

Riven gave her a sharp look from the corner of his eye. "I'm on a job, Viola. I'm not going to give it up now. Besides…" He picked up his sword, removing some dirt with his hand. "I need to build up my rep somehow, right? Going to be one hell of a campfire story…"

Charging forward again, Riven jumped at the Pangoro, slicing into its back and diverting its attention away from the others. Rolling away from a backhanded hammer arm, he got off cut after cut on the monster, riddling it with wounds. The Pangoro swung down to the floor again, but Riven jumped on its other arm, evading the explosive blast and landing on the other side- slashing twice across the back, before sidestepping. Using another arm to try and sweep him off the floor, Riven rolled forward, hearing the swipe of air below him. Landing in a crouch, he brought his blade in and sliced into the pokemon's leg, cutting deep into the calf.

A little while ago, a move like that would have gotten him killed, but the poison was taking its toll, slowing its movements enough that Riven was able to effectively dodge and slash, outmaneuvering it and attacking while staying on the evasive. Damn tiring though.

Taking a gamble, Riven didn't sidestep the next drain punch; he stepped _into_ the Pangoro, piercing his sword through the monster's bicep and pushing _outwards- _destroying the muscles and nerves in the arm. It flopped to the side flaccidly, blood trickling down the length of the arm. The ground beneath the Pangoro was stained a deep crimson, and its body littered with wounds and stabs, but despite its injuries, the giant pokemon refused to stay down. A clawed hand grabbed Riven from behind, and flung him back onto the ground again.

Riven picked himself up slowly, his breathing ragged from overexertion. His legs shook and quivered- no longer containing the energy to dodge. The Pangoro's bloodied fist raised high into the air. "You _are_ a huge, fucking asshole," Riven chuckled darkly. "Going all in, huh? Nice try but-"

It was at that moment that a string shot held the fist back, and with lightning speed, Viola's Surskit darted around once more with its thin blue legs, covering the giant creature in silk. No longer having the strength to break free, the Pangoro charged another hyper beam, willing to take both its attackers and it down with it.

Staring directly at the glowing ball of destruction, Riven smiled, grasping his sword tighter. He held it out, in position. A Weavile appeared above the human in a cloud of darkness, a spear of ice in its claw. It shot it forward, directly into the Pangoro's throat.

Sharp steel thrusted forward and the monster lifted its mouth but for a single moment.

"It's checkmate, you stubborn son of a bitch."

A sword pierced its heart, and a hyper beam roared into the sky.

As the monster finally fell dead, Riven smiled in exhausted happiness, falling onto his back- holding a hand out to the tinted orange sky.

It was sunset. And they had _won_.

* * *

Opening his eyes after an emergency post-battle nap, Riven saw the dying smoke of a fire successfully quelled, and a feeling of satisfaction rose within him. Limping over to the Pangoro's corpse, he pulled his blade out, cleaning it with a flick and a wipe of his torn up shirt. The rangers spotted him and ran over before he collapsed on his feet.

"Are you all right?" Viola asked, holding Riven up.

He stared at her for a moment. "What?"

"Are you all right?"

"Am I right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's bleeding from his right ear, Viola. He probably can't hear very well. The blast must have ruptured one of his eardrums. Good god, you actually killed it with that metal stick. You're insane, mercenary," Sargos stated. "Let's head back to the outpost, we need to assess our damages and check out how Aline and Volma are doing. Their pokemon were significantly injured, to say nothing about my own…"

And damages there were. The Heracross, Kabutops, and Scizor had to be put into intensive care, having sustained the most severe wounds. Broken bones, internal bleeding, warped metal- all fixed with some time in the ward, but it was a testament of the strength of the aberrant pokemon. The beginner trainers stood no chance.

Thankful for what Riven did, Viola offered him a ride back, asking one of the rangers to give him a ride back to Lumiose. He gladly accepted, and was dropped off in front of Kai's house several hours later. Twisting the key into the lock, he opened the door and stumbled inside, almost passing out on the floor.

The other three sitting at the chess table were surprised to see him in such a state- dirty, bloody, and more than a little rough around the edges. "My god, you look like hell spit you out," Cormac stated, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "The rangers told us the job was done and that you carried it out amazingly but holy shit. Did that aberrant do this?"

"Speak up, one of my ears is blown out," Riven said, pointing to the right one with a finger. His eyelids felt like lead. "So… tired…"

"Isole, take him into the bath and wash him," Cormac ordered, as if he was in charge.

"W-what? Why me? Are you nuts?"

"No. A dude cleaning another dude's body is _weird_. It's just an unspoken rule. And the poor guy is barely conscious! Unless you want to do it, Kai. I mean if you do, I'm not judging or anything. It's perfectly fine to like dudes."

Kai shook his head furiously. "I concur with Cormac's statement. And no, I do not like men."

"See? Two to one, majority rules."

"But!" She protested. "He's going to be naked!"

"Isole. You're a big girl, you can handle it. I _really_ don't want to touch him, and if he goes to bed like that, he'll stain everything. And he smells like blood. Do it, please?" Cormac asked nicely. "It's nothing sexual, just don't touch his thing. I've seen enough stuff to know what happens when-"

"OKAY. You don't need to finish that. I'll do it," she sighed. "But you're buying lunch for the next week."

"Sure thing, now go get him cleaned before he stains the floor red."

Isole put her hands on her hips, looking the sleeping boy over. "I hate living with nothing but boys." _I hope he doesn't notice_.

And he didn't. During the time Isole was washing the overwhelming amount of dirt, blood, and grass off of him, Riven was quietly snoring, blissfully unaware of it all. Isole grimaced at the scars, and felt even less approval of what Nera was doing. Seeing the kid like this was painful.

Clothing him up, she had Kai help lift him back to his room so he could sleep. They decided he should have a week or two of rest after something like that, and no one disagreed.

The next morning, Riven woke up to an aching body, partial hearing loss, and two beady black eyes staring back at him. He stared for a moment at the Fletchling perched on his stomach, tilting its head in confusion.

He blinked.

"Vizi."

"Ling."

"What are you doing here?"

"Fletch. Ling," she said, turning around and moving her beak in the direction of the birdseed, or lack thereof.

Riven squinted at her. "My body feels like it's going to break into pieces and you want food? You entitled little shit. Shoo." He moved his body to get her off and instantly regretted it, a wave of pain ringing through him.

The small red bird flew a short distance away and chattered furiously at him, until Kai came in, tea in hand. "Ah, you're awake. I heard Vizi distressing. I figured you must have told her something unpleasant. She's a nice bird, if a bit pushy."

"Why are you whispering?" Riven asked, grunting again.

"I'm not," Kai smiled ruefully. "You just have some hearing loss. Although I'm sure you're perfectly aware of that yourself."

Riven nodded, snapping his fingers near his ear as testing.

Kai smiled once again and put a package down near the table.

"What's that?"

"Your payment. The rangers were impressed… and a little appalled that you were crazy enough to do what you did. But even I have to admit that I question your sense of reason myself."

"Isn't crazy part of the job description?"

Kai nodded. "Yes, I guess you're right. Hah. You'll have a week or two off to recover, then there should be more contracts for you. Open the package, that money is yours. Isole's words, not mine."

He did, counting the bills as his eyeballs nearly popped out of his skull. "This is…"

"A lot?" Kai finished. "Yes, try not to spend it all in one place. Lumiose can be enticing to the consumer's eye. Many a tourist have burned holes in their wallets here. Tragic."

"Oh, I know what I'm going to spend it on," Riven cackled darkly, glaring at Vizi. "But first I want some juice. I've been craving some juice. Can we go get some juice? Gargh… after I can walk without complaining, that is."

"There is a juice shop nearby. I heard they make smoothies too. Should I invite Isole and Cormac? They're out gathering information on the next job, but they'll be back soon."

Riven stared out the window, running his fingers along the stack of cash in his lap. "Yeah. Sounds good."

"FLETCHLING!" The bird chirped loudly.

"By the way, are Fletchlings edible?"

"No."

"Damn."


	45. Leads

"Coffee, Steven?" Birch called out, lifting the mug in his hand. "I had my assistant buy some the other day. Quite good, want some?"

The former champion, however, paid no attention, focusing his gaze intently on the electronic reader in his lap. Furrowed grey eyebrows became deeper as his eyes skimmed through its contents, oblivious to the world.

"Hellllooooo?"

He blinked, the professor's voice finally reaching his ear canal and filtering into his brain instead of passing right through to the other side."Sorry. You were saying something?"

"It's not nice to ignore people, Steven. You've been so caught up in reading- whatever it is you're reading- and skipping sleep that you've been wearing yourself thin." Birch set down a hot coffee mug in front of him. "Relax a bit. French vanilla with cream. No need to thank me."

"Thank you, Birch." _I'm going to need it after what I just saw here…_ Taking a sip, he held out the electronic reader towards the professor, placing a finger where the important details were. "I just can't help it. Look."

"That's… an excavation finding in northern Kalos?" Birch read, wild brown eyebrows arching upwards. "I get that there are interesting things with the mega stones there and you did take a trip there and got attacked by Rayquaza but-"

"Birch, read the file,_ look_ at the picture of the object _and_ the date it was recorded found. _Fantastic _doesn't quite do it justice."

He did, eyes widening as he saw the picture of what was unearthed. A black metallic wedge with a lustrous sheen was shown displayed in a glass case, glowing white markings running along the length of the metal. From the shape, it seemed to not have one, but two halves, like the piece of a key of sorts. But that wasn't what hit Birch.

"The markings-" He stuttered. "They're…"

"The same as the azure sphere, yes," Steven stated, a light giddiness in his voice. "It's certainly not an evolution sphere, but it bears identical markings as an object found _hundreds_ of miles away, in _Hoenn_."A smile broke out of the man's mouth, like a child's after being given a chocolate- a _golden wrapped chocolate_."With the timestamp being twenty thousand years ago- knowing this, Birch, what can we conclude?"

"A _global society_," Birch whispered, almost breathlessly."…I think I need to make some calls," he said, holding a hand to his forehead. When Birch saw Steven's face, it had the look. _The_ look.

_Oh no_, Birch gasped. The last time Steven got that look, he went off in search of the origins of mega evolution and nearly got blown to bits by Rayquaza. The one prior to that was nearly getting buried alive in a cave near the Forinan wilderness looking for rare stones."Don't do it, Steven. Don't. If this is the Kalos I know, it'll already be up for auction. Please tell me you're not thinking of buying the thing, are you? Your father won't be pleased about spending an enormous sum of money for some piece of metal."

"No- you're right. I won't buy it," Steven nodded absently, seeing the logic behind that. "I'm going to try and see if I can convince the buyer if I could study it for a while. Although… I don't think my former champion status will help me in persuasion." He pursed his lips, thinking. An idea popped into his mind and he raised a finger."I do know the gym leaders. Depending where the auction is happening, I may be able to get something of value."_ I need to see this. I need answers. _

The professor raised a finger, then set it down, swallowing. "You do that. I'm going to go get something to help numb my mind, then maybe pass out."

Shaking his head, Steven took out of his phone, skimming through the contact list. "Let's see who we can get…"

After calling in a few favors and some references among the gym leaders, he finally managed to get Clemont to spill, as well as keep an eye on who bought the piece. A private auction between the nobility of Kalos had already been set up for it, and the bidding prices were… outrageous to say the least. The amount of shapely 0s weren't sexy, but terrifying. Nevertheless, the gym leader had (reluctantly) agreed to keep him posted after some prodding, and didn't seem to care as to why a former Hoenn league champion was so interested in a chunk of metal.

_That's good. Clemont never did ask much questions, despite how devoted he is to his inventions… _Steven took another drink from his now cold coffee, making a scrunched face at the taste. He put the coffee down and rested his chin on a fist.

_The city of light… What a beautiful place…_

* * *

_This place blows._

Riven stared absentmindedly out at the street in a reclining chair on the balcony, watching people come and go across Vernal Avenue, counting how many Furfrous he'd seen so far. Well, he stopped counting after the fiftieth one. He picked up his smoothie and took a long drink, then went back to staring at nothing relatively important.

Nice weather was nice.

Sunny. Refreshing breeze. Blue sky. White clouds. There was nothing to complain about.

Except for being bored out of his _god-damned_ mind, that is. A large sigh came out of his mouth after watching a white cloud shaped like a Seviper drag itself along the blue, slowly losing its shape gradually. There weren't any current jobs for him, and he'd already visited the marketplace to buy groceries. The day before he'd visited the Prism tower, which did serve to lessen the boredom. Key word, _did_. The gym battles were sort of exciting, but they left a bitter taste in his mouth and reminded him of Gale. Every passing day he spent here made him feel progressively like more of an ass. He wondered if she even remembered him anymore. To say nothing of his pokemon.

_What'll I tell her? Oh, I've been gone doing deeds for a morally ambiguous group of mercenaries, here's some money! Screw it. One thing at a time. I'll deal with them when the time comes. If I still can, that is. _

Hmmm. No annoying Fletchling around to give him grief either. That was a small relief. No Vizi shrieks were a good thing, but he'd gotten used to the aggravating little shit. He blew out a breath and ran a hand down his face. The others had stepped out to do whatever it was they did, leaving him alone in the house with nothing to do. Extending a leg out, he eyed the blinking tracker on his leg and scowled.

_When is this going to come off?_ He reset his Furfrou counter. _It's already been six damn months. _Nera had called a few times, probing to see if Riven was in a divulgatory mood. Obviously, he told both her and her proverbial couch to go royally fuck themselves. Hence, the tracker still latched onto his leg, and even more surveillance after he'd been questioned about why he was spending so much time in the shadier parts of Lumiose. Like he was going to tell them. Cormac and Isole weren't too bad once he got used to them but still, they were loyal to the red devil.

His mind drifted off, thinking about the fight with the Pangoro. As strange as it was, he kind of missed almost dying. After taking it down, he'd felt incredibly proud and a little exhilarated, like winning a battle back when he was in the army. He laughed darkly.

_I think I might be insane. No- I am insane. Or maybe I'm sane but I just don't realize it? And there's another Furfrou. Ouch. Just came out of the groomer, poor bastard._

The glass door to the balcony slid open behind him, followed by the shuffling of feet and a very half-assed attempt to scare him. Normally, Riven would have reacted, but he was so lethargic that he didn't even bother to check who it was.

_Oh, it's the idiot."_What do you want?" Riven asked lazily. "I'm busy doing nothing important. Go away, it's hard work."

"Huh. I was half expecting you to jump me with a knife or some sharp object," Cormac smirked, sitting down in the chair next to him. He set his wine glass down on the chair's arm, staring at the bored individual sitting across from him with bemusement. "You nearly broke my shoulder the last time I tried scaring you."

"I could have, but I didn't feel like it," Riven responded flatly.

"I bet, you look bored out of your mind."

"It's worse than it looks. There's _nothing_ to fucking do. And I can't leave the city unless I'm on a job." He pointed at the tracker. "Thanks for that. So I've been here counting Furfrous for the better part of two hours. I need to do something. Any-" Riven stopped himself. "No, not anything." _Sometimes, you need to learn how to shut up before shoving your foot in both your ass and mouth simultaneously._

Cormac frowned."Shit. You should have kept going. I was getting ideas. Errand boy, personal butler, punching bag…"

_Case in point._"Yeah, well, too bad. Where did you get back from?"

"Ironically, a client."

"Really?"

"Maybe." The older mercenary shrugged, chuckling lowly. "Who knows?"

_Is that shit-eating grin his default face?_ Riven shot him a look of disapproval. "You're an asshole."

"And so are you," Cormac retorted. "I can just keep up with your sarcasm. Sometimes you make Isole want to kill you herself. Although personally, I'd rather have her suffocate me with my face in between her thi-"

"Cormac."

"Yeah?"

"There's a naked girl running across the street," Riven deadpanned, pointing a finger to the outside.

"Really?!"

"No. Tell me about the client."

"You're a dick. Are you sure you're not one of us?" Cormac asked, disappointed. "Sound awfully similar. You should be worried."

"True, maybe I'm an asshole. No- I am an asshole. I just don't want to be part of _the_ _asshole brigade_ Nera has going on. She doesn't understand the meaning of 'I'm not going to tell you shit', does she?" Riven scoffed. "So, did you get a client or not? If not, then shut the hell up and drink your nasty wine in silence."

"Hey, I'll have you know that Kalosian wine is the finest wine in all the regions. Well worth the money. Oh, but that's right! You're not old enough to drink. Poor baby Riven." Cormac let out a holler of laughter, clapping the young man on the shoulder. He was not amused.

"Do you want me to stab you?" Riven warned, lip twitching from the comment. A knife spun in his fingers from seemingly nowhere. It was amazing how he seemed to materialize the things like it was some sort of super power.

"Where do you even stash those things…? And how many of those do you even _have_?"

"Sixteen. What? I like knives. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside." He still held the knife up, a nonplussed look on his face.

Reaching over, Cormac slowly put Riven's hand down. A large sigh and another shrug came from Cormac. "Okay, I've got bad news, and not so bad news."

"Great."

"Right. The bad news is that we got complaints. Lots of them."

"Complaints? Do mercenaries get those?" Riven asked, incredulous. "I thought being a mercenary was all freelancer business, and doing questionable things for people of ill repute. Or have you conformed to the law too? Kind of lame."

"Remember what I told you about reputation? And how it means whether you get contracts or not?" The other mercenary leaned in close, an aggravated expression on his face. "Well I meant it. And ironically enough, all the complaints are about you. I know you've been busy these past six months with jobs around Lumiose-"

"I hear a but," Riven said, feeling lethargy creeping in once again. Lecture mode. Fantastic.

"Lot of buts. One, when we told you to get information from that Veyan smuggler guy, we meant _talking_ to him. Not sending half of his guys to the hospital and breaking _both_ of his wrists. You also trashed the damn place and left blood everywhere from knife lacerations."

"He attacked me, with a pipe. Do you know what you can do with a pipe?"

"I want to know what the fuck _you _were doing," Cormac demanded. "Everywhere you go, there's either broken limbs or a trail of blood. We're asking you to tone down the violence _just_ _a_ _tad, _Rambo. There are rumors going around, mentioning your name. Well, your self-appointed name. And Viola hasn't been too successful explaining to Clemont about how virtuous you are. That's why we're shit out of work lately. _Nobody_ wants to talk to us. At least not about domestic problems."

"Domestic problems?" Riven repeated, confused. _Do they mean outside of… No. Not again_. "Cormac, you know I hate those kinds of assignments. I made it perfectly clear last time."

"Yes, yes, I know. You don't like ranger assignments. You nearly died once and the last one you went on they had you use a wingsuit to ground a Noivern. That _must_ have been traumatizing." _Wish they recorded it…_

"You have _no_ idea. I still have the wingsuit too. They gave it to me as a 'souvenir'. God, they were assholes." Riven hissed. _Why don't you try and plummet to the ground hundreds of feet in the sky while on top of a Noivern that can't fly because you just stuck a knife in its wing? It's so fun!_ "Crazy bastards… remind me of her…"

"Ooooooh. Remind you of that girlfriend of yours?" Cormac chided. "Circuit said she was really pretty. Well, he said both of the girls he saw there were pretty hot. He got a little jealous, you know. Ben said you were shit with women but I don't believe that for a second."

"She's not my girlfriend, Cormac." Riven corrected, giving him a pointed glare. "We're not anything like that. Just friends."

"You friendzoned_ her_? God. So she's available, right?"

Three knives flew past Cormac's face and into the wall behind him. He turned around and saw the three objects firmly embedded into the wall. "Three? Where the hell did you get three from?"

"Next time it's going to be five. And they'll go straight for your happy place. One's bound to hit a ball. No more fun time for you. Then we can see _your_ luck with women."

"Okay, okay. No more jokes about your not-girlfriend. I know it's a touchy subject, and I'm sorry you can't get back to her still but I don't call the shots." Cormac plucked one of the knives out of the wall and fiddled with it. They remained silent for an awkward minute, until the older mercenary spoke up, curiosity in his voice. "Say, Riven."

"What."

"Just wondering… What was the old world like?"

"Where's this coming from?" Riven asked. The question was out of the blue.

"Curiosity that killed the skitty."

"Didn't Isole tell you?"

"She basically said that it was cold and there was lots of ice."

"Figures," Riven muttered. "She spent all of her time in that ice city of hers; Raksa's hardly left their lands and the city's location in the mountains made it nigh impossible to siege, even for the Rose clan. They could have if they wanted to, but there weren't any hostilities between them, they were an entirely neutral bunch of cowards... I'd imagine she didn't know much about how chaotic everything was outside, or even how it looked. Very, very sheltered."

"How did you see it then?" Cormac inquired again. "You traveled a lot didn't you? Errrr, chased- but still. Nera and the twins told me bits and pieces, but they didn't know much either."

"Well, when I was a kid, I read once that there used to be grand cities, almost as big as the ones now. Whether that was true, I don't know. Those stories were ancient even for _us_, if you can believe that. They were probably already sacked and stripped of every usable material already. In our time, resources were scarce and the houses were shite. That's why seeing that beautifully manufactured signpost near Littleroot kind of surprised me. But if I were to give an example-" Riven thought briefly for a moment. "Comparing the two worlds, this one is like grabbing a bowl full of sugar biting into it, then drinking a barrel full of soda."

"Shit, _that_ bad?"

"That bad. I hadn't felt a bed in a good six or seven years until I woke up in a hospital bed in Oldale, and that's after nearly getting turned into shredded cheese. And the food… You ever taste wild Seviper meat? You practically need to drink two pitchers of water to get it down your throat. Oh and did I mention everyone hated us and wanted us dead? The Roses even burned down the forests so we wouldn't be able to hide, even pushing us north so the cold could kill us instead. Bathing? What's bathing? When I finally got the chance to clean myself, the dirt peeled off like snakeskin."

"Geh." Cormac was taken back a bit. "Remind me _never_ to want to be you. That's some fucked up stuff right there. Is that why you have a sweet tooth that can rival a kid's?"

"Hey, when you can finally get confirmation that your sense of taste _works_ after years of eating nothing but roots, dry meat, the spare berry or two, and nuts- you tend to cherish food. I gorged myself the first few days here. Got seconds, thirds, fourths and the cupcakes- MY GOD, the cupcakes."

"You didn't get that as a prince? Nera told us you were like nobility of sorts." He scowled, recalling his last dealings with a pompous Kalosian noble. "God damn nobility. Dealing with viscounts and dukes is the most annoying thing you can ever do, let me tell you. It's like climbing a mountain barehanded."

"I've done that before," Riven said simply. "My combat teacher made me do it to build finger and upper body strength, I was practically a stick. Didn't get much in the ways of food in a shitty rundown town after my home city burned down."

Cormac blinked at him.

"What?" Riven cocked his head nonchalantly, sipping from the smoothie.

"It's just you saying, 'my home city burned down', and 'I've done that before', so nonchalantly. This is normal for you? You're starting to make a hell of a lot more sense and I don't know whether to be off-put or genuinely terrified."

A shrug answered him. "Different times then. And being from a great family back where I came from was a little different from what you're probably thinking."

"Did you get lessons in fighting and the arts?" Cormac asked, rolling his eyes. "You did, didn't you."

Riven was about to interject, but bit the inside of his cheek instead. _Damn._

"You're quite the tragic prince archetype aren't you?" He mused, tossing the knife back to its owner.

"Guess it's more common than I thought?" he said, flipping the weapon in the air.

"It is in fictional stories and legends, but in real life? No. The kings and princes are usually dicks."

"That's comforting," Riven shrugged. "My dad- father- was the warlord. We didn't have kings, not really. Only the best commander lived in the 'palace' of sorts, and my father just happened to be really good at battle strategy. Come to think of it, my family name had the most warlords of them all. Cerul kind of became a name associated with ruling, I guess?"

"And your mother?"

"She was basically the one who ran the city. And she was not a useless 'Queen', by the way. We taught everyone to fight. She used to fight with my father on the frontlines until they, you know, fell in love. Wow, that's creepy." He twitched at the thought of them doing "stuff". "Cerul's also had to have blue eyes. Don't ask me why it was a thing, I never got a clear explanation."

"But you're heterochromic."

Riven gave an obvious nod. "Can't believe the shit I got for that. Seriously, kids are assholes."

"Hmmmm. Blue eyes only huh, that's pretty weird. Still, it's fairly progressive compared to our history. Nera told me that Rosan women couldn't fight or hone their abilities. And she had nothing but sisters."

"Maybe because the Roses were a gigantic bunch of phalluses and had their heads permanently stuck up their asses? Nah, the Roses had allies and a large expanse of land. Their women didn't need to fight. Stupid idea but I could care less what those bastards did. All I know is that we didn't have a choice." Riven laughed ruefully. "You don't have time to be picky when everyone wants you dead. We had no allies, no one to support us. So women fought on the frontlines too. My CO was a woman, actually."

"Really? You took orders from a girl? You can barely take orders now."

"Yeah, but-"Riven fixed him an incredulous look. "She was _scary_, man. Best hand to hand fighter in the entire army, no one was able to beat her in spars. I was better using a sword, but she was good- really good. Deadly with just about every weapon, but her favorite weapon was a dagger she always carried around. Watching her fight was something…"He looked longingly at the knife in his fingers, starting to tremble. He paused, pocketing the knife after what seemed like an eternal minute.

"You sound fond of her."

"I thought of her as a mentor, a_ crazy_ mentor, but a mentor nonetheless. She always knew what to do. I didn't. Still don't."

"Did she… you know?"

"Yeah... I knew it would happen someday… but I didn't think I'd ever be ready for it. I was kind of hoping I would go before she did, but things didn't happen that way. We got ambushed on the plains somehow- outnumbered and with nowhere to run. So we fought and drove them back, but -" He shook his head.

"A pyrrhic victory," Cormac nodded.

"Too many of our own died that day. She took a blade to the gut. Died in front of me." He paused. "I had to bury her. Along with almost all of my squad."

Cormac was deathly silent, surprised at the person he was witnessing right now. _Guess that snark is his form of coping. Heh._ _Show me a sarcastic person, and I can see a wounded person. We all have our scars. Some just run deeper than others._ "I probably shouldn't be asking this but, you ever want to go back? Isole and Nera thought about it, but I'm not sure if you would."

"…No, I don't think I ever want to go back. There weren't any happy endings there. There never will be," Riven replied quietly, noting the tranquility of the clouds as the clash of steel, claws, and flame rang fresh in his mind. Traces of anger and hatred filtered up, but he suppressed them. _I'm not there anymore. I'm _not_._ _Forget it_. The sounds of battle ceased._"_Can we talk about something else?"

"Yeah… I think I've had enough depressing stories for today too."

"I agree."

Both men chuckled.

Cormac waved a hand, trying to dismiss the depressing air around them."Anyways, my curiosity is sated for now. Onto more uplifting matters. I did manage to find a job for you. But it's less of a job and more of an… investigation, per say."

Riven's gloomy mood was vanquished, replaced by intrigue."Per say?"

"Yeah… Apparently the owner of Parfum Palace is paying some serious cash for someone to investigate a series of… incidents."

Hmmmm. Parfum Palace. Yes… that was the popular tourist location full of expensive gold lined _everything_. It brought in a large sum of money from tourists who came from the other regions to Kalos, paying exorbitant amounts just to get a tour inside. _Stupid? Yes. Profitable? Hell yes._ He crossed his arms. "Let me guess, deaths? Because if so, then that can't be good for business. I'm going to go out on a limb here- dead tourists?"

"Ehhhhh-" Cormac waggled a hand. "Not so much dead tourists, but it sure is turning their collective pants brown."

Riven winced. "Mauling? Stabbings? What?"

"More like, uh, veggie sliced."

"Veggie sliced."

"As in, chopping vegetables. Only with humans."

Riven winced again.

"Yup. But the problem is, the killings are way too close to the tourist grounds. The only reason the bodies were discovered was because a girl strayed off too far and saw corpses everywhere, _with_ all the messy details. Screamed her tiny lungs out. You can imagine what that'd do to the palace's reputation. Kind of like the shit you're pulling lately."

"You did say build a reputation," Riven deadpanned, "didn't say _how_."

"Oh, playing with semantics? Those are dangerous waters, friend. Regardless, all the attacks have occurred between a rough window of midnight to early morning, around three to four a.m. Interesting thing though, is that all of the victims were actually trying to _break in_."

"They were criminals?" Riven asked, confused. That didn't make any sense.

"Mm-hmm. You would think the late night shift guard would get attacked, but nope. He said that he always feels like he's getting watched, but that's the nature of the job. There's pokemon everywhere. Still, it's incredibly odd that only good for nothings and thieves are the ones getting cut to pieces." _And the ones trying to investigate…_

"Could be Scyther?" Riven guessed. "I've had an encounter with them. A _very_ painful one. Those chitin blades of theirs are sharp enough to cut through a torso if needed."

"No," Cormac disagreed. "The cuts are too clean. Almost like a blade did it. Could be a killer. If it is, then it won't be long before he moves on to someone innocent. We're not police to be handling this stuff, but that also makes us the most qualified. We can offer a more… permanent solution." His tone turned grave. "If it is a psychopath. Don't hesitate. I probably don't even have to tell you that though. We don't have enough information yet to give a definite answer about what it actually _is_, but you should perform some kind of reconnaissance first. You used to be a scout, right?"

A slow nod.

"Good. Check the place out, take a tour of the palace. Here's a map of the grounds and where the corpses were found. There were no signs of blood anywhere but the places in which the corpses were, most likely indicating that they were killed _within seconds_. Not even a trainer could react that fast. There's also no lights there. Whatever is doing this is striking from pitch black darkness. Which is why we need your eyes, Riven."

He cringed. Sure, just send the only person who can see in the dark to investigate a murderer of sorts in a hedge maze. What fun.

_I suppose it doesn't matter. Cut apart though… That's disturbing. Very disturbing. _ He shrugged once and stood up, checking for the twelve knives he had in his jacket, as well as grabbing his sword case. "I'm off then. I'll be back tomorrow… maybe." Grabbing Cormac's wine, he stared at it for a couple of seconds, drank it, twitched furiously, and lept off the balcony, startling a few people below.

Cormac scowled. "We have a door! Use that next time, you uncultured swine!" Shaking his head after Riven shot him an obscene gesture, he settled back into the chair, grumbling about having to refill his wine. "Reckless kids I swear…" Shuffling into the kitchen, he met Isole, who was currently munching on an apple with the enthusiasm of a Miltank chewing cud.

"Did you send him on the Parfum assignment?" She asked, taking another bite. "You did tell him how many people died trying to investigate that, right? That's six detectives and three rangers. Not counting the fatalities that already occurred. I told you to hold off on that and you disobeyed. Do you _want_ him to die?"

"It's not suicide. He's good; he'll be fine. Danger is his thing isn't it? Definitely needs to think about getting pokemon though- reckless, prone to violence, and just being human puts you at a disadvantage." He gave her a sidelong glance. "You had time to get that apple and wait for me to come out. You could have told him the risks _yourself_, but you didn't. Something up your sleeve?"

"Perceptive," she grinned, crunching into the fruit. "I had a talk with Circuit."

"That phallus muncher. What about?"

"Riven's behavior lately."

"You talking about those frequent 'strolls' of his?" Cormac guessed. "Yeah, I didn't find him going into extremely shady and gangster filled parts of Lumiose suspicious _at all_."

"Not just that. I'm also talking about- well… he spent six hours in the same spot in an alley, then _stumbled_ across the western side of Lumiose before getting back. It was really odd, and it's happened like four times this month alone." She paused. "And the sleep talking is starting to worry me."

"Sleep talking?"

"Yeah. Not mumbles either. Like full blown conversations with someone."

"Could be calling someone," Cormac said, throwing up ideas. "Or maybe he talks to himself. He does that a lot on his own. Wouldn't be a longshot to say he does it in his sleep too."

"I thought about that, but his holo caster has only been used a few times, all calls to us directly. No, it's like listening to a person speak over the phone on the subway. You listen to them talk but-"

"You only hear one part of the conversation."

Isole nodded. "And the cold sweats."

"Huh?"

She scratched the side of her head, then threw the apple core in the trash. "I went into his room to check up on him the other night. Fast asleep but he was sweating a river and his skin was cold as ice. Sometimes, he even growls. And the atmosphere in the room just feels…wrong. I got uncomfortable just being in there."

"You talked to Kai about it?"

"Tried. He refused to talk to me." Isole looked downcast, almost sorrowful. "I shouldn't have asked him for this…"

"He's not too happy about Nera wanting to question the kid is he?" Cormac winced. "I knew they weren't on speaking terms but I never thought it'd be this bad. You being here must be making things difficult. You and him had… history."

"That's over now, Cormac."

"Sure it is. That's easy for you to say; you're the one who left without saying anything, you icy bitch," he said bluntly. A dagger of ice pointed towards his throat, feeling the cold sting of the blade on skin. "Hurts, but it's the truth, Isole. He was your mentor and almost like a brother to you. You living here must bring back memories for him. I just don't want to get caught in the crossfire if Nera and him decide to have _words_. Even if I work for her, I don't trust her very much, especially with how ruthless she is. Should've heard what she suggested. Yeesh."

"What did she suggest?" Isole asked. "Don't tell me she-"

"No, she didn't. Ben and I told her why that was a very, very _stupid_ idea. You want to keep someone working for you by using their friends? You don't harm them. Usually they're complacent and follow orders to the letter because they're _kind_ and afraid of the repercussions. Also, they tend to be naïve and not very bright. Something Riven is _not_. We're at an impasse and he knows it." He scoffed. "What happens when you try the same thing on someone who lived their entire life telling their enemies to go shove it, while paired with the fact that they care very little for their own safety?"

"It's like trying to make tea at the top of a mountain," Isole muttered, crossing her arms. "This is problematic."

"Yeah, so she tried taking it to the next logical step. Which _usually_ works under _normal_ circumstances. Key word, normal."_Hmph, logical isn't always synonymous with intelligent._

"Hurting his friends?" Isole looked shocked, and a little uneasy. "Are you serious?"

"It's Nera, after all. Don't look so surprised. But if she went through with it, there's no way it would end well for us. That much despair and hatred… That negativity? It'd be bad, really bad. Knowing how he is, he _wouldn't stop_. Crazy bastard didn't then, he won't now. Loosening the few screws he does have tight in his head would be unwise. The only way we're going to get him to spill is if we give the freedom he desires."

"But if we do, he might just disappear. He has no records, or name anywhere. He could become anyone. Tracking him down would be impossible."

"I think it's a risk we have to take. Although, it's not the most popular opinion." Cormac gripped the bridge of his nose. "And we might have fucked everything up already with how everything was handled. If I was him, I wouldn't trust us either. It'd be a small miracle if he continued working with us- small meaning practically non fucking existent. Any luck tracking down what we're looking for?"

"Yes, I did. After dealing with those annoying and perverted nobles, I got a place and information about the artifact."

"Did they grope you?" Cormac's eyes turned deadly. "If they did I'll break them. Those lovely curves are mine. Only I get to massage those lady lum-"

She kicked him in the shin and elbowed him in the ribs. "They're going to auction it out. And there's no way we have enough money to buy it. We're going to have to get _creative_."

"Shouldn't be a problem," he mused, massaging his shin. "Where does Nera get this information about what exactly we're looking for?"

"The psychic, remember?" Isole reminded. "_The ancient pieces of man, shattered in halves, one in a King's land, the other in sky's hand, wreathed in dragonfire's wake. _Ridiculous riddles, but the first part is talking about _K_alos, at least that's the only place with a recognizable history of kings. And two halves to form a key… but a key used for what? So unclear, we just have to find them and see with the psychic says, maybe then we can get some concrete answers and not confusing riddles."

"I'm kind of bothered only Nera knows who the psychic is. And how do we know that the psychic isn't lying?" Cormac asked. "Seems fishy is all. I definitely wouldn't trust someone who talks in riddles, and I've read stories like that, it never ends well."

"This isn't one of your adventure novels, Cormac. So far the psychic hasn't let us astray. Least not deliberately. It did lead us to Dewford, but Riven got there first, and is stubbornly refusing to share what he found."

"Good point. But why is Nera so obsessed with finding out what happened? Riven told me that this place is leagues better than the old world, and from what he looked like describing it, let's just say I'm happy I wasn't born there. Happier still that I wasn't one of Riven's people, dear god that was some fucked up stuff… My real question is why all the resources and time spent searching for dusty old relics that _may or may not_ be related to the world you once knew. I don't get it. We're mercenaries not archeologists."

"You don't understand," Isole said plainly. "You were born here. I mean, I did come here when I was really young but- to get taken to a world that isn't your own… it just- it _bugs_ you. Like a splinter that just won't come out. None of what was left behind exists today and it's _weird_. I think about it all the time and just wonder…"

"Maybe these are things man isn't meant to know?" Cormac suggested, putting on his best conspiracy theorist impression. "Or maybe, not meant to _rediscover_?"

"Cormac, go get drunk, you'll make more sense."

"Hey, just throwing it out there. So this artifact. Where is it being auctioned?"

Isole let out a small smile, heading to the balcony, and pointed north.

"Oh." Cormac said. "Well that's convenient."

* * *

_So much gold it's hurting my eyes_, Riven thought, blinking furiously at all the gold laced paintings and décor within the palace.

It had taken him the better part of a day to traverse the route to Parfum(skates were great) and it was already late afternoon. The gatekeepers initially questioned why he was coming so late since the tours had already ended(there weren't any because of the incident, he just guessed the gatekeepers were full of Tauros shit), but one mention of the attacks and he was let in without so much as a word.

The guide nervously gave him a layout of the palace and its grounds, growing more unsteady as they approached the maze. At one point Riven had to move the poor guy back to the main section of the palace so he wouldn't have an anxiety attack. He guessed that this was the guide that witnessed the corpses. Pieces of the corpses, anyway.

Making his way through the maze to get to know the layout, he came across the statues of the Unovan Legendaries. He stared in fascination, wondering just how powerful a legendary was. If they were powerful enough to send him and others through time, then what did the others do? The sun was trickling downwards, which meant there was still about another five or so hours until the time window for the attacks began.

_Guard was right. It feels like the entire field is watching me_, Riven noted, the hairs on the back of his neck rising on end. Walking through the maze in the darkness of the early morning gave it an entirely different atmosphere. _Creepy_ couldn't quite describe it.

So far, however, he hadn't seen a single pokemon. There was no sounds of scurrying in the grass, or the telltale clicking of bugs, nor the fluttering of wings. Just… silence. And yet, he felt eyes on him. Opening up the map and using his holo caster's screen as a light source, he found his position on the map. The murder sights were just a little further. They were a bit spread out, so he had to check them all out. They all seemed to be in the dead ends of the maze too. Strange.

When he arrived at the first location, he didn't feel anything particularly off. The grass was stained from the blood, but that was understandable. The bodies had long since been removed. Judging from the flaking, it was already a few days old. The other locations didn't have much of merit either, just stained grass and the smell of iron.

_There's nothing here, and no pokemon at all. This might be a person. He's probably watching me now. I should head to a more open area, leave less room for sneak attacks._

Riven vigilantly stood near the Reshiram statue, looking for any threats. A rustling of ferns came from one of the hedges, and he instinctively drew his sword, the zing of metal piercing the silence of the night. He pointed the blade at a small creature with matted grey fur and two large ears. It stopped in its tracks, staring at him with beady, lifeless purple eyes.

"The fuck...?" Riven put the sword down, staring at the small pokemon. It didn't show an ounce of apprehension or wariness. It simply… stared. After five minutes of standing in the same spot with the same look on its face, he was starting to get a little uncomfortable. "Can you stop staring at me?"

The little creature didn't even blink. In fact, it hadn't blinked at all. Its eyes seemed to look straight into Riven's _soul_.

_Oooooooookay…_ Riven moved his hands forward. "Shoo. Go. Away. Over there," he said, pointing to the other side of the hedge maze. "Please fuck off, I can't keep watch with your creepy little ass here."

The furry pokemon continued staring at him, like it was mocking him. Or maybe it wasn't. It's expression was as unreadable as a blank slate of rock. What startled Riven was when its eyes began to glow blue and a collection of berries emerged from a nearby bush, slowly levitating around the tiny creature. The pokemon slowly turned around, eyeing him as much as it could, and made its way across the maze with its tiny legs and a casual stroll, floating berries and all.

"Now I've seen some shit," Riven said, slack-jawed. "I don't even know what to say to-"

_Swordsman…_

Riven whipped around on heel, glaring into the dark corridor of the maze, sword at the ready. His eyes scanned the darkness around him, seeing only hedges and faint contours of objects. Whatever he'd heard, and oh he heard _something_, it didn't strike him as a human voice. It sounded… disembodied, like a whisper of the wind in a meadow at night, there, but not there. And not at all pleasant. The tone was raspy, deep, and unnerving.

He crouched in expectance, but couldn't help not noticing the grey creature standing on the other side of the field, munching on levitating berries with those lifeless eyes. It was still standing there, looking at him, as if he was some kind of entertainment or amusing sight. Its behavior was starting to raise mountain sized spikes in his paranoia.

_Are you the one doing that?_ Riven speculated. The levitation explained a lot, indicating that the pokemon was most likely a psychic. A very creepy psychic. Everyone knew that psychics were capable of strange things, even simulating poltergeist behavior if they were unable to control themselves, or make people hear voices. But telepathy didn't work on him. Baron tried. There was no way that thing was behind this.

_Steel in hands… Opponent… Test,_ came the voice, this time directly behind him.

Metal swung through the air, a nearly soundless movement, like the blade of an assassin. Riven turned halfway around before falling ungracefully on the floor in a split second effort to avoid decapitation. As he was falling, he caught the outline of a thick, double edged blade the color of freshly spilt blood, its crimson metal a blur in the speed of the next attack. The follow up blade sliced into Riven's cheek, the acute pain of the wound causing him to shut his eyes momentarily.

_Ruler's blood…_

Trying to get his own sword up, Riven lifted it with his hand, but was stopped when what felt like silk wrapped around his arms. Within the next few seconds, excruciating pain raced through his body, his own ability to stand being drained out of him. His body grew sluggish nearly instantly, and even his eyelids refused to stay open. His willpower, his strength, his thoughts; hell, his very soul was being sucked out of him.

_You're not going to take me… You. Will. Not, _Riven ground out mentally, resisting. In a desperate bid with the few seconds he had left, he felt the other inside stir. Dark energy exploded outwards in a violent burst of black wisps, freeing him from the soul sucking touch of his assailant. The world faded to nothingness as he collapsed.

* * *

"Ri…"

_Voices. Kind of annoying too_

"…ven!"

_Huh? Isole, Cormac? What are they doing here?_

Opening his eyes, Riven noticed that he was in one of the palace rooms, the golden highlights of the wall making it painfully obvious. _Wait, what am _I _doing here?_ His handlers were staring down at him, concerned. Not concerned in the parent-ly sense, but more like the-

"What the fuck happened to you?"

-Sort of way.

The younger mercenary winced as a sting came from his left cheek. It seemed that they had already dressed the wound, but it was still fresh- and large enough- to sting. He shook his head weakly, still feeling horribly exhausted."Trust me, I'd like to know too. God, why do I feel so weak?"

"You feel weak?" Isole inquired.

"Yeah, my arm feels like a noodle right now." He looked outside into the courtyard from the bed, seeing the bright rays of the sun blanket the grass and the clouds. "It's daylight out, how long have I been unconscious?"

"Couple hours," Cormac answered. " The keeper found you. And uh… the entire area around you was trashed, like an explosion went off. You were in the center, out like a light with a bloody mug and constriction marks around your forearms. What attacked you? Did you see anything strange?"

"I don't know what did, all I know is that it happened way too quickly for me to get a good look at the attacker. I did look at the weapon though," Riven said, recalling what little details his exhausted mind could muster.

"What did it look like?" Isole asked eagerly. "Could I.D. whoever's doing this."

"It had a completely crimson blade, almost like a sword dipped in a pool of blood and never cleaned. Double-edged. Thick. Looked like a shortsword. I couldn't tell if there was another, I only saw a blur before I got jumped."

"This guy snuck up on _you_? Of all people? I thought you were cautious," Cormac said, disappointed.

"I am cautious. _No one_ is more cautious than I am, there was _something_ going on there. You mentioned if I saw anything strange? Well, there definitely a whole lot of fuckery going on. There was that creepy little shit-"

"What creepy little shit?"

"Uh, a small grey pokemon with these lifeless beady eyes. I saw it come out of a bush and it stared at me for a good five minutes or so, then it just left and went over to the other side and did it _again_."

"That was an Espurr," Isole explained. "They're, erm… creepy. Especially at night. They're generally harmless- at least physically. For your sanity? Fairly devastating."

"Fairly is putting it lightly," Riven said, getting a shiver. "Creepy pokemon are creepy…"

"You see anything else? Or hear?"

"Hmmm. Before I got attacked, I heard a voice. Sounded male, and _not_ friendly at all. I couldn't pinpoint the exact location of it though, it was like whoever it came from wasn't even physically there. And no, the Espurr couldn't have done it, it's a psychic. The reason I got jumped wasn't because I was careless."

No. His caution was on overdrive at the time. He wouldn't miss anything. Usually, when someone approached you, your intuition gives a feeling that something is behind you, whether it's a small tingle, or shivers. On grass, however, a human or pokemon would have made some sort of noise. Even the most light-footed would have made some form of audible sound with the quiet of the maze. The maze had been dead silent at the time, Riven would have heard a pin drop there.

"Whatever attacked me didn't make a sound until the blade swung in the air and nearly separated my head from my neck. I would have heard someone approach me if they were human, and I was the only one there at the time. The Espurr was too but it was on the other side. You could say an assassin, but I've never encountered one_ that_ good."

"I would've said ninja," Cormac muttered. "Sounds more correct."

Isole frowned at him."Ignore the idiot."

"Implying I don't already do that?" Riven scoffed.

"How do you feel then? Apart from extremely tired?" She asked.

"Now that you mention it… I do feel kind of strange." He said, looking up at the ceiling. "I-I can't quite describe it, I feel something inside- it's … flowing." He held out a hand_. Is it like what Will felt? Maybe I should try it…_

He focused his thoughts on the sensation and flexed his hand. Nothing happened.

"Well, that was disappointing," he murmured, fully expecting something amazing. At least Will shot fire out of his hands.

"What were you doing?" Cormac asked, raising an eyebrow. "Trying to touch the stars, about to make some corny speech about your dreams and aspirations?"

"No, you fuckwit. I was trying to see if I could-"A blast of dark energy shot out of his hand as he waved it, startling Cormac and Isole, and destroying a nearby painting, leaving it blackened and ruined."-Do that." Realizing what just happened, Riven grinned up at them.

Like a_ bastard_.

"Call Nera," Isole ordered, scrambling. "Call her _now_."

* * *

**I know this one took three weeks to come out, and it may be kind of slow, but I've been very busy as of late so forgive the lateness/sloppiness. Enjoy the chapter, I'll try to update sooner next time.**


	46. Black Flow

**Late update, extremely busy with living situation, papers, and exams. Will only get worse once finals hit. I have more written, and I hate to do this, but this is all you will get for now until my schedule frees up some.**

**Or maybe, this might have been deliberately short? Hah. Hah. The truth is a strange thing. So subjective, and always leaves you wondering... is it really the truth? Keep that in mind.**

* * *

_I'm strapped to the bed in my own room_. Riven laughed dryly, darkly amused at how quickly things could turn around from just fine to _Voltorb-in-a-preschool_. One moment he was recalling what attacked him, and the next he was chained to a bed- not even mentioning that not one of the three others were so much as bothered to ask him if he'd like to go pee sometime. Well, maybe Kai but he was a bit busy at the moment. The shouting match he could hear through the walls between the man in question and Isole could probably wake up the entirety of Lumiose- hell maybe even all of Kalos. Profanity abounded and a slamming of tables and other small, fragile objects being flung into walls could be heard.

Granted, the fight _probably_ had something to do with shooting black wisps out of his fingers, he hadn't seen the tone in a room shift from light worry to complete befuddlement mixed with dread and a touch of oh-shit that quickly since… well, ever. Sure, someone freezes the ground with a touch and no one bats an eyelash, but one tiny little blast of darkness and the world turns on its head?

_Tsk._

The darkness confirmed something he'd been speculating about for a while now, ever since Will started shooting fire out of his fingers. On top of that, Isole being able to withstand freezer like temperatures, her sensitivity to heat, and her ability to make instant iced coffee further added to this speculation of his.

Of course he had no way of _knowing_ whether he was a part pokemon or not but it did explain just about… _everything_. Drawing from his short experience as a trainer, and how psychic attacks were effectively a pile of Yanma shit against dark types, that explained the failure to communicate telepathically- and the night eyesight, and possibly his disposition to underhanded tactics.

Well… maybe that last one was just him.

_This… this is weird though._ He flexed his fingers again, visualizing the energy he could feel inside. It waxed and waned, like the tides of the sea, sometimes feeling like gentle drumming or violent storms. What seemed impossible to do beforehand came easily, the power coming to him as he reached out for it, grasping onto the flow and directing it, shaping it. Wisps rose out of his fingers again, but an acute flash of pain akin to a Beedrill's sting pulsed in his head as soon as they did. A short whispering of something could be heard, conveying nothing but hostility and hatred, training and years of instruction allowed him to rein it in; in doing so, however, he lost the connection between the energy- the feelings cut out abruptly, taking with them the wisps of darkness. Riven grunted painfully, placing his free hand on his forehead.

"You look pained. How are you feeling?" Came a gentle voice.

Riven nearly jumped out of his skin, getting a nasty whiplash from the cuffs as he tried to stand up.

At the doorway stood Kai, looking as calm and nonchalant as usual; a very stark contrast from the Kai he'd heard roaring outside just a minute ago. His eyes had small bags under them, and the very muscles in his mouth seemed to struggle barely keeping that tiny smile on his face.

"Scared the hell out of me but otherwise, I'm not fine, being chained to a bed. And my head… feels like I just got stabbed by a needle. A _thick_ needle," Riven complained, wobbling himself up off the side of the bed while trying to calm his breathing. Sitting back down, he examined Kai, eyebrow raised skeptically. "You don't look so well yourself, actually."

"I'm fine. No need to worry about me," Kai replied in dismissal, waving a hand. "Honestly, I'm fine, you do not have to stare at me so skeptically. Nothing but minor grievances."

"Liar. You're practically seething, I can _feel_ it." He chuckled. "Do you need to kick a puppy? There's Furfrou's outside. I suppose you could put them out of their misery?"

Kai shook his head, slightly entertained. "Your sense of humor knows no bounds."

Riven snickered at that. "It's hard to believe someone else wants to rip Nera's throat out more than I do- and, heh, isn't that saying something? She must have done something awfully shitty to you too. Well_\- shittier_, I presume."

"No, not to me directly… But to someone else. Someone I cared dearly for, someone I still care for." Kai pushed himself off the wall, walking up to the front of the bed. Riven noticed he was holding something inside of his robes, but said nothing. "I… I've seen what Nera's ambition drives her to do, and I do not care for it. I cannot accept it, neither her methods nor her ideologies. Don't ever trust her, or feed into her lies. She will not step a foot into my home, or I promise you that she will not leave whole."

Kai's robe opened slightly, revealing a blade in its sheath, thin by the looks of it, but the ornate engravings on it told Riven that it was probably a ceremonial sword of sorts. Whether it was functional or not was hard to tell at the moment, but judging from the look on Kai's face, it was fairly safe to assume it was _not_ for show.

"Isole. She left you for her, didn't she?" He said flatly.

Kai gave him a pointed look.

"Oh, come on. It only explains why she avoids eye contact with you and why your conversations consist of subtle potshots at each other and passive aggressive remarks. And staring… lots of staring. So yes, it's blatantly obvious you two have- well, _had_\- a thing, but a certain _someone_ ruined it, just like she ruins everything else," Riven stated idly, eyeing the design of the sword curiously. "Cormac mentioned she came here very young, and that _someone_ showed her how to become a trainer. I've seen the pokeballs you keep in your closet. You were the one who taught her about training, didn't you, Kai Soun? Elite four contender of the Johto league. Quite the rep you had. You pretty much raised her, and she _left you_. And now she's here again, and you can't _stand_ it."

Kai didn't dare utter a word, his eyes like storms.

"Hah, aren't we just one nice, hateful family?" Riven laughed solemnly, then winced, trying to imagine what that was like while comparing it to his own situation. Whatever way you sliced it, it didn't end well.

Except for Nera.

_Manipulators_. _Nuisances…_ _Everything was so much easier in the army. All you had to deal with was the guy rushing you with a sword or huge fire pokemon trying to make you into toast, not blackmailing, turd-flinging and backstabs_.

He could play this game too, having been maneuvering things himself for a bit with what he was able to get his hands on- information, names, locations, backhistories from a few sources within Lumiose over the past few months- but that didn't stop it from making it any less troublesome.

Maybe that's why Kai wasn't a dick to him. They were both being used by that red devil; himself through blackmail, but Kai through his kindness-a kindness and patience that restrained the anger of betrayal inside. The man had incredible self control, the epitome of calm and collected. But beneath that calm exterior there was always something nasty. Riven could _feel _the man's anger, down to his very bones; a seething anger that boiled underneath the surface, contained but ready to explode at a moment's notice. A volcano, just waiting to erupt.

"My anger…?" Kai's brows furrowed in concern. "Can you feel it? Just how well can you feel it? Describe it to me."

"Hmmmm…. Describe? It-it's like… I don't know, a wave of heat, I guess? The feelings are there and the negativity comes pouring in, the violent thoughts- the everything. There's a mix of other things too, but I can't really pick them apart too well; they're all substantially weaker compared to anger. Bucket of water and paint really… except it's a mix of the ugliest paints someone could find and threw them into the bucket randomly to form an abomination of a color. Felt it as soon as you stepped into the room."

…_Paint? You should see how twisted the color of your ki is, Riven._ "Is it affecting you?" Kai inquired, wary. "As in, you know…"

Riven nodded once, closing his eyes momentarily. "I'm holding it back but it just… pushes at me, intensifying… _other_ _things_. When you were arguing with Isole in the living room, I could feel that too. Both of you. But the strongest was yours, Kai. You're pretty bitter. Question is, why? I couldn't do this before and it's bothering me. I don't want to feel this, I have enough of it on my own. What did that thing _do_ to me?" He looked at Kai, whose eyes darted along the floor, deep in thought. "You know something."

"I know _of_ things, but I lack the exact details or any specifically related information on your people to say that I do in fact know everything. I only have bits and pieces of what _she_ told me."

Riven gave him a flat look. _Yes, I do vaguely know what's happening to you, I just can't tell you right now because of reasons, so I'll come close. _He almost laughed at that, if he hadn't expected such a neutral answer. _Always playing it safe, aren't you?_ "What can you tell me then?"

"What I can tell you is that I do know how Ki moves," Kai stated, seeing the faint traces of Riven's Ki, a faint flow of black arcing energy, surrounded in crimson flicks of distorted- no, twisted, malevolence. "And what it tells me about others."

"Ki?"

"Yes. It is what the Kanton and Johtoan monks call the life force of the world, which flows through all things. Every living being on this earth possesses Ki, and with it, it shapes us," Kai explained, holding both hands up, forming a spherical shape in front of his chest.

"I'm not sure I follow," Riven said, confused. "I can barely keep up with technology as it is. You're going to have to take it a bit slow. Baby steps."

"I assumed as much… You looked like a lost Growlithe in a shopping mall," Kai joked briefly, before straightening once more. "I guess the simplest way to put it is in trainer terms. Fighting type pokemon harness Ki to attack, giving their attacks and moves devastating power. They harness the Ki of the body; appearing bluish white, or yellow at times. Sometimes, extremely talented Ki users can form spheres of it to attack with, eliminating the need for physical contact."

"Aura sphere," Riven concluded, nodding. "Lucario."

"Other pokemon are capable of this, but yes, Lucario is the most adept. This Ki is what gives a fighting type its strength. However, there are two other parts that form the triangle of the self. Each counteracting each other in different ways. Ki is the body, but there also exists a force for the mind, and for the "other"- the repressed self," Kai continued. "Naturally, the mind counters the body, explaining why psychics are more effective against fighting types. The psywaves of an excellent mind user interfere with the Ki flow, weakening the target. Psychic pokemon are like fighting pokemon, but they control the mind, rather than Ki itself. That leaves one more-"

"The other," Riven confirmed, drawing conclusions from his own thoughts. "The dark side of the self, right? The repressed self that everyone loathes. The thing they can't bear to look at, the very thing they hate, they _despise_… their deepest darkness." Riven clenched a jaw, grinding his teeth together as anger welled up inside again, pushing incessantly. Just like his father once said in passing. Everyone hated them. He never understood why, but now it started to make sense- the more sense it made, the worse it made the ramifications of what happened back then. _So that's it then? It was all just a baseless hate crime…?_

"People are afraid of what they don't understand," Kai said carefully, maneuvering with the most amount of tact he could muster. "The darkness is the antithesis of the mind, for it is a conglomeration of the traits a person hates, a manifestation of their fears, their hatred, their primal desires they can't give in to because of society or cultural upbringing. The other is negativity but also passion and desire, it makes no logical sense. To the mind of a psychic, to give into impulse and the more feral natures of the self, it is incomprehensible, and the negativity of the other sabotages the mind itself, shattering the steady flow of psywaves. But as the mind shuts down, the Ki flows to restore order, driving out the other to regain control."

"Fighting beats dark," Riven blew out some air from his nose, a tiny sneer. "Fuck, no wonder that aura sphere hurt. Worst pain I've ever felt in my life. Blew a hole clean through my leg-worse than getting arrows pulled out of my leg… But based on what you're saying, and applying the same logic of pokemon battles, then technically I'm weak to this… fighting Ki, is it? Or fighting attacks anyway. That same thing applying to Nera and the rest?"

"You can put it that way, yes," Kai confirmed, shrugging his shoulders. He paused, raising an eyebrow at a smirking Riven. "You're not thinking of blasting her with a water type are you?"

"Can't say it wouldn't be hilariously effective, but no, that doesn't change the fact I'd get shredded to pieces after doing it. Taking–you-down-with-me is a statement that's not really worth the trouble. Typings though, that's understandable," Riven noted, missing something crucial. "But what does that have to do with me feeling other people's problems, like a psychic? I'm supposed to be the _opposite_ of that. I hardly felt much as it is before."

"Dark pulse," Kai said simply, leaving a small beat of silence for it to register in Riven's mind.

"…Huh?"

Kai resisted the urge to introduce his palm to his forehead. "Don't you read the pokedex?"

"My pokedex was named Charles, and he was a bit of dick. Helpful at first, but after a while he refused to show me information about anything, claimed he was tired and that it was too much of a drag. Pokedexes with personalities suck, give me one that doesn't snark back to me every time I open it, that way I can read the descriptions of moves and not have to look them up in a book. Useless piece of accented garbage…"

"You got an AI pokedex?" Kai asked, stunned. "How did you get that? They haven't even released them to the public yet, they're supposed to become available next month?"

_Damn,_ Riven thought, biting his tongue. That was the bad thing about hanging out with mercenaries and experienced trainers who also delved in apparent monk philosophy. No one missed a bloody thing. Say one thing incriminating and they can turn against you in a heartbeat. Although he doubted Kai would do such a thing, it was better to be safe; which meant he had to come up with a story before things went to hell all at once. Or… maybe he didn't_._ Sometimes, the truth in itself was a lie.

"I met a guy who said that he had a pokedex I could have. We had a bit of a scuffle." He snorted when Kai merely accepted that with a small grin. _Still clear. Good_. "He gave me the pokedex, but didn't tell me it was an experiment. Turns out my pokedex has a learning artificial intelligence. Apparently."

"That's… incredibly vague."

"I suppose?"

"You're covering for someone, Riven?"

"Aren't we all, Kai? This is just one giant chessboard." He gestured to both Kai and himself. "Aren't we all pawns trying to reach the end of the board for a promotion? But what am I saying, philosophy is a waste of time. What was it about dark pulse?"

Kai regarded him for a second, thinking. He pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat down, resting the sheathed sword on his lap. He breathed in and out, taking deep breaths, a brief meditation of sorts to calm his raging mind. Thoughts steadied as he focused his mind. "Dark pulse, one of the few dark type moves that does not require physical contact. A blast of darkness formed from malicious thoughts and _hatred_."

Riven held up a hand. "Wait, you're saying that dark pulse is nothing but-"

"Weaponized emotions? Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," Kai said, eyes grave. "Or at least, it's part of it. Dark types are sensitive to negativity. To dread. Doom. It makes them pragmatic, cold, distrusting- ironic really. They've learned to use these thoughts and feelings as a strength to draw from. You ever wonder why psychics are so sensitive to peoples' emotions?" A dim shake of the head answered him. Kai continued, "it's because negative thoughts, what dark types thrive on, destroys their brainwaves and make them unstable; it makes them give in to their primal instincts. _That_ is what psychics fear the most. The black ki's effects. So they look for positive emotions instead, and thus are emotional creatures who draw strength from clear thoughts. Dark types are the exact opposite of that. Drawing from emotions but becoming colder and more ruthless."

"So… Why wasn't I this inclined to feel negativity before?" Riven asked. If what Kai was saying was true, then why did it manifest now? Why didn't it happen bef-

No. It did happen before. The bursts of violence, the recurring dreams. That black… entity. The Forinan woods. Nimva plains. Littleroot forest.

"Petalburg," he whispered, swallowing.

"Petalburg?"

"Yeah. I-I got stabbed multiple times, cracked ribs, bruised face. He was about to kill me, that merc they sent after me… I didn't want to die. Memories came up and I got angry. But not in the way someone lashes out. It was colder, deeper. Something just clicked, and my mind went blank, I was back there. I… was holding onto that bow, looking at her and just- I wanted him dead, and that's exactly what I did."

The air in the room began to feel heavy, laced with the desire to kill and rend. Kai's mind swam in it, desperately visualizing his deepest, most violent thoughts. _No… I can't let it. Stop. Bloodlust_, Kai recognized, watching the ki turn even more crimson. Taking a deep breath, he felt for his ki, enveloping himself in its waves, its energy, before drawing it to his palm. A faint blue glow emanated from his hand, placing it on the younger man's head, pushing outward and in.

Blue energy flowed into Riven's mind and the air of malice dissipated almost instantly. A rather stunned young man blinked at him, confused. "It's… gone? What did you do?"

Kai shook his hand, flicking away black wisps. "I used my ki to counteract yours. It just settled it for the moment."

"You can do that?"

"In small amounts, yes. Anymore than that and it could cause you harm, then it just makes it worse as your ki responds. It's not a permanent solution, especially if you get stronger, which I have no doubt about at this point."

_If I get stronger… That's not good_. What if those thoughts got stronger? The desire to tear his enemies to pieces, that overpowering bloodlust that tasted oh so sweet. What would he be then?

_Would I be like that Pangoro?_

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Kai." Riven gave him a small smile, mind racing.

"There's no need for-"

"Kai," Isole called, coming to the door. "Nera's here."

The man's eyes turned steely, his posture changing completely. A metallic ring of metal whipped through the still air of the room as he drew the blade he was holding. The anger came flooding back in. "She comes in and I'll kill her," Kai threatened, "I'm going out."

Isole held him back with a hand, the temperature in the room dropping low enough to frost breath. Ice crackled below her feet and along the walls, spreading in veins as the water molecules in the room froze. "I'm not going to let you do that," she warned, giving him a deathly glare.

"Stay out of this," Kai snapped acidly, "you've done enough, don't make it worse. I'm going to end this-"

Ice shot up around his legs, wrapping the lower half of his body in solid ice, spreading up towards his arms. Kai watched it climb up his waist; the veins on his neck twitching, the clenched jaw, the furrowed brows, his sword hand white from the force of his grip.

"I can break through this ice and you know it. If you try to stop me again, Isole-" He paused, staring at her eye to eye. "You will leave my home, my city, and my life. You will no longer be that girl I trained, I taught, I cared for as my own family. You will be an enemy, do you understand?"

Isole did nothing, her hesitation blatant. She didn't know which she wanted more. She wanted them both, but she couldn't have them both. This was reality, not a fairy tale.

_Choose_, Riven thought, watching intently. _That's what life's about- choosing something that always tears something else apart._ It was like a sick, twisted game of fate. But this time… this time he could do something about it. _Doesn't have to end like this. Not today_."Kai. Put the sword down."

The man in question turned back to look at Riven, his piercing glare shooting knives into his skull. Isole followed shortly, both of them bewildered, and a little outraged.

"Why? Do you not hate her too?" Kai hissed.

"Yes, I do. I certainly don't mind watching you slice her in two, but I need answers, and this won't yield any. And this fighting between you two? It isn't necessary. Don't fight over that devil, it's not worth it. That's what they do, they rip things apart."

_You would know, _came a small whisper in his head. He brushed it off.

"Family shouldn't fight, remember?" Riven said quietly.

_But_ _what do you know about family?_ It chuckled, barely there.

_Shut up. I don't know what you are, but the situation needs to be controlled, and I'll get nowhere if these two decide to murder each other._ _Stay_ _quiet, I don't want to listen to you,_ other.

He flicked his attention to the man standing near the left side of the room, holding something in his hand. "Cormac, put the pokeball away."

The male mercenary glanced at Riven briefly before conceding. "Fuck it. He's right. Put it down Kai. Leave the room. Eavesdrop if you see fit, but let him and Nera _talk_. It's important, it's something he- no, we- need to all hear. And I'm intrigued. _Very very intrigued_."

Kai clenched his jaw once more, then exhaled deeply. With one sharp motion of the blade, the ice encasing his legs split into pieces, freeing him. Glaring what seemed like molten steel into Isole's eyes, he stalked off without a word, waves of anger flowing behind him. "Make it quick."

"That man has repressed feelings he needs to work out," Cormac chuckled. "Jeez."

"We all have issues Cormac," Riven cut in, "if we didn't, we'd be normal, working people. Gives me the shudders thinking about it."

"Shit if that ain't the truth," he scoffed, looking at the shaken woman in the doorway. "You all right, frosty?"

Isole nodded and collected herself, leaving the room, hands trembling from the tension.

"You ready for this?"Cormac asked. "This isn't your typical meet-in-X-spot-and-we'll-discuss-what-you-want-to-tell-us-then-you-tell-her-to-fuck-off. You know that, right? She probably brought insurance."

"If it's that Lucario…"

"No, probably not. She wants to talk to you, not maim you. I assume she brought her own pokemon this time, extra security and whatnot. You're not in a public place like the other times before, she doesn't trust you to hold back."

"That makes two of us," Riven smiled, wry and malicious. "I just want to poke her lung with a knife. That's all."

"We already searched your person for knives. God damn man, how many secret pockets and compartments do your clothes have?"

Riven pulled out a knife from _somewhere_, then held it out. "At least one more than you found." He flashed another wry smile as the man gave him a scowl and grabbed the knife, flinging it to the counter like a dead fish.

Footsteps.

"Well, she's coming in. Good luck buddy, I'll be standing outside, try not to kill each other will you? Wiping blood off the floor is a bitch and a half." Cormac snorted and stepped aside, leaning on the wall in the hallway. "I already prepared the saltwater, by the way. Removes bloodstains nicely."

Riven snickered at that, but quickly straightened as footsteps got closer. He didn't dare move an inch as Nera entered the room, fiery eyes observing him curiously, like a Houndour watching a Stantler in the forest. Behind her, a pokemon that looked like Baron came inside, eyeing him also. A Gardevoir. Remembering that disgusting comic he'd seen, he held back the urge to vomit and said nothing , looking at her with a stony expression.

"Hello, Riven, You look a little green, are you ok?" she asked. He said nothing. "It's good to see you."

"Bullshit."

"I see you're as polite as ever," she smiled.

"And you're still full of shit. Where's the other walking sack of feces? Ben, I think that's its name."

"Don't be too harsh on him… He's not here right now."

"Who'd you bring then? Apart from your Gardevoir. I know you brought _somebody else_, you don't have to deny it. I'm injured not stupid. You're too careful for that."

"Styx," she stated as she sat down, pulling her hair back. She waited.

Cormac heard the name Styx and presumably browned his pants. "I'll just go evacuate the houses within a three mile radius of here," he stated flatly, looking a little traumatized. "Cloudy with a chance of explosions..." he whispered as he left.

Nera giggled to herself. "He has a reputation."

"At least he just destroys property." He spat. "Lives? That's your forte."

She sighed. "Not here to play games, Riven."

"I thought you like playing games. Like chess, except with people. It's been more than six fucking months and nothing has happened. Remember? Do a few a jobs for us and we'll let you go? Or was that a lie too?"

"I didn't specify how many, so technically I didn't lie to you," she replied, holding the bridge of her nose. "And you still haven't said a word. Just insults, insults I've been stomaching for months."

"Excellent, because it doesn't matter how many jobs I do, you won't let me go until I tell you what you want. Jobs have been stagnant lately, and we're still here. That's not right. You're looking for something," he said, observing her movements for any sign of discomfort that would indicate he was right. But Nera was good at hiding it, and remained composed.

"Want to know? How about a trade? What did you find in Dewford?"

Riven laughed at the irony. "Dancing in circles again? Are we going to do this every time we speak? A little boring, truth be told."

Nera huffed, beginning to lose her patience. "Then I won't waste my time trying. You know why I'm here?"

A vicious smile answered her.

The Gardevoir _moved_.

A wall of light materialized instantly in front of the bed, making contact with the incoming blast, splitting apart waves of black energy as the two collided. A weak flick of darkness made it through, but was easily swatted away by the pokemon, its angry red eyes showing restraint it clearly didn't feel comfortable having. Magical leaves flashed into existence, poised and ready to assault her master's attacker.

The red-headed woman didn't flinch, nodding at her pokemon. Leaves disappeared. "Yes, that's exactly why."

"Deliberate accident, sorry," Riven sneered, returning the Gardevoir's hostile glare. The pokemon were extremely loyal to a fault, even going as far as sacrificing themselves for their trainers. _It'd die before it'd let me kill her. Shame. Does Baron share the same sentiment?_

"Don't try that again," Nera said. "How's the pain?"

Riven winced.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

"What does?" He replied, holding the stinging back.

"Your eye? Your head?" She answered, smiling once again. "I _know _they do. Uncomfortable, isn't it? I've seen it before."

"Explain. Now," Riven growled. The Gardevoir flinched momentarily, green palm glowing a bright pink. He glared at it, sucking his teeth. "Psychic won't work on me, no matter how hard you try."

"That's no psychic," Nera returned. "For you, it's something far far _worse_."

"What?"

She didn't explain. "Riven, do you know the war our world was involved in?"

"Is that a stupid question?"

"Answer the stupid question."

He huffed. "How could I forget?"

Red hair flowed as she stood up. Fiery eyes that once burned with ambition saddened, appearing almost pained. "Do you want to know how it started?"

Riven's eyes widened, unable to speak. How did she know? Was she telling the truth? Was there any way of knowing? Probably not, she might be lying, but it was a risk he had to take. He _had_ to know.

A slow nod.

"Okay. But I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to _show _you." She turned around, holding up a hand, hesitating for a moment. "This will hurt, Cerul."

"Wait, what are you going to-"

Orange stared back into blue. "Bring out the darkness, Ieia, Dazzling Gleam." Her Gardevoir held out a hand, unforgiving and cold.

Light exploded, and the world went dark with crimson and hatred.


	47. Nightmares

Pain.

A sign from the nerves warning the body that something is amiss, something is wrong. At times minor; a dull stab, a pounding headache or a paper cut, a scrape.

Normally. Then there's the other kind.

The excruciating kind. Even worse than after getting out of surgery, or getting an arrow pulled out of the calf. Something more akin to getting tortured than being in pain.

Riven's nerves cried out, firing out signals of damage in waves of electricity, bombarding his brain. He screamed as the bright light of the attack met with his skin, its rays like an injection of pure poison. Cells burst open and died as the energy washed over him, destroying him slowly. Was this what pokemon felt when they were hit by a move that exploited their weaknesses? Unrestrained attacks-

_Hurts… _

More pained gasping. _Dying…_ The light blinded him, rendering his vision useless. He coughed up blood. The bed he was laying on became moist with it, the sheets stained dark.

Couldn't struggle. Couldn't fight.

Anger dulled the pain as he grit bloodied teeth together, screams turning into pained grunts and growls. Deep inside, something reached out.

_**Useless.**_

_**Worthless.**_

_**Pathetic.**_

_**Why don't you just die…?**_

_Can't… Have to… fulfill… find purpose…_

_**Do you want to live, Cerul? **_

_I-I…_

_**Do you? Or do you not?**_

_Yes…_

_**What would you do to live? How far would you go?**_

_Do anything… can't die yet. Things to do._

_**You would do anything?**_**Anything**_**?**_

_Just… make it stop. Don't care how._

_**That's the desperate little boy I know. Shh… just relax.**_

As the darkness of sleep crawled in, and his breaking body began to fail, he saw a sky of white among a sea of shadows; in the middle stood a figure that looked like himself, blending in with the ground, a shadow as black as night with a familiar wicked smile, flashing rows of pointed teeth. The glint in its eye a deep red, followed by deranged cackling.

_**I'll make it all go away. **_

Miles away, a pair of crimson blades stirred.

* * *

Nera and Isole winced, eyes blinded by the luminosity of the Gardevoir's attack. They had to shield their eyes from the sheer intensity. If only they could do the same to their ears and block out the blood curling screams. If only. Riven was in agony. Pure agony. Fairy attacks were extremely destructive to dark types, and every one of the cells in his body was susceptible; it probably felt like he was getting torn inside out. And judging by the light and the screams, Ieia was anything _but_ gentle.

_I don't want you to suffer_, Nera lamented, listening to the sounds of pain._ But this is the only way I can bring it out. You wouldn't believe me if I told you. _

There's no way he would have, not with the contempt he still held for her. It wasn't just the fact that he was here against his will; no, it was something older. Hatred for what she was and what her people did. She could see it in those eyes of his, pure unbridled hostility. But for some reason he tried his best to hold it back. The feeling was probably irrational to him... Would be to anyone really, if they were feeling something that didn't quite seem like- well…them.

When another round of screaming broke out, Kai burst into the room, blade in hand and absolutely _furious._ Razor sharp steel sang through the air, stopping near the base of Nera's neck- close enough to end her with one swift strike. Nera didn't move a single muscle, in fact, she fully expected Kai to kill her. Whether he'd do it in front of Isole was something that remained to be seen.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Kai snapped venomously. "Why are you torturing him?" The blade dug a little deeper into Nera's skin, drawing a tiny amount of blood. "Answer me!"

"I'm showing him what he is, or what he will be," she replied. "I told you about the dangers his kind presented and now that he's awakened those abilities, I have to make sure-"

"Make sure of what? That you can control him like you do everything else?" Kai hissed. "Stop lying through your teeth. Stop your pokemon before _I _do." He held out a pokeball, enlarging it with a tap. "He may not have pokemon to defend himself with, but you will find no such fault with me. I can assure you that mine are no weaklings."

Isole tried to move, but one soul piercing glare rooted her in place.

"Don't even think about it, Isole, stay where you are or I _will_ kill her." He warned. "I'll say it one last time, stop your pokemon."

"I-I can't…" Nera shook her head. "He has to know."

"He's going to die! How can you ignore his screaming? He's in pain, every part of his body is being destroyed by your Gardevoir and you dare call this a lesson? That boy's suffered enough! Let him go!" Kai roared.

"Sorry," she whispered. "It has to be done."

Kai's rage boiled in silence, stronger than ever, his anger intoxicating, even invigorating. It was like he was drunk on it, amplified by god knows what. A voice slithered inside of his mind; old, bitter feelings constricted his rational judgement, wrapping around his heart like a vice, reopening wounds he'd ignored for all this time…

_Do it. End her for all the times she's wronged you. She took her away, are you going to let that go?_

Gritting his teeth, he pulled the blade away from her throat, gripped it with both hands, about to slash down-

Her Gardevoir flinched, and in that split second the screaming all but ceased, replaced by guttural growling. The air became heavy, twisting the atmosphere in the room to something truly nightmarish. Pure, raw emotion. Hatred. Anger. Sadness. _Pain_.

Light faded, and the room darkened.

Nera's eyes widened as hers met contact with Riven's. Tears of blood ran down his face as he stared back at her; his right eye a sinister red. A wicked smile stretched across his face, flashing bloody teeth.

She froze, paralyzed in fear. _I can't move…_ Took a panicked glance at the others, who were in similar states of fear, even Kai, who held the blade up, not daring to move. Legs began to tremble, hair rising on the back of the neck.

Growling, then laughter.

_Oh, shit._ Gathering her strength, Nera screamed."Everyone, get down!"

Steel chains snapped and darkness surged forth, a wave of shadows engulfing part of the room. Ieia retreated backward, materializing a protective barrier as the darkness collided against it, robbing the room of natural light. The Gardevoir's protect held steady against the blast.

That is until she saw the glowing red eye in the dark. The dark's influence interfered with her concentration and the barrier weakened momentarily. Something slammed into it, the force of the blow startling for something usually so… fragile.

Claws of darkness clashed with the energy of the barrier, sending a shower of sparks and light, only for them to be uselessly absorbed by the absence of light around them. Ieia struggled to protect her master and the others as the claws latched onto the barrier, applying pressure she hadn't ever experienced from a human. No human should have possessed such strength. Nor could have. Humans weren't pokemon, they were weak… they shouldn't have this much power. Her master seemed- no,_ felt_ oddly similar to him, but she never saw anything quite like this from her.

Claws clenched inward, digging pointed tips into the sphere, pulling and tearing as cracks spreading throughout its entirety.

The defensive barrier screeched with sparks and sound as it was pulled apart at the seams. The Gardevoir focused hard, trying to reinforce the sphere where it faltered, but it was like fighting a tidal wave. Protect was taxing to keep up for long- for any pokemon, not just for psychics- and something kept interfering with her mind, the only thing stopping her from going insane being the fairy part of her that resisted the dark's influence.

She glanced back, and saw the petrified look in her master's face.

The protect shattered into pieces as a monstrous howl pierced the air, black claws ripping apart the barrier into shards of hardened green light, clattering uselessly to the floor. The Gardevoir stumbled back and was unable to react as a night slash cut across her chest, the pain causing her to flinch and lose focus. A hand gripped her throat and slammed her against the wall with enough power to crack and splinter, squeezing down on her windpipe. The Gardevoir twitched as the human turned beast prevented her from breathing with a strength that rivaled a Machamp. Tears welled up in her eyes from the pressure, vision blurring as the pokemon began to lose consciousness.

"Riven, stop!" Kai demanded, willing his limbs to move.

A blade swung down, slicing into the humanoid form of whatever it was Riven had turned into. Blood splattered onto the ground, but the dark figure hardly budged. Nera's Gardevoir slumped back to the ground unconsciously, spared of a horrible death and a jarring snap of the neck.

Kai's knees felt weak as he stood his ground, watching Riven turn his attention to him, the aura of the room interfering with his ability to think.

_Breathe, don't let it affect you. Calm, the dark only plays with your insecurities and fear. Don't let it in. I almost did back there, I can't let it in again. Life of the world protect me…_Wrapping himself in ki, his thoughts cleared. He grimaced. _Dark aura. Why does he have a dark aura? _

_A_n ability only found in one other pokemon he'd ever heard about, an ability that supposedly only belonged to the most wicked of creatures- at least according to old Kalosian folk tales. It drove people mad, sending them into a frenzy, or paralyzing man and pokemon with bone chilling fear. And what it did to psychics… even more worrying. Given what he knew about what _regular_ dark attacks did to psychics- _not _good. Not good at all. Multiply that by two and you had what a dark aura pokemon could do, _with_ the added insanity of psychics going berserk.

And that was just a pokemon. Dark aura _human_ with deep psychological trauma and severe distrust of others? You could all but hear the catastrophe.

Gripping the blade with both hands, Kai shakily faced Riven. He contemplated what to say, but nothing seemed to be particularly effective in any scenario he could come up with. _Basics, first- calm him down. If I can._ "Calm down, Riven. This isn't you."

The figure regarded him for a second, not bothering with anything but a guttural chuckle. It flexed a claw, then smiled, flashing sharp teeth.

Kai had only a second to react when Riven disappeared in a silhouette of shadows, appearing behind him. Spinning on his heel, the sword clashed with the claws, but did nothing to dissipate the force behind the hit. Kai was driven back towards the balcony, pushed a solid five feet back.

_Attacked me from the back… just like a dark type would. Pursuit. He can do that already?_

Riven advanced again.

_No time, fight first._

Claws met with steel once again. Kai ducked low, evading a swipe, flipping the sword in his hands and slicing upwards, drawing blood once more. Riven didn't flinch, laughing as a kick collided with Kai's chest, knocking the air clear out of his lungs. He seemed to think about what do next, hunching shoulders as if shrugging.

Lunging forward to deliver the finishing blow, his hand was stopped by a pillar of ice, trapping his arm and left leg, spreading upwards across his torso.

"Kai, let out your pokemon!" Isole cried, throwing a pokeball outwards from her belt. Nodding weakly, Kai threw his own, two flashes of light illuminating the room behind Riven. He snapped out of the ice in time to block a bladed blue wing, his attacker staring back at him with regal disinterest. The Empoleon followed with another swing, wing glowing a frosty white, an icy shockwave cutting forth through the air.

The slash of freezing wind froze anything along its arc, forming crystals of ice along the walls and parts of the furniture, as well as locking part of Riven's body in place. A stream of explosive bubbles sent him crashing into a nearby drawer, smashing it to pieces. Snapping like a feral beast, he retaliated, slashing at the water type with viciously pointed claws, attempting to tear into its steel like hide.

The Empoleon fought back, icy shockwaves slowing its attacker just enough for it to miss the aura sphere that collided with its sternum.

Riven recoiled, grunting.

A Mienshao jumped out from behind the water type, using its fur like whips and legs to drive Riven back with low sweeps and drain punches. Covered in bits and pieces of blackened ice, Riven assumed a stance, fighting not like a pokemon, but like a _human,_ exchanging blows with claws and feet- all practiced blocks and counterattacks.

Not sloppy, enraged, nor reckless like an enraged pokemon would be. C_ontrolled_.

_So it still retains some of Riven's training… It knows what it's doing. A pokemon's abilities, and a human's tact. A mighty combination. Is this what Nera and the others can do as well?_ Kai observed, still recovering from the kick. Backing away next to Nera and Isole behind the doorway, they hid in the corridor outside of the room, hearing the clashing of claws, blades, and feet.

Kai flinched as he heard the large mirror in the room get utterly demolished by a bubble beam. The same ornate mirror he'd won in a battle against a Duke in the Battle Chateau a few years back. He didn't have to guess the extent of damage, the sound of the struggle was just enough to let him fill in the blanks. The room- his guest room- was absolutely trashed with icicles, broken furniture, blood, and claw marks.

_I suppose it can't get any worse_, he thought depressingly.

His Mienshao proved him wrong as it crashed through the bed, the metal supports of the frame caving in like toothpicks. Then it kicked off a dresser for momentum and broke that too.

He sighed.

Looked at Nera, hurting a little too much to be enraged at this point. "I hope you brought money, and a cover story for the police," he said flatly. "How else would you explain-" Gestured to the furniture graveyard in the room. "-this?"

Nera swallowed and nodded. "I'll, uh, think of something?"

Kai scowled. "I had a certain affinity for that bed. And the mirror. And that dresser. When this is over, you are leaving my house."

"Agreed," she said blankly as Isole's Empolean flew through the doorway, into the wall, shot back up and most likely-

_Smash._

Froze another part of the room again.

"Just think about calming things… calming things," Kai repeated.

"How is she doing?" Isole asked, taking a quick peek inside the mayhem of the room before turning her attention back to the others, staring at the unconscious Gardevoir laying next to Nera. There was a gash along her torso from the night slash, not deep enough to be fatal thanks to the resistance being part fairy gave her, thankfully, but it was a _nasty_ wound.

"She won't die at this rate but I can't tend her wounds here, especially not with that thing still loose. Can't return her either, pokeball is in there. What about your pokemon? They won't be able to hold him long without killing him, or he kills them. We need to do something-" She was cut off as a howling sound came from within, and a pit formed in her stomach.

All three of them peeked inward to see Riven holding up a single finger, a ball of wicked purple energy condensing at the tip, howling as energy collected into a point. Isole's Empoleon kneeled on the floor, cuts and claw wounds all over its hide.

Kai's Mienshao jumped in to protect it, forming a sphere of blue energy in its palm, a desperate attempt to minimize damage. Both pokemon were near the edge of the room, just a mere foot from the balcony. Behind them was a clear view of the outside, an apartment complex within sight. A hit from a dark pulse probably couldn't kill either of the two pokemon, considering their respective levels, but collateral damage was entirely possible. Which would lead to the question of why a _human_ and not a pokemon caused this.

So basically, a PSCFEP.

Politico-scientific clusterfuck of epic proportions.

But Nera and the others could worry about that later, they had to focus on the two high powered attacks just about ready erase everything within twenty feet.

Every trainer knew what happened every time two attacks like that clashed. Pain, an almost endemic case of sudden onset of defecation within pants, and force. Lots of it. In stadiums, the field was open, and there wasn't anything to damage. Same with pokemon gyms. A guestroom? Just a _tiny _bit different. Tiny being the defining word.

Muscles flexed and the attacks roared forward.

The collision point produced a concussive explosion that decimated what little furniture was left in the room, shattering windows and cracking walls. The resulting energy wave surged. If that hit the rest of the house, then the ceiling would probably cave in…Which would probably give Kai depression, and then every department store in Kalos would find itself without green tea for weeks.

Nera winced. _Well that's a terrible thought. _A man drinking himself to death, on _green tea._ If that wasn't soul crushing, she didn't know what was.

_Can't be helped. _

She reached within herself, raising warmth as the fire within came to life, flowing inward and out, igniting the once cold air into a plume of fire. Hands shaped it, forming a sphere of it.

_Protect me and mine._

The energy wave slammed into the fire shield, strong but unable to shatter it completely. Isole and Kai's pokemon weren't so fortunate though. The Mienshao was knocked into the Empoleon from the force of the explosion, tearing off the balcony's guard rail as the two pokemon plummeted to the street below. She was startled when the wall adjacent to them shattered into bits as Riven's shadow covered body smashed right through it and into the walls of the hallway.

He picked himself up sluggishly. Tattered remnants of clothes could be seen on him, frozen in some parts, and bloodied in others. Shadows waned, smaller than before. His body showed signs of cold burns, cuts, and bruises. It was amazing he was still standing.

"_Rose_…" He growled, shadows growing once again. Disappeared behind Nera, ready to take back revenge, to spill Rosan blood. Revel in the satisfaction, just like he should, something that should never be held back.

But instead of the terrified look of helplessness he expected, he was met with a ki laced sword. The blade seemed to cut into his face, not drawing blood but enough to break his attack.

"Pursuit is predictable, creature. That trick has run its course," Kai stated calmly. Two more slashes followed, one horizontally across the chest and the other a diagonal overhead swing that went from the left collarbone down to the right oblique muscles. The ki prevented the blade from cutting, but did not diminish the pain of feeling like he had been cut. "You're not Riven going berserk. You're intelligent. Who- what- are you?"

Riven's form staggered back, single red eye dully watching him. "_Not my enemy_…" he ground out. "_Move._" Stepping forward, he thrust a fist downward, a rising wave of darkness erupting out of the floor at Kai.

_What!? That's not a pokemon move! _Kai panicked, trying to block with his blade while forming a protective aura of ki around his body. The blade did little to stop the surge and the attack barreled into him, shattering the protection effortlessly. He was sent skidding along the floor into the living room, unconscious on the ground, a blackened wound on his chest.

Upon seeing this, Isole charged at Riven without a second thought. Trying to kick her away, she grabbed his foot, twisting with Riven's own momentum to knock him off balance and smash his body against the wall. Freezing part of his body to the wall, she reinforced her hands with knuckles of ice, hammering blistering cold strikes into his face and ribs.

Anger took over as she formed a spear of ice in her hand and impaled the wall where Riven's head had been, who'd broken the ice in time to avoid an… _inconvenient_ stabbing. Launching more spears of ice, they fought in the narrowness of the corridor.

Her opponent was stronger than her. Dark types were amazing physical fighters, but fairly fragile when hit. Ice types were excellent offensively, but even worse defensively. But there was one thing she could do. _Ice impedes movement, creates walls. Maybe I can't go toe to toe with you, but I can cut you off, make you predictable._

Riven bounced off the wall, claws coming down in a cross slash. Isole sidestepped, turned and ducked, coming behind him. An icy gale froze the sole of his foot to the ground. He spun around, right arm first, a night slash raking across the walls. Flipping over the attack, she froze hands and his other foot in a column of ice. Growing tired from the strain of using her abilities, Isole lowered the temperature of the room, the humidity and density of water molecules in the air aiding her. Freezing the air solid, she encased Riven in a cocoon of crystalline water.

"Nera, are you fine?" She asked, turning her back.

The redhead nodded. "I am, but you're wearing yourself out. Too much usage of your abilities and-"

"I know. But it's over now, he couldn't get out of that if he-"

Ice splintered and cracked. Isole slowly turned back around, dumbstruck.

"-Tried."

The cocoon shattered to pieces, revealing an extremely irritated Riven. His hair was frosted, cheeks pink from the cold, and he was trembling. But that single red eye remained.

_Still not himself? "_Fuck." Isole readied herself again.

She blocked another kick, backing away to regain her footing. The force of it was even greater than last time, power seeming to increase the more desperate he got. Isole tried to lock him in place again, but he'd learned from last time, evading instead of attacking, getting dangerously too close. She couldn't back away when he kicked her in the stomach and blasted her with a palm of dark energy. Slumping against the wall, blood and spit trickled out of her mouth, trying to breathe.

Riven jumped at her, about to claw into her skull until searing pain raced through his arm- the result of a barrage of embers blistering and burning his skin. Nera had joined in, driving him back, firing waves of flame into the narrow hallway. The attacks kept him at bay enough for Isole to recover somewhat. Nera looked at her, silently asking for the OK. The injured ice specialist nodded, breathing deep.

Fire and ice sang forward, opposing typings working in tandem to defeat a common enemy.

Pushed further and further back, the shadowed figure roared, a dark pulse charging in Riven's mouth.

"He can do that?!" Isole paled.

"Now you see what I mean?" Nera said. "And he's an _inexperienced_ one. Imagine a stronger one than this."

"Sure, I'll do that once a dark pulse _isn't_ aimed at us!" Isole replied shrewdly. "It's coming!"

Raising a wall of ice, Isole and Nera stood behind it, blown back once the attack shattered it uselessly. Cut by pieces of the icy shrapnel, the two women struggled to stand up. But he was still advancing, intent on killing Nera- or hell, even both of them- despite the multitude of wounds littering his body.

Trudging forward, he stood over Nera, stepping on her forearms to restrict her movement. And steadied, coldly charging another dark pulse down at her, finger mere inches away from his face. Point blank. A vicious grin crept onto his face.

Then something gripped his leg. Looking down, he saw a green hand holding onto his leg. A pair of exhausted red eyes looked back at him from below. The Gardevoir lay on the floor, holding a green palm outward, glowing a radiant pink.

_Get away from my master, _she whispered, as light gleamed.

When light faded, Riven lay motionless on the floor.

The two women let out a huge sigh of relief.

"My god… how is something like that even possible?" Isole asked breathlessly. She held a hand over her chest, heart still racing.

"We tried finding out for years," Nera replied, stumbling into the room, searching through the debris for Ieia's pokeball. "When we finally found out… well- it's not going to be easy breaking it to him."

"You want to tell him?" Isole sputtered. "After what you saw him _do_? I don't think that's even microscopically a good idea." Not to mention it was downright batshit insane. _I'm still trembling. I've never felt that much fear in my life. And when Kai-_ "Kai!"

She rushed over to him, inspecting his wounds.

Nera rolled her eyes. "Now she remembers."

The door to the house opened, and Cormac stepped in.

"Hey, I just finished making sure nothing would explode while I'm gone. Everything is nice and peachy outside. Did I happen to miss any- _Holy_. _Fuck_. What in the devil's ass happened here?"

"Nothing interesting," Nera snorted, breaking into a fit of giggles. "Can you go back outside and look for an Empoleon and a Mienshao? I assume they're unconscious out on the street. They did get blasted off of a balcony. Their pokeballs are over there in the room."

Cormac surveyed the damages, then eyed her like a Beedrill. "I'll go clear out the nearest store of green tea while I'm at it," he deadpanned. "I'm starting to wonder if all this weird shit is worth the white hairs…"

Nera lay flat against the floor, giggling.

* * *

Riven groggily awoke on a couch, feeling four pairs of eyes on him. He tried to move when a green palm and a stern pair of red eyes held him down. _The Gardevoir, Ieia, or something. I can at least remember her, everything else is fuzzy at best._ Hard not to forget the face of something that nearly murdered him. _So why is she healing me now?_

"Awake yet?" Nera asked, red eyebrow raised.

"Feel like shit," Riven replied, blinking. "It's cold in here."

"You were partially frostbitten," Isole corrected. "Your body is still at a lower body temperature than normal, I did freeze you about five different times."

"Oh."

Isole waited.

"Wait, _what_?"

"You don't really remember anything do you?" Nera inquired, flashing a small light into his pupils.

"Too bright," he grunted, closing his eyes. "No- stop. Get it away."

"Hmmm… Increased sensitivity to light… amnesia…"

"What are you, a doctor?"

"No."

"Then what's the point of this?"

"Sympt- You know what, just be quiet and sit still."

Riven bit his cheek and peeked out from behind the Gardevoir to see the absolutely trashed hallway and strewn bits of debris scattered just about everywhere. The floor had been cracked and ripped up, and there was a hole in the wall near his room. Along with several, branching cracks along the walls. "What happened in here?"

"You did," Cormac said, helping Kai with his bandage. "Went on a bloody rampage and everything went to shit. Because of you, Kai's going to be living on a lifetime of green tea. He collapsed after seeing his house. Well… what's left of it. Hence the unconsciousness. I've heard of people getting PTSD during accidents but I think you broke this man's poor spirit."

Riven winced. "Green tea."

"Yes."

"Oh god, what have I done? Tell him I'm sorry. Wait, what am I saying?" Riven pointed a finger at Nera. "This is your fault."

"Pointing fingers is a little rude," she said flatly.

"So is nearly killing someone to prove something. And I don't even remember what that something is. Or was. Yet. What I do remember is what happened before that. You ever feel like someone cut, drowned, stabbed, strangled you, then flayed you alive? Because that's how it felt. I think I deserve, even if just for a little bit, the right to point fingers. And I will point fingers, enthusiastically so."

He now pointed _two_ fingers.

"He's got a point," Cormac shrugged. "Get it?"

"Die," Riven deadpanned.

"Sorry, I had to do it."

Isole gave him a look.

"What? That bad?"

"Cormac?"

"Yes, my beautifully sculpted glacier?"

"Shut up."

He frowned.

"To be fair, you nearly killed us too," Nera reminded, shaking her head disapprovingly at Cormac's idiocy. "If Kai didn't study ki manipulation in Johto, that attack would have blown a hole through his chest. If Ieia hadn't knocked you out, you'd have killed both me and Isole. Not to mention you also injured both her and Kai's pokemon. Dark pulse'd them off a balcony."

"I fought against pokemon? Yours?" Riven asked, incredulous. "But how? I'm not covered in lacerations or anything. Think I'd be a little more roughed up than this. They weren't Skitty, right?"

"Look at your clothes," Nera pointed out, and waited. He was intelligent, he'd figure it out.

"What does that have anything to-" He noted the fabric and the colors. "This shirt is green. I _hate_ green. I wasn't wearing these before this."

"No, you weren't. Your old clothes were so tattered, blood soaked, and frozen that we had to get rid of them all together. Your body healed itself remarkably fast. Your wallet though... might take some time."

Riven twitched.

"Heal pulse only helped it clear up the scars and reverse the frostbite. Ieia didn't want to heal you after you almost crushed her neck, so you should thank her. Otherwise you'd have lost your limbs."

The Gardevoir eyed him in stern expectation.

"Thanks…?" He said. She looked smugly pleased, in a way that reminded him all too much of a certain irritable Absol. "So it was just like in Petalburg. I got stabbed and somehow survived. Then my ribs and face healed within a day," he recalled. But how bad was it this time? _My body aches all over, but there isn't much pain. I should ask. _"How messed up?"

"Six I guess," Nera said simply.

Riven raised an eyebrow. "A little low. You would think dying gives me some more- I don't know, dying points? Not even an eight?"

"You didn't let me finish. By six I meant six feet below the earth, probably getting decomposed by bacteria, and on your way to the afterlife or whatever it is you believe in," she clarified. "I think you and I can both agree that translates to well beyond screwed."

"Point taken."

"Jokes aside, wounds like that would have killed a regular person a long time ago. But we're not regular people. And the state you were in, it's unlikely that anything short of a stab to the brain or a hyper beam to the face would kill you. Which Isole almost did, if you hadn't dodged."

"It's coming back to me slowly," he admitted, opening and closing a fist. "Same with what I was feeling at the time too."

"Did it feel alien?" Nera asked. "Like it wasn't you?"

"No- it didn't. And that's the frightening part. I was about to snap Ieia's neck and feel good about it. I guess part of it was just self defense after almost dying, but it was darker than that. More sinister."

"I expected as much," she said soberly. "Just like the others in the reports…"

"You've seen this before," Riven pounced. _But where? And more importantly, how? There shouldn't be any others like me running around. Most of them were dead already. _

"Prisoners of war," she answered simply. Riven stared back at her in steely silence. "I'm sor-"

"You don't have to apologize. It's meaningless," he said. "I'm not surprised you probably did your… _experiments_ on them." _On a human, that's a fancy way of saying torture_. "After all, your kind couldn't get any more depraved if they wanted to. You did already kill innocent civilians, children too. While a truce was supposed to be underway. Your father doing shit like that… I'm not surprised at all. In fact, I fully expected it. But that's done with. What's left is what you learned. You didn't watch, did you?"

"No! Of course not! I read reports, books. I may be a little determined to get what I want, but I'm not sadistic or cruel." _Even if sometimes you need to be._

Riven snorted.

"I didn't want to hear the screaming," she continued. "So I read about their findings. Years of reports, experiments, findings, notes. Luckily there were no pictures or gruesome details. It was kind of like reading a scientific paper from today, only far less… ethical."

"Fond of understatements too, I see. By any chance, did you happen to read the reports about the women you captured? A lot of them fought in the army. Some of them got caught."

Nera remained deathly silent. Isole paled.

"Oh shit," Cormac muttered under his breath.

Riven shoved silent fury back down into his mind. "Let me guess, there weren't any, were there?"

Nera swallowed, and shook her head. "There were talks of children of fire… tainted by dark blood. The torturers were… frustrated men. Who knows how many times those women…"

"Figures," Riven laughed, holding back a snarl. He breathed in deep, calming himself. "But who am I to talk about who's morally superior. We weren't particularly hospitable to our POWs either."

They all focused their eyes on him, intrigued.

"I did some things I shouldn't have. To some prisoners that were just kids like me, and I… We made sure they suffered. And you know the sick part? It felt _fantastic_. Seeing them cry out in anguish, then silencing them as they choked on their own blood. Couldn't wait to do it again, even if I knew it wasn't right. So maybe I'm not much better. But those bastards deserved it. At least that's what I thought at the time. Maybe it was an excuse, maybe it wasn't."

"So that's it then," Nera concluded.

"What is?"

"The source. The other's creation." Orange eyes fell into deep concentration. _When it saw me, it focused all of its hatred and anger at me. Because I have the face of the enemy._ "What it was born out of."

"Slow down, what?" The young man rubbed his head, confused. "Born out of?"

Isole and Cormac exchanged looks, intently listening in on the conversation. They didn't know much about Riven's people, considering what little Nera told them previously, only that they were extremely dangerous and not to be underestimated.

"Yes, what made it manifest. Usually it's a collection of extremely strong _negative_ feelings that arise out of some sort of traumatic event, according to the notes I read. Hatred is the easiest to make the other manifest. Think of it like a mirror cracked in two halves, the event is the stone, and a mirror once whole is now split into two."

"Mirror analogy. Was that in the reports?"

"I could have used the rainbow colored Rapidash analogy if you wanted me to."

Riven thought about that and decided that it would be best if he didn't even _try_ to understand that."Okay... Continue."

The redhead cleared her dry throat. "Depending on the nature of the event, the reason for the other's creation is varied. Considering who you are, I'm guessing you witnessed…?"

"Flames rising hundreds of feet into the air? The smell of burnt skin? Yeah, I did." He nodded slowly. "Walked among the ashes too. And the bodies. I wasn't just angry, I was_ furious_. I couldn't do anything if I tried. Elite Rose troops narrowly missed me, ashes probably covered up my smell from the Arcanines. I got lucky. If you can consider that luck."

"Ieia," Nera called. The Gardevoir stopped healing him for a second and turned around. "Before you lost consciousness, what did you feel from the dark aura?"

She looked pensive for a moment, thinking of the words to describe it, wiggling her fingers. Telepathically, she spoke with her master. _Bloodlust. It just wanted to hurt its enemies any way it could. It almost took me over, if I didn't resist it, I would have lost myself. I'm sorry I was unable to protect you, master._

"But you did, Ieia. I'd be dead without you." The Gardevoir smiled at the praise, going back to healing with a light humming. "Riven, she said that she felt an insatiable thirst for violence. Sound familiar?"

"Yeah, lately I'd been feeling that increasingly more often. In fights it's worse. It just… snaps and I can't help it. I try to think it's just a reaction, but it doesn't quite seem that way."

"Explains how overboard you've been on the past assignments," Isole added dryly. "And why you stabbed a guy five times after he punched you in the mouth." _Guy still hasn't woken up from a coma_.

"So, this thing in me, it was 'born' out of bloodlust?" Riven summarized. _Certainly makes sense but-_

Nera held up a finger. "Not quite."

Riven threw up his hands. "Oh, for fuck's sake."

"It was born of hatred and anger, but what it wants is blood. Revenge in a sense. Sound about right?" She reached out to touch him, but he growled. "Disgust. It's written all over you. You don't hate me because I'm keeping you here. You hate me because you can't let go."

"Is that a bad thing? Not easy to forget the past. Especially one like that, believe me I tried," he admitted solemnly. "And you were his daughter. The man responsible for all of that. I shouldn't hold someone for their father's mistakes, it's illogical. But I can't stop it, and I don't know why."

"Emotions are often irrational, and now that it's back, you don't know what to do with them. You've held them back for a long time now. That trauma split you in two. It's what made you effective killers, unemotional, unfeeling. Ruthless and cold. Driven by a single ideal, a single purpose," Nera remembered. "The epitome of the dark type. Discarding positive feelings for strength, shunning optimism. A dark and gritty reality. Why bother with dreams and aspirations when all life does is crush them? War is a perfect way to create that." _Hope scares him. A healthy dark type isn't like this. Mischievous and practical, yes, but not like this._

"Don't think. Don't feel. Don't hate," Riven recited. "That's what they told us. What they _trained_ us to do. Victory, revenge, retribution. Enemies don't deserve mercy, only death." He always thought it was strange, how they told them not to hate the Roses, despite everything they'd done. "All the child recruits had that hammered into them during training. My instructor beat me raw until I fought without getting angry, when I felt nothing but the adrenaline in my veins and the feel of the fight. Learned to enjoy it."

"Normally, that'd work." _Useful PTSD. Break your own to make them better at killing, it's almost genius. My father would be proud._ "The repressed side would never resurface. But something went wrong," Nera noted, gripping the bridge of her nose. _Those fools._ "When two halves split, they exist separate from each other. What happened to you that brought that emotional side flooding back in?"

"The battle of Nimva Plains," he answered gravely. He didn't need to say anymore after Nera flinched. She let out a string of curses, followed by a rise in the temperature of the room.

"That. That makes a _lot_ of sense." She'd heard what had happened, overhearing bits and pieces of conversations and gossips from the commoners, and even some of the nobles. Nearly an entire division defeated by a sparse amount of Remnants numbering only in the lowly thousands. Despite the terrain advantage they were monstrous fighters, but even monsters die.

It was a pyrrhic victory for the Remnants, as over half or more were killed in the battle. It had been even worse for their side, as they'd suffered a humiliating wipe out. Even the commander had been killed and they'd been forced to retreat. True, the pyrolancers weren't present for the battle but it should have been an easy victory regardless. _But if Riven was there… watching his own die again. It must have been devastating._

"How old were you?"

"Not much older than I am now. Sixteen, maybe? My CO died. I nearly lost it. They chained me to a tree so I could calm down after I killed all of the prisoners and left their bodies out on the plains so the Rosan sentries could watch the Mandibuzz eat them. Became a scout after that. I was good at it, away from the fighting, mostly. It helped." Blue and brown looked glassy, flashes of memory coming back to him.

"So they did know," she deduced. "They had to be extra careful with the young recruits… puberty certainly screwed with anything they tried to do. Teenagers are very emotional. If successful though, it turned you into perfect little killing machines."

"Maybe. But from what you're telling me, it wasn't enough. We didn't just fight like a crippled dog. We crippled ourselves. We could have used this power, I always thought we weren't blessed with abilities like the Roses or the Lirans. Turns out we just didn't know, and it was our own damn fault. Those higher ups knew. Fuck… so much for patriotism," Riven said darkly, staring at his palm. No dark wisps came out this time, unable to feel the energy. "I wouldn't have cared if it took me over then, as long as I could kill them for what they did. We were dead men and women fighting for a hopeless cause. But now… now I don't think I want it to."

_I want to find a reason._

Nera remained silent for a minute, then brought Isole and Cormac to the kitchen. They stared blankly at each other. "God," Nera whispered.

Isole shook her head.

"I thought your world was already fucked up beyond all repair." Cormac blinked a few times, looking like his mind had just been blown to bits. "But _holy shit_. This place _is_ a sugar bowl in comparison." He chuckled, thankful he'd been born now and not then, poke powers be fucking _damned_.

The Rose nodded, not even bothering to refute that. "Hell is what it was. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to create a nightmare, apart from torture."

"Nightmare?" Isole asked. "Is that what you called them?"

"That's what the reports called them. Many of them turned into that, tortured into that state. Many of them lost their minds, overcome by the other side, unable to nothing but their own twisted hatred for their torturers. Relentless killing machines. Once their targets were gone, they just… wasted away. It was incredibly sad. I want you to watch him further."

"No, Nera. I know you have a messed up as fuck way of showing you care, but no. Surveillance is just going to make it worse. Then you'll just piss off his not psychotic-y side," Cormac reminded. "He's pretty testy as is. I didn't catch the throwdown you all had in here, and thank god Styx didn't or else there'd be no apartment left, but I don't think I'd like to experience that myself. Neither of you have stopped shaking even now, I _noticed_."

"I agree with him for once," Isole nodded, crossing her arms. "That- that scared _me_, Nera. We got lucky Ieia was there to stop him, but we were walking on thin ice. If he gets stronger, and he will, there's no telling what he'd do. Or the havoc he'll cause. We're elemental, so we don't have the same problems unless we're near an extremely powerful energy source but psychics and darks… that's an entirely different story."

"And what if we don't?" Nera proposed. "Who's going to stop him? The police? Please, they couldn't stop a rampaging Gogoat. He's our responsibility. If we want to keep our existence a secret, then he needs to remain one too. For now, he's going to continue on jobs like normal. Keep him away from Parfum Palace, or any location even remotely related to Honedges or Doublades. Whatever it did to him, it could make it worse."

"What are you going to keep an eye on him with? A stalker? I'm sure that'll go over well." Cormac rolled his eyes, chuckling. "Guy's like a spooked pidgey. You put a guy to follow him and he's going to notice, lead him into a dark alley and _shunk._ Cue news."

"Unless you have a fountain of disposable PI's, then I don't think we'd be able to do that, Nera," Isole added. "Have Circuit slack off less maybe?"

"I'd sooner hire fifty PI's then try to push that slacker to work harder," the redhead huffed.

"You can offer him your body?" Cormac sneered. "You're thirty something yet those pokehuman genes keep all of you looking like you're still in your twenties. Guess you can call that quid pro quo-" The death glares he received from both women could both freeze _and_ burn him alive. "Hey, it's just a suggestion, most guys think with their nether regions, believe it or not. Fucking mindblowing for you girls, I know. But-"

"Cormac," Nera bit out, twitching.

"Yep?"

"Shut. Up," Isole finished.

"Know what, I'm trying to be helpful, but no. You're both dicks. And you're girls. I'm going back with the dudes. Figure out what you're going to do matchstick, don't want to start a forest fire you can't control, right?" He said wryly, heading back towards the living room, where Riven was trying his hardest not to look Ieia in the eyes.

They returned some time later, Nera holding a small pink stone in her palm. Eyeing it curiously, something clicked in Riven's head. "That stone. That's May's. Why do you have it?" He remembered seeing it in the contest, but he couldn't fathom why these assholes had it. "What did you do to her?" He demanded.

"Nothing!" Nera answered quickly. "The princess is _perfectly_ fine. The only thing we took is the stone."

"And so all is right with the world," Riven deadpanned. "She almost got killed for that. Why is it so important that someone valued it over her life, and then you had to go and steal it?"

"Some mercenaries are more heartless than others," Isole spoke up. "We did leave her family recompense for it. We needed to see if it-" She shut her mouth, about to say too much.

"Still leaving me in the dark? It's heartwarming to see you care, Isole." Riven hissed. "And I thought we were getting somewhere. I guess almost dying means nothing to you."

Isole looked away, sighing.

"If we told you what we were looking for, then you wouldn't need any reason to be here. We need you," Nera reasoned.

"No, you need to watch me in case I become a liability. The dirty work is just something to keep me occupied." Riven smiled viciously. "I may have been a grunt in the large scheme of things, but I'm no idiot. Fine, don't tell me." _But don't be surprised if I find out myself._ "What's the stone for then. I assume it wasn't what you were looking for."

"No, it's not what we were looking for. However, this stone can be of use to you. I thought about throwing it away, but something told me to keep it. It's curious though, how something like this ended up in Hoenn, so far from Kalos." Nera smiled, tracing a finger along the pink stone's smooth surface. "Coincidences and nature are remarkable."

"It's from Kalos?"

"Yep."

"But they said they found it in Mt. Chimney. How does that work?" Riven could have sworn he heard right. _I can remember that, I wasn't that insane._

"Half correct." She held the stone up to the light, admiring the radiant glow of the diamond. "This, is a piece of Diancie, a native Kalosian pokemon. They're millions of years old, so this piece must have ended up in Hoenn when all the continents were one land mass, after the primal era."

"Hold on, piece of what?"

"Diancie, a legendary. Known as one of the loveliest pokemon you can ever set your eyes on. According to the legends, they can create diamonds out of pure air, and these diamonds hold her power, giving life to the surrounding area, inspiring growth and health. Want to see?" She tried giving the stone to Riven, but he swatted her hand away.

"Get it away from me. I don't want to touch it. It feels like her," he said, pointing to Ieia. She flicked a green finger at his forehead. He shot her a glare. "Whatever she did to me, that stone feels the same as that energy that nearly ripped me apart. It was _terrible_, no thanks."

"The fairy energy opposes the dark type. Naturally it would make you want to stay away from it as far as possible. But this might just save you."

"I don't follow. That's like saying poison's good for you. Believe it or not, it makes you die."

"It will suppress your abilities, prevent the nightmare from coming out and taking over. But that means you won't be able to use them in a fight, or you'll risk bringing it out. You'd be like a normal human in terms of combat ability."

"I see. Nothing new, I can use a sword just fine. I've fought like a regular human my entire life. Why stop now?" Riven took the stone in his hands, the energy coming from it stinging his skin and making him feel nauseous. _Hmmmm. This or permanent crazy. I think I can handle a little dizziness. _"Alright then, I'll keep it with me, but the migraines might make me want to kill myself. The longer I hold this thing, the worse I feel."

His head started to spin.

"Just make it into a necklace, and don't let it come into contact with your skin. Your hand is already reddening. Put it down."

He set it on the couch arm, rubbing his temples.

Nera sighed, and stood up. She exhaled deeply, watching Kai's sleeping form."Well, I'm off before sleeping tea lover here wakes up and reopens his wounds trying to hack my head off. Tell him I already left him a check to repay the costs. He should be happy we brought him enough tea to drown his sorrows in in the meantime. And Riven-"

"If you're expecting thanks, don't. If you're trying to guilt trip me, a noodle would do a better job," he said. "Don't expect me to think of this as a kindness."

"And I won't ask you to. But I gave you some answers, I'm still waiting on mine. If you get worse, I won't help you unless you help me. Should you lose yourself, I'll be forced to kill you."

"If you can, then I think I can live with that. Shoo."

Nera hmphed, returning Ieia.

"Cormac, Isole. Remember what we talked about," she said cryptically. Both of them reluctantly nodded. Waving one last time, Nera left, red hair flowing behind her.

Hours later, Riven put an ear to the wall of Isole's room, eavesdropping.

"-auction's in two days."

Looking down at his neck, where the Diancie stone dangled from a string necklace, he clenched his jaw. _Nera, Isole, Cormac_. _If you don't want to give me the answers I want, I'll just have to find my own, then squeeze you until you give me more._

* * *

A door slid open, revealing an assistant with a tablet. He entered the Director's office with a calm stride."Director. Preparations are in order. The men will be ready soon."

"Good. How are our newly hired scientists progressing with the research on the blood sample?"

"It's not ready yet. Genetics is a very complicated field. It may not be ready for years, sir. Three at the least, with no complications."

"I see… I can wait. What about Tesla? Are his men ready?"

"He's excited, as usual. The rest aren't interested though. Call it lowly work. They are insolent hired guns, sir. Don't pay attention to them, they do not value the importance of our cause."

"And I will heed that advice. Despite their distasteful ways, I still require their services. Tesla will be enough. Get transport ready, it will be a long flight for him. Tell the men that they have the permission to do whatever they please. As long as they get me that key."

His assistant bowed.

"Together as one, sir."

"Together as one."

Footsteps announced the assistant's retreat, and the room darkened. The director watched as a holographic projection appeared in the center of the room, an object rotating in place.

A shaped piece of metal with glowing glyphs on its sides, shaped like a key.

"One step closer."

* * *

**That probably took one hell of a while to come out. Little over three weeks. Sorry about that, but I've been catching up on shows and playing more games now that I got some degree of free time. Expect another update sooner. I'm also going to start reading and reviewing more fics now, since I haven't been doing that. **

**I'm going to use a baby Furfrou as a plot device next chapter. Then it'll turn into Kung Fu Jesus and fight Donald Trump's comb over. Should be fun.**

**As you can tell, the above statement is so full of shit I could grow crops with it. Enjoy the chapter.**


	48. Errands

_So many people._

The one thing Riven hadn't gotten used to during all these months.

He'd long since stopped watching peoples' hands for weapons after strolling through the city after jobs. Ingrained thinking told him that it was a bad idea to let his guard down, but the place was generally peaceful enough not to worry about things like that. It was easy to feel pressured while amongst the crowds of people during the night, always expecting some sort of bladed weapon to come flying at his neck.

Silly thoughts of a paranoiac. But people made him jumpy. Crowds even more so, and Lumiose was chocked full of them at night.

Ironic that the so called City of Light was far more active when there was _less_ light and more dark corners. Trainers zipped around everywhere during the day but since they never stayed in one place, there was never really that feeling that the city was all that lively. Nighttime was vastly different. People walked everywhere, and instead of hearing skates and bike chains scrape the floor or click with every pedal, there were voices and laughter; there were cries of pokemon small and large, lights from shops and lamps glowing in the darkness of night. Life.

Thinking about it deeper though, it wasn't as ironic as it seemed.

_Lights do shine brighter in the dark. Makes sense really._

Slightly enjoyable though, in a way that differed from Rustboro, with its silent streets, or the still air of the smaller towns in Hoenn. Walking down Estival Avenue after watching a contest hopeful practice in Centrico Plaza for a few hours, he passed people happily and ignorantly chatting away about the new trends or other mundane things they cared about; celebrities, fashion, beauty contests, and occasionally a few gym battles. He slid hands into his pockets, rechecking his knives as he entered the crowd.

_No such thing as too careful. Especially when my "boss" thinks she can spy on me and get away with it. _

Scanning the rooftops with his eyes, he wondered if his stalker had buzzed off already. Normally, Riven wouldn't have had the patience nor the desire to sit at a bench and stare at someone practice the same routine over and over for hours.

_Not too bad though, at least there was pretty colors._

An overhead image of the city flashed in his mind, gathered from the months of time he'd spent traversing the rooftops on his downtime. With Lumiose's layout, and its general lack of high-rise buildings like those in Rustboro, it was fairly difficult for any good stalker to get a complete view of any angle without directly exposing himself. But, even after spotting the sneaky bastard, Riven couldn't magically teleport into his face and stab him, so he settled for the next best thing.

Bore the shit out of him.

First hand experience reminded him that scouting was equal parts exciting and mind numbingly monotonous. The fun part was scoping out new locations and climbing mountains; testing yourself against the best obstacles nature could throw at you. The boring part was watching a blank expanse of land and waiting for hours on end to see if any troops based by. At least when you had no intelligence to guide you to the enemy encampment.

Heh. _You_ were the intelligence.

Modern day surveillance was probably like that too, except here there was no need to scope out new locations nor were there any mountains to climb. Add in humid weather and it formed just the right trifecta of excruciating.

_Nera, Nera, Nera. It's truly amazing how determined you are to make me talk first. Getting _real _tired of you. _

Leader of a mercenary she might be, but she was no scout. Hiring a stalker to stalk him. How cute. The only reason that dickwad in Petalburg had gotten away with pickpocketing his money was because he wasn't all that used to navigating crowds that weren't actively trying to kill him, or the surrounding city landscape. Now that he had more experience in an urban environment, losing a tail or spotting one wasn't all that difficult. Not being able to get locked by a psychic made shaking one off all the better.

_No cheats for you_, Riven smirked to himself, side stepping a small group of children running up and down the street like a bunch of comets. They nearly knocked into him and one of the kid's baby Furfrou managed to peg him with sneeze. Riven frowned, wiping himself off.

_Good god. This… is exactly why I dislike main streets. Children. I'd rather deal with people trying to kill me, at least I can strangle them. Makes life easier. In hindsight, probably should have taken the alleys. Then I wouldn't get showered in Furfrou snot._

While the alleys were a viable option, they did have some hefty drawbacks. At night those places were often overrun by thugs and other miscreants, and even an idiot with a pokemon could cause serious damage to an idiot _without_ one, no matter how good said idiot's combat training was. Besides, gangs didn't particularly like him much, since for the better part of the year he'd been… _optimizing_ the criminal underbelly of Lumiose for someone else. Walking in there alone while pokemonless would be the equivalent of showing up to a knife fight with a _pencil_.

Scratch that, toothpick.

Still. Probably wasn't good that he had helped shift power to a single side, but since there weren't any plans of staying here for very long, it mattered little. Dick move, perhaps, but it got him connected and was paying off. He'd done quite a bit of assignments for the man in charge, and that earned him some favors.

One of which he had called in.

_1376 Estival Avenue. Should be it_.

Stopping in front of the place, he examined the outside briefly. His contact had instructed him to meet at this particular restaurant, with a name that sounded like a nasally mewl than anything. French was weird. It wasn't a fancy place, but attracted a fair share of customers. This night it was fairly crowded, like it usually was, the smell of wine and hot food mixing with the various perfumes and fragrances Kalosians practically showered in.

He spotted an ashen haired man in the far left corner of the restaurant, calmly biting into his food.

_Cyrille_.

Apparently meant "lord" in French. He was a weasel of a man; skinny, old, and constantly sporting a smile that could give _ghosts _nightmares. Possibly enjoyed scaring people, got a kick out of seeing them squirm. He didn't look like much, but it was never a wise idea to underestimate someone based on looks. _Especially _not this man.

Reason why this guy was dangerous? A lot of reasons, many of them coinciding with grievous bodily harm and or severe pain. He now controlled three fourths of the illegal smuggling trade in Kalos, whether it be pokemon, weapons, or other items of interest, he did it. Messing with him was like prodding a sleeping dragon with a stick.

_An excellent idea_. _If your idea of fun is being dead in several different pieces. _

Riven made his way over to him, sliding into the seat across from him. The man looked up, chuckled to himself, and gave him a chilling, calculating smile. Gave Riven a shiver just looking at the damn guy.

"Prime, nice to see you've arrived. You look very casual today, you almost look… normal. It does not suit you," he said, thick Kalosian accent slurring some of his words. "I admit I am used to seeing you more suited for… _work."_

"It's hot," Riven replied with a shrug, browsing the menu. "And this isn't exactly a three star restaurant. Or else I would have worn a Froakie onesie."

"Funny man. I wanted to go to Restaurant Le Wow… but you do not have beasts of your own. I would have been denied service if you pulled out that blade you have there, no? That would have ruined my evening, and so, I chose this place. Not extravagant but cozy, would you agree?"

"I don't really frequent restaurants much, but I guess so. Fairly busy here though. You sure this is a good place?" Riven winced as he heard the piercing shriek of a demon of pure malice, also known as a human child. "Argh. Can barely stand the adult ones…"

Cyrille waved a hand, smiling in the direction of the wailing child. "This is the perfect place. There is talking and sounds, no one listens to another's conversation. In a place empty of life, a single noise is an explosion, a hush of whispers is like a scream. Here we may speak and none will bother to listen."

"Makes sense," Riven agreed, flinching after another round of wails. "I'm not going to engage in small talk though. I'll get right to it. I need some information."

"So specific," Cryille quipped sarcastically. The young mercenary frowned. Cyrille cocked his head, expectant. "No money, no extravagant item, no _woman_? You have been very busy in these months. Too busy to have fully enjoyed the _wonders_ of Lumiose. Repressed desires are unhealthy, they become violence."

_A little too late for that warning._ "I just want information," Riven repeated. "That's it. None of that other stuff."

The ashen haired man grinned once again, pointing a finger at Riven. "I find it very strange that a mercenary is denying the three things mercenaries love the most. Very, _very _strange. You know, at first I believed that you were an informant, a mole, or… a policeman. But I was wrong, you helped my business become something that rivals that of Unova's network, and yet you ask for nothing but words? I am having difficulty understanding your reasons."

"Knowledge is power," Riven said bluntly, crossing his arms. "It's useful. What's the point of having money if you won't use it? What functional value does jewelry have to me?"

"The power of _some_ trinkets may surprise you, but that is for another time. And women?" Cyrille pounced, ghost of a smirk on his face. "They can bring you happiness. Perhaps. You've always seemed a bit gloomy. I can find you one that can bring you joy."

"Doubt it." Riven denied calmly. "She'd have to be even more stubborn than I am. That's pretty hard to find."

"Or…" He held up a wrinkly finger. "Perhaps you've already found her?"The man responded sharply, scanning Riven's eyes for tells, but his face remained blank. "A mercenary that values practicality, and resists temptations?… _Impossible._ You have ulterior motives, yes?"

"We all do," Riven shrugged, glancing aside. He held up a palm, grabbing at air. "What I want you can't hold in your hands, or caress. It's intangible."

"A man of vision." Another crooked smile. "Why did you help me, then? With the power you allowed me to accumulate, I can easily kill you now, and you will never receive this intangible item. I have denied people of their desires before, it brings me joy."

"And we both know you wouldn't do that. Even someone as sadistic as you can see sense and the practical value of a person. I can imagine twenty plus dead cutthroats in a public restaurant as well as all known information about the biggest crime ring in Lumiose will be good for your image. You've seen what I can do. And I don't even have pokemon."

"Tricky and honest- dangerous man." Cyrille chuckled, shaking his head. "I will miss your skills, when you are gone. Such a pity. Honest man in a twisted man's trade, doing a twisted man's work, and remains functional... On the surface. You are not a mercenary." He cackled at the irony. "The soldier who lost his way. How cruel is the world?"

"Very cruel," Riven murmured. "So will you tell me what I want to know, or are you going to continue psychoanalyzing me? You've done this quite a lot, and with all due respect, it's irritating."

"Intellect, too. Special operations, perhaps? Such a waste of potential_._ What is it you want to know?"

"You're rich right?"

Cyrille gave him a look. Riven fought the urge to slam his face into the nearest desk.

"Damn, no shit. Of course you are- Okay, let's just- let's assume I never said that... There's an auction at Prism Tower tomorrow night. I want to know what it is they're auctioning and why. I wouldn't have asked you if I could see the items myself. But they only release the items on sale to people who are either rich or influential."

_And fuck me, I couldn't use a computer to save my life._

The old man nodded. "And you are neither."

"Pretty much."

"I see. I admit I did peruse the items, but… they did not interest me. Nothing but dig site artifacts from five months ago. Useless to me. There was one that was different, but it failed to catch my interest. I have enough glowing rocks at home."

"Glowing rock? Evolution stone? Or-"

"No, no, no. A piece of metal with a strange shape," Cyrille cut in. "The glowing was its only redeeming feature. Pretty white light from the markings on the side. Interesting but not worth spending millions to put on a wall. If I wanted to do that I would buy a painting."

"You said markings." Riven grabbed the ketchup bottle from the table and smeared a rough drawing of the markings he'd seen on the blue sphere; paralleled lines and circles connecting with each other. "Like these?"

Cyrille stared at the crude picture, rubbing his chin with a hand. "Yes, like those. How did you know, hmmmmm?"

"I've seen things like that around recently. And those markings with increasing frequency too…" Riven whispered under his breath. Nera's interest suddenly made a lot of sense, as well as refusing to tell him about it. If he'd gotten his hands on it instead, and recognized the patterns, then she'd have no trump cards up her sleeve_. I'd be in a position of power over her. That's the last thing she wants_. Nice precaution, but there was one thing that didn't make any sense.

_It was a complete accident that I stumbled on the sphere, and that it reacted when we got to that temple. Otherwise I would have passed it off as some useless rock. But Nera seems like she knows where these findings will be, and where. It's no coincidence that she knew it was going to be in Kalos. Those six months, that must have been how long the excavation took. She was stalling for time under pretext of searching for something. _

Wasn't lying though. She _was_ looking for something_. _But who informed her about an excavation conveniently having something to do with the sphere he found in Dewford? Before it even began?

It was like having a dozen outer puzzle pieces with all the central ones missing. You knew there were details, but you had _no _idea what the bigger picture was supposed to be. How big was the _real _question. If something like this was found in Kalos… it could be a lot bigger than he originally thought. Steven would have a field day, along with happy skipping and possible foaming at the mouth.

"Anyway-"Riven stood up, having only had a glass of water. "Thank you, Cyrille. I appreciate the hel-"

"Do not leave just yet," the man ordered. "Could you not have asked your employer?" Riven's expression was stone. "Ah, you are working alone. You don't want them to find out, or perhaps… they don't want _you_ to find out?"

"They think they can keep me in the dark forever. I'm trying to change that."

"Interesting," Cyrille said ominously. "But there is one curious thing about this. Sit." Waved a hand, watching a little girl give a piece of lettuce to a Chespin. "Two days ago I made a sale. A large, very _profitable_, sale."

Riven raised a brow._ Pokemon are highly valued, maybe he's talking about those._ "Pokemon? Evolution stones?"

"Nothing like that. I sold weapons, Prime. And not just any weapons. _Firearms._ Rifles, pistols. Along with _all_ of my accumulated ammunition. It was not a little bit."

Riven's gut turned, Petalburg and Forina were enough to tell him that whatever Cyrille was about to say, it wasn't good.

"As you know," he continued, "These firearms are extremely expensive. Banned in nearly all of the regions, they are extremely hard to smuggle. Regulations, security checkpoints, bag revisions, police. Very hard. One pistol goes for thirty thousand, one rifle even more. Two days ago, dangerous looking men in suits approached me. Twenty? Thirty? I don't know, I care little. Entire stock, _disparu_. They bought all of my smuggled weapons without a word. To 'unite' the world. Curious."

"Unite the world?" Riven echoed. _Great. Fanatics._

"Yes, and what is the word… Irony! Yes. They asked me about the same thing you did." Cyrille grinned widely as he saw Riven swallow, losing color in the face. "You look troubled."

"Troubled is an understatement," he growled. "Are they after it too?" _And if they are, what does that mean for me, and the others? Firearms to grab an item. Robbery?_

The old man shrugged, eyeing the remnants of food on his plate. He looked back up at Riven, still smirking. "Perhaps. They did not tell me. But these people… The way they looked, spoke, breathed… Foreign. From their voice…?" He appeared pensive for a second, then huffed. "From Hoenn. The accent is quite distinguishable. These men... No one buys entire stocks of weapons like this, unless they have a lot of money at their disposal. Well connected, well funded. Dangerous."

Riven grimaced.

_Hoenn? What's so important about this that has mercs from Hoenn coming to Kalos? _

The item Cyrille described didn't sound like an evolution sphere, nor did it sound very interesting.

_But what if there's more? I don't know how it looks like, too early to tell what it does. Or might do. Can't be another human evolution stone, otherwise it might have reacted with one of the people there already, just like it did with Will. Assuming they all function like that at least. There's too much attention on it for it to be unimportant. There is still a possibility that it's useless, but that wouldn't explain armed men coming for it. Shit._

"I know that look," Cyrille said wryly. "Oh, don't worry. If you decide to go after this item you seek, I will not ask for what it is, nor care for its importance, but let me tell you one thing. I had a friend a few years back who also sold many weapons to people. This happened to him before, once. Nearly forty sold, at one time. Hollow point bullets for maximum tissue damage, very very expensive. Thicker, anti-pokemon rounds, for those with tougher hides. Such fascinating weapons. Orran design, hehe."

This time his lips edged upwards, revealing crooked teeth. The smile gave Riven chills as Cyrille leaned in, ominous tone gripping his nerves like a vice.

"Do you know who he sold them to?"

The crowd's commotion seemed to fade away into useless white noise.

"Trainers, Prime. Children. In _Sinnoh_. Who believed they were the only true trainers. Who believed in the words of one stupid little boy angry at the world. A little boy who could not protect his brother from the cruel hands of fate."

Riven blanched, panic spreading throughout his body, recalling what Seab had said.

"And you know what happened after that?" He steadied his tone, soft and eerily serene. "Funerals. Many, many funerals." Raising three fingers, he paused, waiting. "Three of them gym leaders. Byron. Gardenia. Crasher Wake. Tragic. Take care of yourself, Prime. I would hate to lose someone as useful as you to an… _inconvenience_."

The man smiled once again and stood up, casually strolling out of the restaurant among oblivious cries of innocent young children and pokemon.

Riven remained glued to the seat, frozen in place, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of his stomach.

_Thousands of people in Prism Tower daily… Sinnoh. Organizations. Weapons_.

Just like the old saying.

_History has a tendency to repeat itself. Unless someone breaks it._

He ran a hand through his hair, a bead of cold sweat flowing down his cheek. Taking out the holo caster, he flipped it open, staring at the contact list. He needed someone he could trust, someone who would see this through for reasons that didn't involve personal interest. That way things wouldn't completely devolve into a complete shitestorm. Scrolling down the list, he came to a name.

_Perfect. But first…where is the nearest cell phone store? And how much time do I have?_

He stared at a clock in a nearby shop, the second hand slowly ticking away at the time. Time that never seemed to be enough.

As Riven left, the clock continued to count down.

_Click. Click. Click._

* * *

_Flash._

Walking among the webs of netting that resembled silk threads, Viola gracefully descended down her gym, remembering every nook and cranny, hopping between each thread like a Surskit. Taking a few pictures with her camera on the way down to the safety net at the base, she reached her darkroom, examining the photos suspended from her Surskit's string shot, which served as a sort of clothes line.

Staring longingly at the pictures she took on her trip to Anistar City; the sundial as well as many shots of battles between trainers and their pokemon. There was happiness, smiles, and determination in the faces of those people and their partners. The same look she saw in her gym matches, followed by the reflection of dreams that burned with passion in the eyes of her challengers.

Walking past them, she reached a corner of the room where one photograph remained suspended. A grimy, blood-stained man with disheveled hair and a fierce but exhausted expression- the surroundings behind him lay broken and battered, the ground decimated and scorched with the signs of battle.

She took it after the battle with the Pangoro. To say it was a powerful shot didn't do it justice. It captured a different perspective than the photos she normally took. A side people knew existed but seldom saw. The dark, gritty side of the pokemon world. Primal. Deadly. Kill or be killed.

Prime's hand loosely held a bloodied sword, his body language akin to that of a wild pokemon preparing for the worst, his breathing strained from the fight. A far-off look could be seen in those hollowed brown eyes, memories of the past perhaps.

Losing herself in the strength of the photograph, Viola jumped when her phone vibrated in her back pocket.

_Caller ID: Unknown._

Hesistant to answer she pushed the talk button on the screen, really hoping there were no telemarketers trying to sell her Tentacruel jelly. Good for the skin, yeah right. "H-hello? Who's this?"

"Viola."

"Yeah, that's me… Who are you?" Viola tensed. Hopefully also not a stalker. Ever since they featured her in that trainer magazine, she'd been receiving very disturbing photographs of a few mens' less than sizable pride.

"No, I'm not a stalker or a telemarketer," the voice answered, bemused. "No one in their right mind would ever buy Tentacruel jelly."

_He read my mind!_

The voice was deep, but not necessarily hostile. More… bored? No, deadpan. _Oh_, OH. She definitely knew who this was. _Just as I was looking at his photo too. It's like he has a sixth sense. Maybe he can see dead people…? _"Prime, is that you?"

"It was the deadpan, wasn't it. Trademark, you know." He sounded prideful for a second before switching back to his indifferent monotone. "No really- deadpan is useful, it's great for cards. Not that I play cards much anyway."

Viola smiled, shaking her head. "Wait. Didn't I give you my number in case anything happened? I swear that I did-"

"You did."

A blonde brow curled upward. "Then why-"

"Burner phone. Don't ask, no time to explain," he answered quickly. "Viola, I need you to do something."

"Ok…?"

There was a sigh over the phone, like he was collecting his thoughts. And a barely audible curse. "I need you to contact Clemont and prepare the entire Lumiose police force for anything that classifies as a 'wait, what' event. You're the only one with ties to the officials that I can contact without landing me in a pile of shit the size of an ocean."

"'The entire police... force?" Viola blinked stupidly for a second, then began to panic as her brain processed the absurdity of his request. "I- what? When do you want this done?"

"Well, technically? Erm. Tonight."

"Oh, crap," Viola squeaked. "T-tonight? Uhhh, have you tried asking at the precinct? That seems like their department… I-I don't think that I can do that. I'm just the Santalune City gym leader, not the Elite Four!"

"Oh, I already tried the police precinct. Yes, I walked in there and calmly explained to them that shit is about to go down in all the colors of the rainbow. They gave me an entire squadron, a box of donuts, and birthday giftcards."

"Okay, Prime. I get it, police don't trust mercenaries. But... You should talk to Clemont instead!" Viola huffed.

"Don't have his number. And he's weird."

"Let me put you on hold then," Viola said.

"Why exactly…?"

_That Tentacruel jelly sounds good right about now_, she thought, her mood falling into the Earth's crust."I, uh… think I might need some coffee before you tell me. It's almost one AM- Not sure if I can handle this right now." Usually, people called mercenaries. Mercenaries _didn't_ call people. The scenarios of horrible things she was conjuring up in her mind were about to make her mind explode. "But before you tell me, how bad is it?"

"Viola. Let me put it this way," he said ominously. "That coffee?"

"Yeah?"

"Make it black. No sugar. No cream. You're going to _need_ it."

The blonde swallowed the fist sized lump that seemed to have formed in her throat, shakily clambering to the coffee machine.

"Did you get the coffee yet?"

"Yes."

"Good. Drink it between pauses, otherwise it might come forcefully out of your mouth in spray-like manner. While hilarious, I wouldn't be there to see it. So don't take a huge swig," Prime warned. "Coffee stains are hard on white clothing."

"You're going to tell me about something extremely concerning and you're worried about my shirt? You need to work on your priorities." Viola rubbed her eyes. "How exactly do you expect me to tell them to just get all the police ready? In Lumiose? They're going to ask me where I got this information. To tell them that a _mercenary_ told me, I think I'd be in trouble. I hope you understand that, so please, no 'don't ask' business. If this is serious, please be serious."

"I might mouth off quite a bit, but I'm rarely ever not serious, Viola. As for what's going to happen, I don't quite know myself. All I know is, a large group of ominous people were asking questions about tonight's auction at Prism tower," Prime explained. "A large, _fanatical_ group. I didn't even meet them and I can smell the ignorant idiocy from here. They didn't just ask questions, Viola. They bought weapons. Firearms used to kill people, and rounds for pokemon too- for insurance, I guess."

There was an eerie silence. The coffee in Viola's hands steamed silently in her room, warming her cold hands.

"Needing that many guns… doesn't seem like they intend on fighting with pokemon. At least primarily. They're looking for maximum human casualties in case they don't get what they want. Let's just hope it's not a message they want to send, otherwise... fuck. If anything, it'd be similar to what happened in Sinnoh, if it comes to the worst possible scenario. I don't know much about what happened there, but I assume it was pretty bad. You were a leader then, right?"

"Yeah... What happened in Sinnoh- it was frightening. People didn't want to go outside, and guards were placed at the entrances of every gym. The Elite Four closed down the gym circuit for months after that sadistic tournament took place," She recalled, catching her breath. _The Pangoro, and now this… I should prepare for a heart attack every time he calls. "_Are you sure that's what's going to happen?_"_

"No. Which is why the police need to be on standby. Not sure what these assholes are going to do, but I have a good feeling about what they're after, and it's mine. But I'm not going to let them turn things to shit either, that'd be inconvenient."

"So you're doing this for yourself and not for the good of the people of Lumiose?" Viola bit back, anger rising.

"Mercs don't work for free." Prime stated, a sliver of hesitance in his voice, as if he didn't believe it himself. "What I am should tell you all you need to know about me. I'm selfish, first and foremost."

"You really believe that?"

"Don't know what to believe in," he said with heavy uncertainty. "Can you do this or not?"

"I'll try," Viola assured. But it was a lot to do in a day. Convincing them that the story was authentic was going to be even more difficult. "Maybe, but I'll need details. Make up a story maybe? If it's from you, they probably won't believe a word I tell them, and I can't blame them. Mercenaries aren't too trustworthy."

"Yet you trust me," he pointed out.

"Not many people go up against a twelve foot Pangoro with a sword, that's just insane," she replied. "You're an honest guy, Prime. Even if you don't believe it yourself. I might be one of the more inexperienced gym leaders, but honesty and determination is one thing that really stands out. I think you're not as selfish as you think."

"Honest huh," he said. "…You're the second person today to tell me that."

"Who was the first?"

"Someone I probably shouldn't mention to protect my own ass. He's the one that gave me this information but we had a deal about secrecy, can't reveal his name without incriminating myself," Prime apologized. "Sorry, Viola. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just-"

"No, it's fine! I'm just glad you decided to warn us in case. By tonight isn't going to be much time, but I think they can lend some of their best fighters in case things get rough, I don't think I should jump into the fight if things get hairy though."

"That's fine, stay safe. We don't need any more gym leaders dying. " Prime exhaled loudly. "You did well against the Pangoro, and did what any gym leader should have done. You didn't leave the problem for someone else- you solved it, and that's all that matters. You did your job. Now it's time for Lumioses' protectors to do the same, just watch from the sidelines, you're helping enough as it is."

The young gym leader couldn't help but smile at that, feeling proud of herself. "What will you be doing then?"

"I need to work some things out with someone beforehand, but I'll be at the tower in case anything happens. If push comes to knife and gun though, I can't guarantee things will remain clean. If pokemon get involved… bad news. Someone tries to kill me, I take them out _first_. You understand?" He stated harshly. His tone softened. "But I'll try to avoid lethal force, it would be a nightmare for the region if it turned into a bloodbath. I'll try to limit it, I sense your disapproval from here."

"Thank you," Viola breathed, holding a hand to her chest. "Reminds me of Petalburg… My sister sometimes still thinks about what happened there. It really scared her, you know? All that blood... Prime? You there?"

"Oh, uh… yeah, I'm here." A strained breath. "Anyway, I need to go. Thanks for your help."

"I'll do what I can," she said cheerfully. "You really helped Santalune, I'll gladly return the favor. Protect yourself, okay?"

"God, you gym leaders… so damn charismatic. Way too nice," Prime scoffed. "No wonder people like all of you so much."

"We prefer not to brood and be all rough around the edges," Viola joked back. "But there's a bit of charm in that too right?"

"Heh, I wish," he chuckled. "I'll see you around."

"Bye."

The line clicked, and Viola found herself sitting the silence of her room, a feeling of uneasiness rising from within. She sighed deeply, running both hands nervously through her hair.

_People could die and I won't be able to do anything about it… Prime… I hope everything goes well. _

_For Lumiose, and for Kalos._

* * *

Kai sat in his room, slowly dazing off with an edition of the Pokemon Weekly on his lap. His transition into peaceful slumber was interrupted by a quiet sliding of the door. A head of black hair poked out of the doorway into the room, examining him to see if he was still alive. Riven tip-toed to the foot of the bed, squinting and quiet as a mouse.

Raising two fingers, Kai laughed as Riven jumped back a good three feet. Maybe a Skitty was his spirit pokemon. Turning on the light, Kai rubbed some of the sleepiness out of his eyes.

"Riven, you're back late. Had a busy night?"

The young man more or less nodded, waggling a hand. "I guess so," he said unenthusiastically. "If you classify heart attack inducing as busy. Like you did now, I almost just died."

"Hah. Did something happen?"

"A guy hit on me today, but besides that, no, not yet."

"Not yet? What?"

Riven appeared hesitant, shifting his gaze from Kai's face to the floor multiple times. "Isole and Cormac probably didn't tell you, but something is going to be auctioned at Prism tower tomorrow. And they're not the only ones interested in it." He saw Kai's raised eyebrows and sighed again. "And I don't mean just me."

"Rich people?"

"Criminals."

Kai thought about it for a second. "Aren't they the same thing?"

Riven raised a finger to argue, then put it down. "What you did there, I saw it. Well played."

"Thank you," Kai bowed. "These criminals?"

"Yes. They may be mercenaries, or crazy, fanatical morons with a lot of money. Morons armed with weapons, the kind designed to kill people with brutal efficiency. Ones that shoot bullets."

Kai's expression became severe, concern dawning on his face. "Riven, I know you're trying to undermine Nera but don't you think tackling this alone-"

"Kai, don't worry about me." Riven cut in, twirling his thumbs. "I'm already getting some help in case anything… major happens, but I-I need, no- I'm asking for a favor from you."

"From me?" Kai repeated, surprised. "What kind of favor?"

"To send a message to someone far away in Hoenn." He held up the paper, looking at it for a painful moment. "And deliver something else with it." Reaching into his pocket, Riven took a small object out and held it high in his palm, a tiny smile on his lips.

"Is that… Who I think it is?" Kai stuttered, incredulous. Then laughed lowly, shaking his head. "I was wondering what happened to her… "

"I practiced a two whole months for that, you know. Throwing darts really helped," Riven chuckled proudly. He rolled the object in between his fingers."She'll like it, I think."

"Ah, I see what this is about," Kai grinned wryly. Mismatched eyes gave him a disapproving look. "Just teasing. But I don't think you'll need such a big box for those two things."

Riven scratched the side of his head, opening the box to reveal two stacks of money inside. "Aaaannd about three hundred thousand or so too. If that, uh, wouldn't be asking for too much?" He winced, waiting for the answer.

Kai was slack-jawed, looking like someone had slapped him. "You- you want to send money and that in a package? You're breaking about twenty different laws, you know. Smuggling and possibly contraband too. I know some people that can turn a blind eye, but it will be expensive. Especially from Kalos to Hoenn. The distance is pretty substantial, it might take some time."

Riven shook his head, eyes fixated on the ground. "Doesn't matter, I can pay. If it takes a couple days, maybe even two weeks, I don't care. As long as it gets there, I'm fine with anything. Money's just paper to me."

"But-" Kai examined the incredibly ordinary piece of paper, "-a written message. That is fairly-"

"Old-fashioned?" Riven finished, reddening.

"Yes, yes it is," Kai agreed. "And dare I say ro-"

"I'm just going to stop you there," Riven scowled. "People might get ideas. Ideas they will _literally_ die for. Those people scare me."

The older man gave him a rueful smile."It's still an unorthodox way of getting a message out. Especially in this age. You couldn't have used E-mail- Oh, right. I forgot you're terrible with technology."

Riven grinned widely. "Well, you know back in my day-"

"No, no ,no, no," Kai countered, holding a hand out. "I think you're seventy years too short to be saying that quite yet. It's hard enough listening to the old people complain about youngsters in the cafes. You're not old and wrinkly yet, even if you're technically ancient history. On second thought, I don't think young girls should be hanging out with you. Your _positivity_ might be contagious."

Both of them laughed quietly, settling into comfortable silence.

"Is this girl… special to you?" Kai asked carefully. "You've been very defensive around the others about it."

"You're not the one keeping me here, so you don't have to worry about me lashing out. I just don't want them going after her is all. I owe her a lot. I can call her a friend. That's good enough for me."

"Well said," Kai acknowledged, taking the box from Riven. He placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "I'll make sure this gets to its destination. Hope it goes well at Prism tower."

Riven looked out the window, where lights could be seen coming from Centrico Plaza, and nodded. "I hope so too. Sleep well, Kai."

Heading back to the balcony, he jumped down into the dark street below, the crescent moon shining overhead. Watching people pass him by, he grimaced.

_But hope is a frightening thing, and as fragile as glass._

* * *

Daylight and the busy sound of tourists and shoppers woke him. Riven stirred from his nap on one of the benches in Prism Tower's lobby, a light sleep to ward off the exhaustion of staying awake almost twenty-eight hours. He'd _almost_ fallen asleep standing straight up on the escalator.

That would have been embarrassing. Sleepy idiot intends to fight off crazy guys with guns, and gets defeated by a staircase. Street cred level: decimated.

"No people running around like Torchic's with their heads cut off yet," Riven muttered to himself, examining the area around him. His entire body felt tense, filled with the feeling that anyone among the tourists could potentially be a nutjob with a weapon.

"Hmmm, but don't I always feel that way?" Riven asked himself, earning a strange look from a woman across from him.

But god did paranoia have a _way_ of screwing with people. His was on overdrive right now. Things were a lot worse when you knew something was going to go down, but just didn't know _when_.

_That's like knowing you're going to brown your pants at some point, but it hasn't happened yet._

_It's, uh, not a good feeling._

Area still needed some studying and observation, and the day had a couple hours left in it before night. He called Viola for an update on the situation; the police were on alert, but pending any news or sign of concern. That was good, she actually managed to convince them without too much questions.

The bottom floors didn't provide much information; the standard concentration of shoppers and tourists scrambling about. Nothing was amiss there, but hell that's where things often went to shit the worst.

_I'll have to check down there if anything happens. Now for the top floors. Auction should be at the very top, and there should be a lot of suits…_

Trainers and suits. Besides the entrance to the gym(which was extremely loud, all the damn time), the private conference rooms were usually reserved for high class events and frequently maintained guests of a wealthier aspect. The trainers completely ignored that section of the floor, concerned only with the gym. Normally they entered through the bottom, and exited at the top, where the floor served as a mope corner for those poor souls who had been crushed by Clemont.

Moving to the other side of the floor with all the suits and pretending to look out the window, he eyed the people entering the room, looking for any signs of concealed weapons. Couldn't check them himself, there were guards. Always had to be guards, flanked by even more muscle-y guards.

_Muscleheads won't let me get past. Those Machokes are nothing to sneeze at either. Couldn't go in if I wanted to. Hypnosis would be really nice right now. Should go before they get suspicious._

Shooting an indignant look at one of the guards, he pushed the button to the elevator. It stopped on the third floor on the way down.

When the door opened, brown eyes connected with eyes the color of steel; of which belonged to a certain impeccably-dressed man with equally colored hair- who at the current moment looked like someone had beat him upside the head with a shovel.

Both men stood in the elevator, slack-jawed and dumbfounded.

"S-Steven?" Riven gawked. "What- You- W-Why? Here? What do?_ Fuck_."

Steven made a strangled noise, and nearly choked on his saliva. "Ri- Brown eyes…? Kalos? What the…? Must have slipped me something on the plane…"

Riven stepped forward off the wall, jaw still on the floor, then breathed in and out. Slowly. He jabbed Steven in the chest with a pointed finger. "You're real. Why are you real?" He kept poking him. "You can't be real."

Recovering quicker than Riven from the shock, Steven cleared his throat… and stopped Riven's thumb. "Of course I'm real. Riven, stop stabbing me with your finger. What are you doing here?"

"No, what are _you_ doing here?"

"I asked first!"

"So? You should be- YOU SHOULD BE IN HOENN, LOOKING AT ROCKS OR SOME SHIT," Riven blurted out, waving his hands around. "WHAT IN THE SHITE ARE YOU DOING IN KALOS? AND IN PRISM TOWER? TODAY?"

"I CAN SAY THE SAME TO YOU! YOU'VE BEEN MISSING FOR MORE THAN HALF A YEAR, AND NOW I FIND YOU HERE OF ALL PLACES?" Steven shot back, initiating a screaming match inside the elevator.

It started to move downwards, arriving at the bottom floor, where a group of dazed tourists unfortunately watched the squabbling go down.

Riven and Steven turned to the side, holding each other by the neckline, noting the dazed expression of the crowd.

"They're staring."

"Yes," Steven remarked. "Shouting tends to do that. Push the button before we make a scene."

"Which button? Be more specific. The first floor button, the fire emergency button-"

"Riven. The button. The one that says close?"

Frowning, Riven pushed the fifth floor button, then pulled the emergency lever. The elevator bobbed in place, coming to a jarring halt.

Steven sighed, gripping the bridge of his nose. Fixing his tie and brushing himself off, he glared."That was unseemingly."

"Shouting is uncharacteristic of you, yes," Riven replied blankly. "Must be my innate charm that drives you to listen to your baser instincts." Cursed lowly, muttering something about wrecking plans."Seriously though, Steven, why are you here?"

"And seriously, I could ask you the same," Steven returned. "I'm not the one who's been missing for the better part of a year, with not a single word of communication. It's even more surprising to find you here in Kalos, perfectly fine with two brown eyes and most important of all… a haircut."

"Contacts. Hair looks nice, doesn't it?"

"Not the point." Steven's eyes narrowed, judging. "Spill."

Riven shifted his gaze away from Steven, clearly uneasy. "Let's see. How can I explain this without sounding like a complete asshole…?"

"For starters, we can get out of this elevator. I'm sure the people on the other floors are probably wondering why it's stuck with two people inside it," the former champion suggested. "Let's go somewhere else."

"Bathroom, fourth floor."

"Why there?"

"No one goes there, the bathrooms are spotless. Trust me, best place to take a-"

"Don't," Steven said, cringing. "Bathroom it is."

As the elevator doors swung open, an angry mob of people shot holes into them with their looks. An old man yelled indiscriminately at them. "You two having sex in there, or what?"

Completely serious, Riven looked the old man in the eyes. "He's good with his hands."

The crowd gasped.

"R-really?" The man gaped.

"No." Riven nudged Steven, mouthing, _let's go_.

Steven's hand connected with his face. "Did you really have to do that? Do you know how much trouble I got into because people thought I was 'sexually' interested in Brendan? If someone finds out-"

Riven abruptly stopped, making Steven almost crash into him. "Never underestimate the power of surprise." Turned back around, then stopped in his tracks. His head spun around fast enough to give him whiplash. "Wait, you did _what_ with Brendan?"

"Sometimes I really do feel like hitting you."

Back in the restroom, both of them awkwardly faced one another, silently deciding who should speak first. "Why haven't you contacted them?" Steven began. "They've been worried about you. Gale's been-"

"I know," Riven said quietly. "I know… I'm not as fine as you think. I haven't been able to contact them because someone's been keeping me on a tight leash. I'm far from happy here."

"Tight leash?" Steven asked, concerned.

"The guys who blackmailed me. I've been working for them, and let's just say they don't give me too much free reign," Riven continued, lifting up his leg to show the tracker near his ankle.

"And you haven't-" Steven made stabbing gestures.

"They're like me," Riven clarified. "Also, getting answers out of people works better when they're alive. Semi-alive works too but that usually only works on random grunts no one cares about."

_Wait. Like him? _"They-they came through time as well?"

A nod. "Yeah, that's why I've been sticking with them for so long. They knew things I didn't. Some of which they're still keeping from me. Maybe I should try poking them with pointy objects..."

"But how? Did you ask them how they came here too?"

"Naturally. Thing is, they all remember the same thing I did. Roar, unconsciousness, then wake up well-" He held two hands out, as if demonstrating something. "Here." Riven huffed, leaning on a wall. "I'm assuming you're here for the digsite artifact?"

"Yes," Steven confirmed. "It surprised me when I first saw it, and after I saw those markings on the sides of it, I had to see it myself. They're-"

"-the same as the sphere. Yeah. They asked about that too, by the way. The sphere I mean," Riven stated. "Been circle jerking each other around for information for months, so I had to do a bit of connection building to bypass that. That's what got me information about the artifact."

"Oh. That's right, they only give out information about to auctions to people with influence or wealth," Steven remembered from vague conversations with his father.

"Well, considering you're the stand-in CEO of Devon and a former champion, it's understandable to overlook something like that. Life is tough for us plebs. Speaking of which, nobody has come up to you and asked you for a picture or something? Champions draw crowds like lamps draw Venomoth."

"Ah, no. Only the older trainers in Kalos know somewhat about me. I stepped down a few years ago, the younger generation think I'm just another foreigner," Steven explained, slightly pleased with himself.

"Why do you sound happy about that? Nevermind, hermit who looks at rocks in a man cave, it _all makes sense_," Riven sneered.

"Was wondering when you'd start to insult me." Steven made himself breathe. "What did you think you'd do with the artifact once you got it?"

"Leverage," Riven admitted sheepishly. "It'd be a trump card up my sleeve to get information out of my 'boss', so to speak. Apart from that, my plan was to give it to you."

"So we're both here for the same reason then. Convenient timing," Steven remarked. "You don't look so excited to see me then."

"Didn't expect to see you here, of all places."

"That's not it, is it?" Steven guessed intuitively.

The young man looked downcast, a somber look on his face. "Don't tell them, alright?"

"Who?"

"Gale… and the others." Riven hesitated. "Especially not Gale."

"You want me to keep the fact that you're alive and well from them? Why?" Steven asked in confusion. "Do you _like_ making yourself miserable?"

"No… I- I just don't want them to worry. If you told them what I was doing, they'd probably try and do something stupid. Trainers are like that. There are still some things I have to do. Things they shouldn't have to see. It's best they don't know. Besides, if you told them where I was, it would ruin the surprise," Riven smiled sadly. "Please. I'm asking you sincerely."

Steven grabbed the bridge of his nose again, holding back a headache. "You are _incredibly_ troublesome, you know. Fine, I won't tell them. But you're going to be the one to blame, not me."

"That's fine by me," Riven accepted. His voice steadied, serious. "Steven."

"Yes?"

"Did you notice any… oddities? In the people in the tower? Suspicious behavior?"

Raising a brow, the other man wrinkled his nose. "Is this your usual bout of paranoia or something different?"

"Different."

"I'm not going to like this am I?"

"Not one bit." _Like it isn't even the start._ "Let's get something to eat, we've got some time."

Steven sat in shocked realization, mind dazed from the sudden influx of information. What Riven had been doing, what he was planning to do, and practically everything else. Including what he'd learned the day prior.

Things were… pretty bad.

"Riven, we should secure the area, get the people out of here," he proposed. "They're in danger, and if there's a bloodbath here the entire region will devolve into chaos."

"You think I don't know that?" Riven replied, lazily munching on his food. "If we evacuate the area, it'll call off the auction. Possibly for good. Not only that but if we don't, then it can draw out whoever these guys are. Since I've already notified the police, it shouldn't be difficult to intercept them. It's hitting three Taillow with one cannon ball."

"So that's your plan then?" Steven practically hissed. "You want to put these peoples' lives in danger all because it's _efficient_?"

Brown eyes were resolute, unwavering.

"Tsk, guess mercenaries really are as heartless as everyone makes them out to be."

"Sometimes we have to do things we're not proud of," Riven said coldly. "I'm not made for saving people. I don't _want_ to save people. You're still a champion at heart. Can't just try and forget the problem exists. Cynthia did that that in Sinnoh. Look how well that turned out. You have to find the problem and destroy it before it gets larger. That's how you solve them."

Clenching his jaw at the mention of Cynthia, Steven held in his anger. No one had seen her since the incident. "Do you even hear yourself? That kind of thinking…" He didn't look angry anymore, just sad. And disappointed. Riven turned away, breaking eye contact. "You were better than this. When I watched your battle with Lucia, I could see your face, the way you smiled with pride when Baron gave it his all. When you would banter with Gale and Will. What's happening to you?"

Riven remained silent, fingering the Diancie stone hanging inside his shirt, not knowing the answer to the question himself. Before he could formulate a response, he spotted Isole and Cormac. Ducking his head low, he whispered, "you should go, Steven. They're here."

"Who's here?"

"My 'co-workers'. If they see you with me they'll want to know why I'm talking with the former champion of the Hoenn region. They're not stupid. Go. Keep a look out for any unsavory sorts while you're up there."

Steven nodded, standing up. As he turned to leave, he looked at Riven in the eyes- the soul piercing stare of a champion. "Riven, you were climbing out of the hole, don't dig yourself back in. Come back soon, for your own sake. They'd hate to see you like this."

Watching him go, Riven thought about it for a second, deciding to focus on more important matters. Specifically, asshole one and two going up to the top floor. Hiding his face behind his soda cup, Riven observed their actions.

They glanced his way, but the cup proved too strong. Completely missed him.

Once the two disappeared into the elevator, Riven let out a groan of frustration.

_Cormac and Isole, suit and dress. Means they're invited. There goes that plan. I expected them to at least be as shit out of luck as me and be unable to attend the event. Plan B, Plan B, Plan… Huh. Well I suppose if those guys attacked… I could grab the thing in the confusion, but… that's a risky plan._

Paced in the restroom on the fourth floor for almost an hour, before slumping on the toilet. He held up two hands, weighing negatives.

_Auction is probably still going underway, the item is last on the table so it shouldn't be long. Wouldn't be a long shot to guess that those fanatics have a man on the inside. They'll make their move when it's revealed. The only way out of there is through the elevator, and if something happens, the police will be ready to move in. They'd be boxed in, probably going to take hostages. Plan would be moot otherwise, unless they're really _that_ stupid._

Still, how was he going to do this amidst a bunch of gun-toting jackholes while keeping it out of Nera's hands? If Cormac or Isole saw him, he'd have to confront them personally and that might cause unwanted consequences. He _could_ help Steven, but that would make things infinitely worse, whilst revealing his connection to the man. Then it'd be checkmate for him.

_I'd already be burning a whole lot of bridges at once, no need to metaphorically obliterate myself. This has to work somehow, or I have to salvage something. _

_If it works out half-assedly…_

A poorly drawn image of his face appeared in his mind, crashing into the floor like a fucking meteor. Thank you for playing. You tried. Gold star. By the way? You're still _screwed_.

_And that's if it goes successfully wrong. What about failure?_

_On one hand, I fuck up and die because a pokemon chomped my face or I get riddled full of holes. Simple, makes sense. On the other hand, they're tougher than I expect, and I can't grab the thing. Either way, something _has_ to go wrong._ _Catastrophically so. After all, the universe loves to mess with me. _

_Must be soon too, my shit-is-about-to-go-down senses are tingling._

As if on cue, gunshots erupted, followed by panic and obligatory screaming.

"Yup, never disappoints." Taking out the burner phone, Riven dialed Viola. With luck, the police hadn't gotten word of what was happening yet, and everyone outside remained oblivious. Otherwise things could devolve into utter ass hattery.

Viola answered, knowing that if the mercenary was calling, _something_ had happened. She asked, anyway preparing herself."Prime? Did something happen?"

"Oh, yes. The guests have arrived. Uh, they're probably scaring the hell out of some people right now. Or putting dozens of holes in them, if they're complete idiots that is- which would make this easier, by the way. Not for the janitors though... Regardless, tell the police to hold, send the cavalry in too early and we might not be able to get the chance to see what they're really after."

"And make the situation potentially _worse_?" Viola reprimanded. "Are you insane? Where are you now?"

"The toilet," Riven answered simply.

"My god, Prime. Be serious! Are you really there?"

"Yes. I wasn't lying."

"And what are you doing there?" She asked, stunned. "Shouldn't you be… fighting things?"

"Well, you see, I'm plotting my counterattack," Riven replied dryly. A rolling sound could be heard in the background. Then a _fwip_. Viola blinked in confusion, as well as the other officers listening in on the conversation.

"Is that…?"

"The counterattack."

"That must be your sense of humor talking," she carried on, growing accustomed to his antics. "Finish your counterattack against the toilet quickly then. Sergeant said you have thirty minutes Prime. And if you try anything, they'll bring you in too. Just warning you."

"Wait, you didn't tell them my name, did you?"

"Of course not, I said you were a private investigator with a military background, who preferred to remain anonymous. If I mentioned you, they'd probably arrest me."

"And it worked?"

"Well, yeah."

"Life is so not fair," he grumbled.

Viola giggled for a moment. "Any pokemon yet?"

"I wish I could answer that question, but unfortunately, I can't see through walls and nothing has exploded yet. So I'm guessing-"

Something exploded.

"Uhh... On second thought, I'll just call you back and keep you updated." The call ended, leaving Riven alone in the restroom, concealed in his stall. "Thirty flipping minutes…? Police. Let's just hope they can do their part, given their outstanding track record when things land face first in shit."

_As for the issue at hand… _

Couldn't bumrush the gunmen. Or kill the lights. Despite the darkness taking out their eyesight, spraying wildly in a building was a hell of a lot more dangerous than out in the open. No light would also cripple the police. And if there were dark pokemon among those gunmen… Well, that'd defeat the purpose.

_I'll worry about that later. Right now, I need to focus on getting out of here without raising alarms._

Looking at his empty soda cup, Riven cocked his head, an idea flashing in his mind. _Good old stratagem number twelve; always be flexible enough to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself._ _Some idiot is bound to come looking in here. Then I can introduce him to soda cup._

Unlocking the stall lock, he prepared himself, muscles tensing. His heart began to beat faster in anticipation, almost thrumming out of his chest.

Sure enough, the door swung open minutes later, and black boots entered, followed by the bashing open of stall doors.

As the boots came to a halt in front of his stall and the door slammed open, Riven flung.

* * *

**I know this chapter was a little too early for all of you(I'm clearly lying, 4 weeks holy crap), but I apologize. These summer game events are **_**way **_**too strong. Been grinding harder than a drunk college student at a party for most of these games. Free stuff is hard to pass up.**

**But I digress, I wrote this like three times over and I'm still not happy with it. I don't think I need to mention this, but I dislike transition chapters. Those seem like the hardest to write. **

**As for the theories… well, the humans are**


	49. Plots

**Longer than usual, but given the time it took to get this out, I hope it was slightly worth it. I've just been caught up doing god tier game events and working triple shifts regularly because rent is too strong. As for Gale and getting back to Hoenn, it'll be soon. I'll probably have another chapter out within the week, since I already have it half written. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes, will revise it further later.**

* * *

_One kick is all it took, huh? Might've gotten stronger._

Standing over the unconscious form of his presumed assailant, Riven shook out his leg, snorting sardonically.

Call it impractical, but no one ever expects to open a stall door and get splashed in the eyes by toilet water. It was the body's natural response to flinch after a sudden soak like that, especially when the affected area happened to be your eyeballs. A flinch like that breaks focus and creates a fleeting yet very important opening.

Cue face punt.

Guy dropped like a rock. It'd be very awkward for him to recall just what in the hell happened when he finally did wakeup. One moment he was a gun-toting, stall door opening lackey probably in over his head and then _splash_, lights out. Riven stared absently at the guy before deciding his next move.

_Know what? I'm going to take your money. Karmic justice._

Patting down the unconscious guy's person, Riven shrugged at the meager amount of bills in the man's pocket. Afterwards, he carefully cracked open the bathroom door, peeking his head out. There was some yelling coming from the lower floors, followed by the ringing of warning shots. Between the shouting, he could make out the sounds of pokemon growling and snapping.

Lowering himself to the ground to reduce body image, he crawled towards the windowed railings, assessing the situation from the angle he was in. They hadn't seen him yet, might as well scope out the scene before doing anything drastic.

Five down below, might've been more combing the other floors, like Mr. Goodnight in there. Any pokemon…? It seemed like… Mightyenas, Zangoose, and was that a Magmar? Problematic. He could probably deal with the other two normally, but by god, you would think these people would at least try to be subtle? Everyone knew those pokemon were rarer than an honest noble, especially in Kalos.

Going back inside the restroom and dragging Goodnight into an empty stall in case someone else got curious, he dialed Viola again.

"Prime!" She answered, clearly concerned. "What's going on?"

"Something kind of blew up? And well… a guy came in the restroom with a gun," Riven replied meekly. "He's…uh, face first in a toilet right now."

"Did you kill him?" She sounded panicked, and was probably ready to lecture him and or send in the cavalry.

"No, but he'll wake up with one hell of a sore jaw later. Anyway, quick rundown. From what I saw there's five of them down there, taking hostages it seems like. Hoenn pokemon mostly. Highly likely more are searching the other floors."

"So it's a robbery?"

"Seems that way," Riven mused. _They are using masks..._

"But it's too… direct. And weapons…" Viola thought deeply, recalling some case files she'd seen a couple times at the Santalune police station. "Burglaries are usually committed with ghost pokemon or pokemon capable of breaking down reinforced steel walls, like Onix or several fighting types. This is weird, weapons cost too much to do something this… petty?"

Riven considered that, eyes narrowing. She did have a point. If what they were after was on the top floor being auctioned off, they could have just headed up there and ruined the auction, but they didn't. Why? Unless they wanted to make it _seem_ like it was a robbery. Underlying motives… what were they trying to achieve? Keep the artifact's significance hidden, or maybe they were after something else.

"Have they killed anyone yet?" Viola asked, breaking Riven out of his thoughts.

"Killed- No, doesn't seem like it. Screaming hasn't shattered the windows yet, so no, not yet. And if someone down there tries anything stupid, like being a hero, they will." Riven could almost picture Viola's frown. "Where are the police now?"

"They're waiting in the cafes around Centrico plaza and are also ready to move out. After the last call, they almost leapt out of their seats. Prime… if this escalates..."

"No need to remind me. I know the _last_ thing the police want is to be called inept or incompetent, no matter how true it is. 'Do whatever just don't give me a bad rep!'"

Viola resisted the urge to bury her face in her free hand.

Riven fell into silence. If the police sprung into action now, not only would they completely destroy his plans and theirs, but he'd lose the only source of information on these men. If they knew the importance of the artifact and why it was connected to the azure orb, then he had to find out who and what they were, as well as how they came across this information. If they possessed an evolution orb too, that meant that someone else like Will had been created, or not.

If something like that got in the wrong hands-like say… a fanatical idiot- and it was anywhere near the level of what the elite Rose troops could do… Not good. _Really_ not good.

_Together as one. Just saying it makes me feel the ignorance._

Riven shook his head, dismissing the uncertainties and potential disasters of the future. He had to come up with something quick before the police decided to screw everything and zerg rush inside, pokemon blazing like some sort of saviors. He could understand the appeal to that, because let's be honest, that makes anything look ten times more badass than it really is, but it was also really not needed now, thanks.

"Maybe I can disrupt their operations somehow while learning more about what they're after, confuse them," he proposed, scratching his chin.

"How will you do that, exactly?" Viola gulped, expecting something bizarre, or incredibly violent. His definition of "disrupt" could easily mean kill them all and cut off their pinky toes as souvenirs. Mercenaries were scary.

Glancing at Goodnight face first in the toilet, Riven smirked. "I have an idea."

"I… don't think I like that tone," Viola squeaked. "Don't tell me you're going to do something-"

"Insane? _Most definitely_."

* * *

And so, Riven walked out of the restroom wearing Goodnight's clothes and gun. In theory, if they were all wearing masks, it'd be impossible to tell who the man under the mask was. It was a blessing that he'd gotten those brown contacts after all, but if they had names or something of the sort… well, he'd have to improvise or ditch everything and drop anyone he could. No sword, just this clunky metal peashooter. He'd have to come back to get the blade, if he wasn't dead by that time at least. For now all he had was… this.

Naturally, he knew about as much of guns as he knew of computers. The extent of that knowledge equivalent to the amount of wisdom possessed by a twelve year old in regards to true love.

Which happened to be synonymous with zero, and best friends with nothing.

All he knew was that pressing the trigger would make spinning metal rounds of death come out, violently and loudly so. And that wasn't even starting with how to aim the damn things.

_Is it just aim in the general direction and hope it hits something? If everything goes to hell, I guess I still have my knives. Can't really do much to a pokemon though._

Making his way down, he feigned calm, acting like he was in control in case any of his "teammates" spotted him. When he got to the bottom floor people were on the ground, cowering. He spotted some trainers, fingers creeping up to where their pokeballs were located, inching up ever so slowly, their eyes fiercely focused on the ground.

_Chance to establish credibility. Take it, no hesitating._

"Don't even try it," Riven warned, making his voice gruffer and more menacing. "Do it and I'll blow your hands off." He jabbed the boy in the ribs with a foot. The boy held in a look of pain, gritting his teeth.

The kids grimaced, placing their hands back on the ground. They muttered something among themselves, probably trying to stay calm, which couldn't be said for some of the adults, who looked like they were about to break down crying and possibly piss themselves.

Taking a balanced, confident stride, he walked up to the other masked men, eyes unwavering. Any sign of awkwardness or so much as a hint of something out of place, and a sharp witted enemy could spot him instantly. They were the attackers here, they were the ones that _were_ prepared for discrepancies. At least he thought so. Henchmen could be rather stupid. Regardless, disguising yourself as the enemy wasn't unheard of in his time and often was used, but he seldom got placed on those missions, considering no Rose soldier had blue eyes, much less one blue and one brown. Skulking was fine. Infiltration among enemy ranks? His general would have had to be fifty kinds of hammered before he let Riven on one of those missions.

"Magikarp, you're late," the man growled, Magmar flaring beside him, the heat of its burning body leaving a distorted haze around it. Kind of like looking down a street when it was really hot out. How anyone could stand close to that and not be sweating buckets was beyond him. "Did it really take that long to check restrooms?"

Riven twitched.

They named the guy _Magikarp_. As a codename. A floppy. _Fucking._ Fish. As far as codenames went, it was the epitome of lackey, and if it wasn't, he'd swallow a pitcher of salt. Although, those floppy fishes _did _turn into powerful rage monsters capable of leveling entire towns in a fit. He had a feeling it was one of nature's really tasteless jokes.

"You know how awkward it is to tell someone on the toilet to get down?" Riven complained, trying to play the unwilling lackey now that he knew his unfortunate codename.

"So what did you do?"

Riven held up the gun, butt end up. Then made swinging motions.

The man sighed, rolling his eyes. He pointed to the other masked men, sounding very exhausted. Probably an older mercenary from the voice, had to be careful with him. "Go with them, they'll tell you what to do." The fire pokemon next to him snorted out some fire at Riven, who swiftly dodged out of the way.

Nodding after patting down the part of his shirt that caught fire, the imposter went over to the other four, where they stood watching the captives.

"Magikarp, Swellow, Graveler. Check the other floors and meet up with the others," one of the men, Abra, commanded, glancing at his watch. "Twenty minutes left, make sure no one calls the police. Secure the gym leader and his trainers, they're the biggest threat here."

He gave instructions out to each of them, most likely the control center of the group. Riven eyed him observantly, considering that the plan makers were usually always sharp enough to notice inconsistencies in a situation. Luckily, everything went off without a hitch and Abra didn't so much as give him a second glance. Whether he genuinely overlooked him or knew something was off but ignored it because Riven was named Magikarp of all things, he didn't know. Assumed the former, but the latter was a strict possibility.

He was to meet up with Pinsir near the jewelry shop on the fourth floor, where they would then head up to the fifth floor, and capture Clemont and his trainers.

It was likely the people on the fifth floor hadn't the faintest idea what was going on, given how loud the place usually was. The fifth floor had been designed to be sound-proofed due to pokemon battles being held there, as well as the announcing ring. Extremely loud noises tended to bother people, revolutionary concept really. An explosion would be just as audible as a pin dropping from up there, they'd have no forewarning whatsoever.

_But if they want to take on Clemont and any who are challenging him… they'd need to have strong enough pokemon to do so. Even with weapons, pokemon are much stronger assets. Regular trainers with pokemon can overpower even the best trained person given enough time. And gym leaders are stronger than that when pushed to the edge in a serious event. From what Flannery showed at Lavaridge… that isn't even the full extent of their strength. And to do it in twenty minutes…? No, not possible. Doesn't make any logistic or tactical sense. They could have gone up to the fifth floor and done that, all without ever notifying the public below._

What they were doing now was so inefficient it was hilarious, not to mention unnecessary. But it was _too_ inefficient, so much that there was no possible way they'd complete their objective. He could assume that the guys were idiots, but then he'd be underestimating them. To underestimate an opponent was to give them an advantage. There _had_ to be something bigger at play. Overestimating them could be just as detrimental as well, so he had to proceed with utmost caution. Everything just _didn't_ feel quite right, as if he was overlooking something enormous yet subtle. Like hiding a Wailord in plain sight.

Meeting up with Pinsir, he noticed the masked man had an Espeon at his side, which could have spelled out trouble for anyone who wasn't _him_.

"Pinsir?" Riven asked, eyeing the psychic, which appeared to be confused. He refrained from grinning like an idiot at the fact that the pokemon was probably getting no brain feedback from him, but couldn't figure out why a human of all things was causing it. Pissing off psychics was starting to become a funny little habit as of late. The eon cocked its head.

"Who're you?" Pinsir replied, suspicious.

Riven looked into the man's eyes, observing. Wary, which pointed him to several conclusions.

One was that the group wasn't as devoted, nor as structured as he had thought, not fanatics. Mercenaries, most likely_. _Fanatics were fiercely devoted to one cause, working in tandem to fulfill that purpose, they wouldn't betray each other, let alone question another member of the same group- which also told him that Pinsir was the most likely to notice any kind of suspicious activity, so he should prepare to fight at all times. Let him lead, and if the time came, stab him in the kidney.

_Pretend like everything is going well, they don't know I'm an imposter yet._ _The fact he doesn't know who he's supposed to meet means that not everyone knows the plan… or each other._

Good strategy, if no one knew the entire plan, it was easier for the planner to eliminate wild cards or backstabbing, which was ironic as all hell considering the situation. Someone could easily sabotage an operation like this, so by playing it this way they'd forced to follow through with the plan to the letter in order to receive the pay. However… Only one problem. What if someone _not_ from the group crashed the party? Someone you never planned for? The bane of any planner's existence: the third party.

_And that's where I come in._

"Magikarp," he stated evenly. The Espeon blinked again, still concentrating.

"Magikarp," Pinsir repeated. "Why did they stick me with fodder? That asshole." Checking his watch, he gave a deep sigh, motioning to follow with a flick of the middle and index fingers.

Obeying, Riven walked with him in the direction of the staircase, a row of shops ahead. Pinsir kept checking his watch, almost incessantly, like a tic. Nearing the restroom, he stopped behind Riven, deathly silent. The imposter could feel the man's gaze burning into his back and began to think the worst.

Turning around, Riven faced him, beginning to sweat. _Did he notice?_ "What?" He asked idly, pretending to be oblivious. "We need to hurry up."

"What time is it?" the man asked with the exact same tone, seemingly out of the blue. A harmless question. So why did it _seem_ razor-edged?

Riven looked up, thinking. A spike of uneasiness shot through him, causing him to hesitate. Remembering the position of the sun, it was likely almost sunset, maybe past that. "Six-ish? Seven?"

Silent for a few agonizing seconds, Pinsir stared, rooted in place like a stone wall, dark brown eyes narrowed and expressionless. Something after that last question had changed his demeanor completely. The pokemon at his side slowly shifted into a combat stance, fur spiking upwards ever so slightly, not baring any fangs yet. Rising hostility shone in its expression, left ear twitching. "Espeon isn't picking up any brain signals from you. And you're not wearing a watch. Where is your watch, _Magikarp_?"

Glancing at Pinsir's watch, Riven didn't know if Pinsir was doing this to psych him out, or genuinely pointing out a flaw. If everyone was actually wearing watches, that'd make it obvious that he was an impostor of sorts, if they'd practiced this situation and ironed out the plan hundreds of times, it'd be child's play to spot an outsider. On the other hand, if he reacted badly to the bluff, he could also provide him a specific denial and give himself away. Neither was rather enticing, to be honest.

He measured the options, quickly deciding.

_Screw it._

In an instant, Riven whipped around, lunging in low with the butt of the rifle. The weapon struck Pinsir in the abdomen, causing him to lurch backwards from the hit. The rifle swung up once more, striking the chin and pushing him backwards.

The Espeon growled, eyes turning a deep pink, glowing with psychic energy.

"Not today," Riven taunted, clutching Pinsir by the collar and using his body as a shield. The Espeon faltered and let go of its attack. The one downfall of psychics- when presented with a situation they couldn't easily control, they choked. And they'd never hurt their trainer. It happened with Baron often before he evolved, the fighter part of him seemed to remedy that and favored more practical approaches, but for a pure psychic like the eon, they didn't have that luxury. Taking advantage of their feelings was easy, even if it was cheap.

Well, _tough._

Throwing the gun to the side, Riven reached out and snapped the first pokeball off Pinsir's belt. If trainers were anything to go by, they kept their in-use pokemon at the front, just so they wouldn't mistakenly release another, or be unable to return them in a pinch. Even if these men weren't trainers, it only made common sense, but then again, people seemed to lack that somewhat badly these days. Sticking a hand out behind Pinsir's head, Riven clicked on the ball's button, sending a red beam of light towards the Espeon, returning it.

_Threat gone._

As Pinsir began to recover, Riven backed up a step, using the metal ball as a club against the man's skull, pushing him up against the railing. He grunted, reeling from the hit, bringing up the gun to fire-

A flash of steel flicked outwards, knife slashing across the man's right forearm. Riven used the pokeball as a club once more, the impact of metal on bone resounding with a loud crack. Pinsir's grip on his weapon slackened, and with that momentary reprieve, his assailant tore it out of his hands and dropped it over the edge of the railing, sending it plummeting four stories down towards the ground.

Wasting no time, Riven delivered a solid knee strike to the man's stomach, then flung him into a nearby store. Pinsir fought back with punches and kicks, but being winded slowed him down considerably. After another kick to the ribs, he pulled out his own knife. Closing in for a stab, Riven sidestepped it, grasping the wrist while ducking under the arm, impaling his knife in the shoulderblade and using his momentum to bring the man down to the ground face first. Using his knee and applying pressure, the bones in the wrist snapped, and Pinsir nearly howled, sound muffled only by Riven's gloved hand.

"You're not going anywhere", Riven said harshly, taking out the knife in the shoulderblade and burying it again into the wounded man's calf. "Now you can't run, so let's have a talk, _Pinsir_."

From there, Riven picked him up and threw him against the counter, expression blank.

Breathing heavy, and in plenty of pain, Pinsir glared, hateful and furious. "Fucking traitor, knew… couldn't trust you. Piece of shit."

"Traitor?" Riven let out an ironic chuckle of laughter. "I was never one of you in the first place."

"What?" Pinsir stammered.

"The real Magikarp is face first in a toilet bowl right now, but that's not the point," he continued, crouching to be eye level with him. "You're going to answer my questions. First things first, what happens in twenty minutes?"

Pinsir said nothing for a few seconds, then a rueful laugh came from him, smiling widely. "You have no idea, do you? Looks like we weren't the only ones who got played."

"What are you-"

"You noticed it too. Whoever you say you are. Impostor. " He breathed in deep, flinching from the pain in his leg. "No lackey fights lack that. You know damn fucking well we can't take the gym leader in twenty minutes." Showing Riven the watch, it wasn't a watch at all.

It was a timer. And there was a minute left on it.

"What happens when it goes to zero?" Riven all but demanded, holding a knife to Pinsir's throat. "Tell. Me. I know how to make people scream, you do not want that to happen."

Pinsir chuckled mockingly.

The response to that came in the form of pulling on his broken wrist, then twisting the knife in the leg a few centimeters. Laughing stopped, replaced by muffled screams.

"I can do so much worse than this," Riven threatened. "I can start with the fingers, then work my way to the toes, or begin with your teeth. I'm a licensed dentist, _believe_ me."

Pinsir swallowed the pain, clenching his jaw.

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "I don't fucking know. Those scumbags screwed us."

Riven watched the man's body language, and from that he couldn't say that he didn't believe him. If this was the selective information type of plan, then it was most likely true that Pinsir was missing crucial details. But if it was a timer… was it a bomb or…?

"You mentioned scumbags. Who hired you?" Riven asked. "Were they from Hoenn? What?"

"Men in suits, said we'd get paid a million each to take Prism tower for thirty minutes at a set time. Then they gave us guns. Fucking trap. Said something about…being together."

Together as one. Probably the ones who bought the guns from Cyrille. Makes sense they wouldn't get their hands dirty, why take unnecessary risks? Just hire someone else to take the fall in case anything goes wrong.

"Name. Did you get a name?"

Pinsir blinked, glassy eyed. "…Singularity."

_Singularity… so that's what you're called. I'll have to ask Steven about getting access to Hoenn league records of-_

The timer rang, and the building lit up in explosions and fire.

Riven hesitated for moment, trying to make sense of what was happening, it was then that Pinsir reached into his boot and stabbed him in the leg with a small blade.

Reacting on reflex, Riven grunted in pain and returned the attack with an elbow. Pinsir slumped limply to the ground, a big red mark on his jaw. Ripping the pokebelt off the unconscious man's person then tossing it a good distance away, Riven breathed in deeply. "Dick."

Tearing off the mask with his other hand, Riven stood up, pulling the blade out of his leg. Limping out of the store, he caught sight of what was going on, with none of it making any sense.

There were five groups of people battling on the ground floor, with both pokemon and guns. Beams and blasts echoed along the walls as bullets flew and people screamed. None of them civilians but… mercenaries and what appeared to be gang insignias?

_What the actual fuck?_

He wondered with complete befuddlement why they were fighting if they were going after the same… oh. OH. Maniacal laughter came out of him, the irony of the situation as well as the brilliance overtaking him. Had he been a casual observer, like say, god- he'd be laughing his ass off.

One part of it was the gang members, they were from different sides of Lumiose and by far made the scene almost comical. That old fucking bastard Cyrille. While he wasn't interested in the artifact itself, he was certainly a money-obsessed creepy asshole. He likely sold the information to the gangs, probably playing up the artifact as a sort of powerful item to help them in their petty gang wars. Idiots.

As for the mercenaries…

They were predators, the same way an Absol hunts a Sawsbuck, a Mightyena pack hunting in a forest. Their kills were theirs, and no one else's. To steal their food was as much an insult to their pride as it was to their dominance. You were the top. No one challenged you, and you'd be damned if they did.

Except this was business. Money. A mercenary's lifeblood. They'd been informed to come here at exactly this time, unbeknownst to each other, resulting in a bloody clash. They probably weren't expecting three other random groups to show up, but someone had intentionally done this.

QED clusterfuck.

It was then that he spotted the hostages, huddled inside the shops, trying to stay out of the way. Pinsir's words dropped in his mind like a bomb.

The trap wasn't for the mercenaries. Whoever planned this didn't account for Riven being there either, so it didn't involve him whatsoever. This was a setup for someone else, someone they were trying to lure here.

It clicked in Riven's mind, pieces falling into place as he turned ghost white. _No. No, no, no. Shit!_

Dialing Viola with lightning speed, he cursed as she picked up.

"Prime! We can't wait any longer! The police are going in! Every entrance of Centrico plaza except for the Vernal Avenue entrance is on fire and the sidewalks just exploded!"

"Viola, you can't!" He pleaded, voice laced with dread. "It's a trap. STOP THEM NOW."

"Trap? What do you mean-"

"The timers, the nonsensical strategy of planning, the conveniently timed explosions… all of it was a lure for the police, they can't come here! They're trying to bottleneck you!"

On the other side of the line, Viola gasped as police cars and officers rushed Centrico Plaza, but were frozen in their tracks as a single figure approached in the flames. He was dressed in a black jacket and jeans, the most notable thing on his person was a hat emblazoned with a pokeball on the front, covering his face completely. A trainer…?

Radio messages came in frantically, reporting break-ins at the Stone Emporium and Sycamore's lab. The police remained glued to the floor, unsure of what to do.

The trainer kept walking forward, impeccably calm. A small spherical object flew into the air, followed by a flash of light. What came next chilled the police to the bone. A Tyranitar towered over the figure, the light of sunset and flames revealing a crest hanging over the pokemon's chest. It roared as the trainer held up a hand, on his glove was a small glowing stone.

A stone Kalos knew all too well.

Looking at the trainer's mouth, Viola paled. She read his lips, needing only two words to send what felt like a bucket of ice water down her back.

"_Mega evolution_."

"Oh god," Viola whispered. Picking up the radio, she screamed into it, telling them to get back.

Riven shakily put away the phone, as an enormous blast could be heard from the outside, followed by a roar that could only belong to one thing. A roar that scared trainers and rangers to death alike in the wild, a pokemon you'd _never_ want to fight without preparation.

He remembered Sam's face when he recalled losing his Blastoise to it, and a sinking feeling coiled around in his chest, a mix of worry and well… dread seemed to be commonplace now.

That plan in the beginning… it was only a distraction. A diversion in preparation for the real plans. Classic strategy, divert an enemy's attention to conceal your true objective. Shit. Riven slammed a fist against the railing, cracking the glass. They wanted to eliminate the police as a factor… they most likely counted on someone notifying the police, but knew that the police wouldn't dare attack such a central location until absolutely sure that there was something going on. Hence the thirty minutes, the other mercenaries fighting were just incentive to get them to come running blindly to save the day, while setting the hired guns against each other.

Whoever was planning this wasn't just killing two Taillow with one stone. It was lining up a flock of them and bouncing the rock off them like a game of skipping stones.

Running as best as a man with a limp could to the window, he witnessed the police desperately trying to fight against what looked like the most different type of Tyranitar he'd ever seen. It had more spikes than normal, and it simply stood there as the police struggled uselessly against its rocky hide.

It opened its mouth and a brief second later a dark pulse obliterated part of a building. No, obliterated wasn't the right term. _Vaporized_ would fit better. Riven gaped stupidly, having only seen a sliver of such power in the fight against the Pangoro. What he was seeing now could be classified as no less than sorcery.

He grimaced, out of time and options. Dashing back to the restroom despite the knife wound in his leg burning like molten steel, he went to where his blade lay, picking it up and taking out his holo caster. Goodnight was still… well, goodnighted.

_If you want to make plans, then I'll just have to adjust mine to ruin yours._

Planning to adjust his plan, to ruin the plans of someone else, who was planning to use the police's plan against them to further their own plans. He'd have to draw a graph of that later. There was, however, one tiny glimmer of hope in this mess.

And that was the no one had expected _him_ to be there. When all else fails in an attempt to sabotage something, just throw a random gear into the machine and watch it destroy itself. Even if it doesn't, at least you know you screwed up _something_. For once he was the gear, and it made him strangely happy that he wasn't on the receiving end of it this time. Felt good.

_Isole. Problem,_ he typed out, hoping she'd respond. She was the punctual one, Cormac usually ignored everything. Texts more so.

As expected, the return message came quick. _Problem?_ _What problem?_

_Time limited. In Prism tower now._

_Why. Are. You. Here?_ Came her message. The fact she punctuated it for emphasis… not in a good mood. But then again she was never in a good mood. It was hard to tell sometimes, living glacier and all.

Riven twiddled his fingers, thinking. _Taking a stroll?_ Best he could come up with. He _technically_ wasn't lying… _Look out of window._

Receiving it, Isole walked over to one of the windows, eyes widening as pitch black smoke could be seen rising into the air, flames covering the ground below. The rest of the people inside didn't even notice it, still paying attention to the auction proceedings. _Going to bathroom. Wait._

He waited idly, listening to the muffled sounds of explosions outside. If it weren't for well, just about everything, then maybe he'd be on the roof enjoying a nice ice cream cone under the sunset. Such a nice day. But alas, life.

The holo caster buzzed, incoming call in projection mode. Huh, that was rare. Pushing the button, a holographic image of Isole appeared, in all her irritated icy glory. Hands on her hips, she glared icicles at him. "Talk."

"I'm going to skip explanations," Riven said, holding up a hand to curb her wrath. "Don't have time for that."

Her face shifted from irritation to genuine astonishment. "You didn't shoot a smart remark. You're serious. That's fairly worrying. It's bad isn't it?"

"You look nice in that dress," he began.

"Wow. Small talk from you? It's even worse than I thought."

Riven nodded dimly, then cocked an eyebrow. "You sure you should be showing that much skin though? Cormac might accidentally walk into several walls."

"Today's count is six," she snorted, covering up a bit. "I won't ask how the hell you're involved in this yet, so just tell me. No more lame excuses like you were taking a stroll, even if you weren't technically lying when you said it."

"Wha-"

"You're a semantics master," she smirked. "It's what makes you irritating. Now start talking, in case you forgot, most of Prism tower is surrounded in flames, and I don't like fire. What happened out there?"

"I wish I knew," he admitted, shrugging. "Only thing I know is that they're after what you're after, and that's not the end of it. What you see outside? There's a strange looking Tyranitar that made part of the Bourges complex disappear completely. It was a god damn trap for the police. They got bottlenecked into approaching from one street and I'm assuming a large force of them got obliterated with some sort of hyper beam. Oh and a bunch of explosions went off under the sidewalks. Either everyone ate some really bad food or I suspect sabotage."

"There is a Unovan food restaurant there," Isole giggled.

"You're surprisingly lighthearted today. Usually you walk around like you have a block of granite up your ass."

"Well, I won a bet today," she said proudly, ignoring his snide comment.

"What bet?"

"That something was going to explode and you'd have something to do with it."

Riven attempted to refute that but found that any response he formulated fizzled into incoherent babble. "It's not nice to bet against people. Especially someone as charismatic and charming as me. Even if its… somewhat, halfway… true."

"I should bet on your ability to attract disasters more often now." Riven frowned deeply at that. Smiling cheerily, Isole sent a message to Cormac. _I won, bitch._ "What's the approximate situation?" She asked, clicking away at the keypad. "And by the way, there's an entire keg of alcohol back at home in case it's that bad."

"Ah, good to know," Riven mused. Getting drunk for once might not be too bad. "You want the long version with all my ramblings or the fast and hard version?"

She raised a brow at that.

"Oops. It seems a made a sexual innuendo," he gasped. "I could add more adjectives if you want."

"Fast and hard," she chuckled to herself, letting a little crackle of immaturity slip through her icy exterior. "Boys…"

Continuing, Riven held his arms out, bottom hand simulating the floor and his fingers taking the form of whoever it was he was talking about. With all the bunny hopping and his deadpan, it just served to make it seem more ridiculous than it already was.

"There's a five way battle between mercenaries and gangsters going on in the ground floor with civilians and hostages caught in between," Riven recalled, watching Isole silently whistle. More finger motions, "they also have guns with anti everything bullets. And of course, there's that giant fucking rage monster tearing the police to pieces and it's barely seven PM. That fast enough for you?"

"I'd say you'd need to put more force in it, I barely felt it at all."

"Ice is fragile, could break if I went too hard. So I held back."

"Glaciers can take quite a beating." Dropping the smart remarks, Isole nodded her head a few times before sighing. "So basically, it can get little worse. Can't imagine the media fallout after this… What you see down there is a Mega Tyranitar. Who the hell would be insane enough to mega evolve a monster like that I've no idea, but I have a feeling someone dropped them as a child." She gripped the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache and a long night coming up.

"Mega what?" Riven blurted out, trying to connect Tyranitar, evolve, and mega together. It made his brain pound. "Did you just imply Tyranitar can evolve again?" He stopped her as she was about to speak. "Let me repeat that just so I know I'm not going insane… That thing. Evolved. _Again_."

"Mmmm," she affirmed, as if casually admitting that the sky was green too.

"That is fucking _bullshit_…" Riven muttered under his breath. "Legendaries… time travel… technology… crazy stupid… farghhhwjyrsj."

Isole ignored his venting, but she'd be lying if watching him growl at a random wall wasn't amusing in its own right. "Some pokemon can mega evolve, but only under special conditions. A mega evolved pokemon could have the power to temporarily rival a legendary."

"But how can you even explain that?" He saw her pointed look and frowned again. "Know what? No, I'm not even going- It's space magic isn't it."

"Space magic."

Riven buried his face in his hands.

"Lumiose recently banned anyone from mega evolving pokemon within city limits because of that power. If someone is misusing it, then the police have absolutely no chance. Considering you haven't visited a pokemon center since you got here, I'm not surprised you didn't know. We're coming down, try not to do something drastic."

"Drastic? Oh certainly not. I would _never_," He said innocently. "Still… Power to rival a legendary. World just loves finding new ways of screwing with you… I'll just try and secure the poor bastards caught in the crossfire then. You and Cormac help the police out and take out any remaining mercenaries in the area. I don't stand a chance without pokemon of my own. Don't want them to tear me a new asshole, that'd be unpleasant."

"Maybe they should force it wider, thirty minutes for you to take a shit doesn't seem to be enough," Isole mentioned teasingly. "But on one condition, Riven," she said, shifting in tone. "After this happens, you're going to tell me how exactly you found out about this, and what the hell you've been up to. Or I'll freeze your balls while you sleep."

"Help me with this, and I'll hold nothing back. And by the way, you scare me. Always with the manly place with you isn't it?"

"It's super effective," she snorted. "Get it?"

"Die."

* * *

On the ground floor, chaos was the only thing Riven could use to describe the situation, it being synonymous with fucked, thoroughly fucked, and totally fucked. Mercenaries and pokemon clashed. Alliances and teamwork be damned, it was practically a free for all of random violence at this point. There weren't much dead at this point yet, but the same couldn't be said for the surrounding area. The ground was charred, cracked, and broken. Smashed windows were everywhere and every wall had at least _some_ form of a hole in it.

He jumped down from the second floor in a poorly thought out set of mind, hit the floor and whimpered like an injured Growlithe. It was easy to forget there was a knife sized hole in your leg that you were somewhat bleeding profusely from.

Cursing his own stupidity, Riven maneuvered through the skirmish, trying to get to where the hostages were huddled up. Several pokemon nearly killed him while he was attempting to do it, or at least tried anyway. Luckily, they were too focused on fighting each other. Their humans even more so.

When he got inside the bookstore that was housing the frightened civilians, he only caught a glimmer of the group before he was met with a fireball the size of his body. Falling on his injured leg and cursing god as the passing flames ignited a part of his already toasty clothes, he patted himself down furiously behind a bookcase. Peeking part of his head out, he noticed an older trainer standing guard in front of the frightened group, Delphox beside him. Its wand burned brightly, then flared up, a ring of flames rising behind it. Colors mixed and weaved together, brilliant greens and strange purples interwoven with powerful reds and other hues ranging from pink to teal.

The sight mesmerized him, and luckily, he was able to snap out of it before "oooohhh pretty", gloriously killed him.

Riven rolled backwards, avoiding getting incinerated by the strange fire burst. The attack destroyed the bookcase he was hiding behind completely, turning it into a pile of cinders. Albeit very colorful cinders.

"I'm not your enemy!" he shouted, hiding amongst more furniture in the store. It was probably best to look for something that _didn't_ go up in flames.

"Stop lying to us! You're dressed like them! Come close again and I'll burn you to ashes, I swear! Leave us alone!" The trainer warned. "Delphox, mystical fire!"

Fire roared, torching two entire aisles of the store, then fanning out against the walls at the end of the store, scorching and setting anything even remotely flammable ablaze.

"Didn't they teach you not use fire indoors? Do you _want_ to set the tower on fire? " Riven reprimanded, crouching low, readying some knives. He groaned. Heroes. He _really_ didn't want to kill this guy. Then none of them would trust him. Knocking him out was out of the question too, because then he'd have a very not so nice Delphox go batshit on him and he'd have to take care of that too. Too much of a pain, better talk him down first.

"What do you care? It's a warzone out there! And it's you bastards' fault!"

Riven grit his teeth. "I'm warning you kid. Back. Off." Fingers gripped knives a little tighter. "I don't want to kill you. But I will if you don't stop trying to turn me into toast."

Another blast of fire told Riven exactly what the trainer's response to that was.

"Is this what it's like to deal with me? Scratch that, every damn trainer in existence…" He muttered before springing into action. Jumping out from one of the aisles, Riven threw the knives haphazardly, intentionally sending them awry to serve as a distraction. But instead of hitting the wall behind the trainer, the knives stopped in midair, suspended with a pinkish aura.

The fire type was part psychic. How fucking quaint.

Pointed steel turned around, edge pointed at directly back at him. Knives shot forward like bolts, piercing through wood and embedding themselves into the walls at least a few inches deep. Riven abandoned the initial strategy, opting to rush forward and close the distance before the fire type could get another attack out rather than flank around. The Delphox summoned another ring of fire, faster this time, swelling in size in less than a second before firing.

Breaking into a slide, the fire passed over him, the intense heat of the inferno becoming unbearable against his skin as mystic flames heated the surrounding air; even for a moment, it felt like being stuck in a crucible.

The trainer slashed the air with a hand. "Flamethro-" His words cut off abruptly as a large blade was pointed just mere centimeters away from his neck.

"Stand. Down," Riven advised coolly, turning the blade for emphasis, lightly touching the trainer with the cold edge of the length. He glanced at the pokemon, which was very subtly trying to psychokinetically control his body. "Won't work, psychic. Cut it out. Surviving without a throat is difficult. Don't want your trainer to end up like that, I take it?"

The fire type conceded when it realized that Riven's body didn't so much as twitch after the psychic influence, lowering its wand with a command from its trainer, snarling quietly. The teenage boy looked at Riven, terrified yet trying his best to be composed. Commendable bravery. Wasn't easy talking when there was a sword at your neck. Usually pissing yourself came first.

"What do you want?" The boy asked, fist trembling. "We're just trying to stay out of the way, let us go, please."

Riven lowered the blade, sighing. "I actually came here to get all of you the hell out." He wasn't saving them because of an inward desire to be a hero- far from that- but because their presence complicated things for both him and Viola. Considering the things she pulled in such a short time span, he was better off not causing more trouble for her.

"W-what? Oh, shit. I'm so sorry," the trainer apologized, bowing. "It's just you looked like…them…"

"Yeah… Probably should have changed clothes beforehand. But thanks for nearly killing me," he mentioned dryly. The trainer made a strangled noise, continuing to apologize furiously. "It's insane out there right now, but my partners should get here and even things out. Hopefully. Then we can get all of you out of here, also hopefully."

"Hopefully? Wait, what about the police? No one called them?" Someone in the back spoke up, nervous.

All of these people were frightened, and why wouldn't they? Last time a group of people with guns and pokemon appeared, three gym leaders died and sent the world into a frenzy that still hadn't died down. They probably thought they were safe from Sinnoh's stigma, but the truth was that nowhere was safe. The damage had been done, and it wasn't going away any time soon.

"They're a little… busy right now." A massive roar outside further confirmed that. "See what I mean?" No one questioned him, only dim nodding. Riven turned around, eyeing the battle outside the store. He could work with the kid's Delphox, considering the intensity and size of those flames. He'd say… six or so badges? Meant he was pretty experienced, but also judging from the pokemon outside, they were no slouches either.

"Is there a backdoor?" He asked the group, deciding that the front door was a means of escape. In pieces that is.

"No," the store clerk replied, "that's the only entrance."

Riven nodded, breaking into a long wry smile while glancing devilishly at the trainer, Suhas. The boy swallowed tensely.

The Delphox tugged on his shirt. _Trainer, I sense bad vibes._

The not-mercenary began to cackle, trying his damn best not to break into maniacal laughter, even if he wanted to. Oh he wanted to. "You ever blown up a wall before?"

Someone started sniffling, probably the store manager.

Thousands in property damage later, Riven led the group of people around the back of the tower towards one of the exits, but flames still blocked the outside, rising high into the air. Calling Viola once more, he hoped she was all right. The call did cut off abruptly the last time, and from what he'd heard, gym leaders were primary targets these days.

"Prime… Are you ok?" She answered, gasping between her words.

Her voice gave Riven a substantial feeling of relief. Riding the coattails of Sinnoh's influence wasn't ever a pleasant experience. "Am I ok? There's a mega Tyranitar out there. Are _you_ ok?"

"I just smell like smoke and my clothes are dirty, but I'll manage. What's… going on in the tower?" As she spoke, Riven could make out the sounds of battle amongst roars and very human shouting.

"I have the people who were trapped here. Place is trashed though, apparently three groups of gangsters and three other mercenary groups got screwed by the mastermind behind this and found out about each other. They are not friends."

"Oh," Viola winced painfully.

"Yeah…" Riven added, watching ice bloom, followed by grunts and other assorted noises of pain. A Glalie zoomed by, freezing a straggler in place, combining the attack with a Cofagrigus' shadow ball. Isole and Cormac motioned to him as they quelled the fight, taking advantage of the exhaustion the other pokemon were suffering from. "We're working on it now. How are things outside?"

"Not good," she replied shakily. "The Sycamore lab and the stone emporium were broken into. It looks like they made off with a lot of evolution stones and even some of the mega stones. And some keystones were stolen from the professor's lab, they got through all the security locks without even trying…. And the trainer who mega evolved the Tyranitar, he's already destroyed a lot of shops and cafes around the plaza. We managed to evacuate the area, but he doesn't care. If the police hadn't pulled back in time, there'd be a lot of dead right now. We're trying to stop him, but his pokemon is well- way too strong. I'd say high gym leader circuit level, and with mega evolution not even a hydro pump fazed it. He's just standing there laughing, like he's mocking us…"

"That's probably not even a real trainer," Riven grimaced. "Just… hang in there. We'll assist after we get the situation controlled here. Somehow. I'm going to send the civies out. One of the trainers here has a Simipour. Should take care of the flames. Make sure the police go around to escort them to safety." _If there's any police left at that time, that is._

"Ok," Viola agreed weakly. "Come quick."

A hydro pump from a girl's Simipour cleared out the flames. Entrusting the group's safety to Suhas, Riven watched them as they made their way across the broken asphalt of the plaza, where a squad of policemen waited.

Heels clacked along the floor and even without looking Riven knew who it was. Not even bothering to turn around, he asked, "You got bored already?"

"No, just wanted to see if you had any other worrying information to share," she said, crossing her arms. Behind her, ice sheathed the floor and walls, spreading upwards to the second floor. Her Glalie was having a bit of fun it seemed. "Cormac and Yuvir have this taken care of."

Then a blast of fire sent both Cofagrigus and Glalie spiraling into a nearby wall, which broke and dumped half a store on them both.

"You were saying?" Riven snorted.

She let out a quiet sigh, about to turn back, pokeball in hand.

"Wait," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Isole, when you were up there, did you see any suits or auction-goers with watches?"

She thought for a moment at the bizarre question. "They were all rich, so they practically all had watches of some kind."

"Not conventional watches," Riven clarified. "Digital. The men who first came in were using digital timers to coordinate the next stages of the plan. Maybe it wasn't the rich men, but the guards. It's easy to overlook them, you saw with Petalburg. Try to remember."

Isole closed her eyes, trying to remember what she saw. There were plenty of gold and jewel encrusted watches, some silver and even jade. All expensive, but none that she noticed were digital, or all that different from the standard overly expensive accessories Kalosian nobility and wealth liked to wear. She was about to tell him that she couldn't recall any when it came back to her. There was a blonde man who sat in front of her, however, constantly taking peeks at his wrist. Periodically too.

Looking back at it now, it didn't seem out of place at the time, but he wasn't wearing anything expensive, and at one point she swore she heard beeping. Like the adjusting of a digital watch. It was after that that some of the guards moved positions, muttering to themselves.

"Blonde. Sky blue eyes," she repeated out loud, grabbing Riven's attention. "He had a digital watch and he adjusted it part of the auction through. Some guards reacted to it. If he was with them… as much as I hate to admit it, the rich people up there could be in danger."

"World wouldn't miss them," Riven mused darkly. "Shame if something… _happened_ to them."

She gave him a disappointed scowl.

"It was easier when everyone hated me, then I could be as much of an asshole as I wanted," he complained petulantly. "Gah, I hate saving assholes but I'll go up there and see what's going on. Clean up the mess here. And no, if I nab the artifact, I won't keep it to myself," he said, waving a hand. "I'm such a nice guy, aren't I?"

"Nicest in the world," Isole said flatly, rolling her eyes and throwing another pokeball out. A Walrein roared, tusks sharp and poised for combat. "Get going already, jeez."

Riven wasn't good with technology, but even he knew how elevators worked. The fact that the elevator doors didn't open no matter how hard he smashed the buttons meant that they probably cut the power. A painful climb up the stairs showed the steps to the fifth floor completely destroyed, with only a broken ledge remaining where the rest of the staircase once stood.

Now, he _could_ have made a jump like that. Except convenient little knife wound from that jerkass Pinsir made even walking painful. And with the jumps from that brief tussle with Suhas, his leg was begging for mercy, to say the least.

Meeting the other two downstairs, where they were finishing off the remnants of the interested parties, he stopped in front of them, limping and sweating like a beaten dog.

Cormac peered down at him, directing his Scrafty to use a flurry of kicks on a Magneton. "Aren't you supposed to be saving rich dickbags right now?"

"Elevator is busted," Riven breathed. "Stairs are gone too."

"That's what's stopping you?" The older mercenary chided. "Kind of lame. What happened to 'I'm such a badass scout, I can climb anything'? Did your balls drop off?"

"In case you didn't notice, my fucking leg is bleeding," Riven grunted, showing him his blood stained pants. "And it kind of hurts."

"Yeah, I wasn't aware that getting stabbed hurt," Cormac scoffed. "Thanks for the insight."

The younger mercenary fell into thought, and slowly an idea dawned on him, his features beginning to turn into a stupid grin. Followed by some maniacal giggling. "There is another way to get up there."

Isole joined them, pointing to Riven. "Cormac, he's doing the thing."

"Great. What batshit insane idea do you have now, king of lunacy?"

Peering back up at Cormac and with the calmest, most collected look he'd made that day, said, "I'm going to climb up the side of the building. Also, I'm going to need your Ariados."

Cormac exchanged looks with Isole, who shrugged, disinterested. Expecting something like this had stopped surprising her. After that stunt with trying to take down a Noivern with a wingsuit, she'd all but accepted his downright idiotic way of doing things. Groaning, he forked over the pokeball. "You're fucking insane."

Smirking, Riven took the pokeball, went outside and proceeded to climb to the top via human sized spider.

* * *

Climbing a nearly vertical structure with glass window panes and very unforgiving handholds was impossible, even for the most deft of climbers. Normally, this _would_ be insanity. It was one thing to be a good climber, it was quite another to ignore logistics and well, common sense. Climbing a ninety degree wall with nothing to hold onto was virtually impossible.

That is unless you had an adhesive that glued your feet and hands as you climbed. Which he didn't, because who carried that around anyway? So he used the next best thing- a pokemon that _did_. Ariados were arachnids, and as such, could climb surfaces normally impossible to climb with the natural adhesion their legs provided, like glass for example.

So, in theory, all he had to do was grab onto the Ariados' abdomen, pray to whatever unholy god favored him, and hope his grip was strong enough to not let go so as to not end up a pretty little splat on the floor.

Cormac's Ariados didn't seem bothered by having a human hanging from its abdomen, focusing only on climbing to the top. Unlike its trainer, when Riven explained the plan to it, it simply nodded and probably gave a total of negative and a half shits if the human fell or not. From the air, Riven could see the battle between the Tyranitar and the police. Even from all the way up there, he could tell the "trainer" was only toying with them, probably stalling for some sort of time.

As insane human and pokemon made their way up, gravity gave Riven a painful reminder why it made everyone its bitch and then some. Holding onto the pokemon was all upper body strength, given his legs were just dangling in the air uselessly. Despite having a fairly high amount of it, Riven wasn't some sort of god. His arms started to burn near the top, and he clenched his jaw trying to hold on.

The Ariados wasn't fazed at all. Obviously this was nothing for it. It was a pokemon and like most spiders, could support almost one hundred seventy times their own weight with just the adhesion effect their legs created. Gravity didn't have shit on it. Reaching the fifth floor, Riven witnessed a large group of people sitting outside the entrance to the gym, tied up and watched by men in suits. Messy blonde hair and spectacles confirmed that even Clemont had been captured.

Well, he'd be lying is he said he didn't expect something like this to happen. Probably a surprise attack, since no one had been none the wiser on this floor. And Clemont was… Clemont. Question was, what were they doing _now_?

Only one way to find out.

A guard was reclining against one of the window panes, rifle held loosely in his arms. To be honest, he looked a little bored. Maybe he needed some action?

And that's exactly what he got when Cormac's Ariados stabbed a leg into the window, piercing it like a piece of cardboard. Applying pressure, the window shattered inwards, sending an array of glass projectiles out onto the ground. The guard staggered forwards, bleeding from the top of his head, only to meet the flat of Riven's sword- also hitting him in the head.

The noise of the broken glass attracted the rest of the guards, but Riven and the Ariados were already on it. Silk shot out of the arachnid's mouth, sticking the men to the walls and immobilizing them. Riven took care of the stragglers, cutting at their legs then knocking them out with the flat of the blade or the hilt. Both of them made short work of the guards, so much that it felt _too_ easy. Idiots probably returned the Machokes that were guarding the place. Oh well, their downfall.

He came up to Clemont who was mumbling and babbling under a mouthful of duct tape. Riven ripped it off, prompting a yelp from the gym leader.

"Couldn't you have ripped it off a little lighter? That hurt!" He whined, limps and mustache area red. After getting cut loose, he adjusted his spectacles. "Thanks for the save though! They came into the gym guns blazing! Literally! Of course I had to surrender because I'm the gym leader and I'm responsible for- Wait, who are you?"

"I can see why they only taped _your_ mouth shut," Riven deadpanned. "Name's Prime."

Clemont paled. "Y-you're… him?" He squeaked, shrinking away. "I-I… Can I go… um, back with the guards?"

Snorting, Riven began cutting the others loose. "Calm down, and contrary to what most criminals say about me, I don't eat children and demand blood sacrifices."

"I've heard s-stories about you… Viola mentioned something about you. Are you, erm… friends?" He asked, backed a good distance away. Riven blinked in amusement. Compared to everyone else, the gym leader was the only one freaking out.

"More or less… I helped her out once. This time she's repaying the favor. Regardless, you're fine now that you don't have these guys watching you. Can you escort everyone downstairs? The staircases are shot but between your pokemon, it shouldn't be a problem." He turned to the Ariados. "Can you help them down then return to your fool of a trainer?"

The pokemon shot a silk web at Riven's face. He tore it off with annoyance and watched Clemont lead the rest of the people downstairs, bummed out by the fact that these guys hadn't chucked all the nobles out the window and be done with it.

Some of the underhanded things those people did… not pretty.

Making his way to the auction room, he mentally prepared himself, swinging the blade in his hand in circular motions, limbering up. His leg was still causing him pain but after the little engagement back there, he could feel adrenaline leaking into his system. The hormone would block out some of the pain at least, even if he'd regret it massively later.

Opening the doors with a slow push, then checking _behind_ them, he focused his attention on the man standing at the podium, humming a pleasant tune. A black and red steel pokemon stood menacingly off the corner, contrasting with his cheery disposition. The man was as Isole described him, with messy blonde hair and eyes the color of the sky on a cloudless day. He waved happily, a friendly smile on his face. In his other hand, he was twirling the artifact everyone had spent all afternoon trying to kill each other over, like it was a toy.

"My I wasn't expecting you," he said, standing upright. "In fact, I wasn't expecting anyone."

Riven raised a confused brow at him. Despite his rather friendly act, there was something about this guy that just rubbed him…wrong. "Who… are you?"

The blonde chuckled to himself. "I probably shouldn't tell, but… I'll do it anyway, you look interesting enough. No pokeballs? Just a sword and probably a lot more sharp stuff, right? That's a different approach to today's world. Old school, I like it." He drew in a large breath, pointing to himself, large blue eyes brimming with excitement. "Name's Tesla. Nice to make your acquaintance."

"You are way too nice for someone that's supposed to be an enemy," Riven pointed out. "You could have taken the artifact and fucked off by now."

Tesla shrugged. "Wanted to see if I could meet some interesting people here in Kalos. Given you're here, it seems it paid off. You look pretty strong."

Riven ignored him, holding his sword up. The pokemon off to the side opened its eyes, sizing him up, its bladed body giving Riven a forced moment of pause. From its chest protruded two large circular blades, with two more blades growing out of its forearms as well as another bladed horn atop its head. Almost every part of it could be used as a weapon- hard to believe something like this existed.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Tesla asked after a moment of extended silence, tilting his head. "Strong silent type huh?"

Snorting, Riven chuckled. "You and the gym leader should be friends, you both talk way too much. Forgive me for not being too much into conversation, but I'm kind of in a hurry, if you don't mind. I need that artifact, and you gone."

"Oh really?" Tesla challenged, holding it up. "Well then, why don't you come and get it?"

Wasting no time with a snarky retort, Riven lunged, ignoring the pain in his leg while he aimed his blade at Tesla's face. But within a second, the pokemon at his side intercepted the blow with a forearm, using the other to return the attack. The hit bounced off the human's sword as he shifted in place to avoid being cut, the sheer force of what seemed like a casual flick sending him skidding backwards a solid five feet.

Given its metallic appearance, Riven guessed that it wasn't too fast to begin with, which seemed to be a trend with many steel types. While great defensively, they often lacked the speed and preferred defending and counterattacking, just like it had done to him. The movement it just displayed though… it was faster then it let on.

Recovering, steel clashed once more, the vibrations of the impact sending rippling currents along Riven's arm.

He looked at his blade and wondered if it would break if he kept it up. The sword given to him was an Orran flyssa, originally designed to break lighter armor more effectively than a regular sword; meaning that it would fair far better than say… a longsword perhaps. The point of the blade was sharper than most, and despite its ability to slash, it was primarily a stabbing weapon. Given stabbing something usually meant it fucking died, he seldom used it that way, resorting to slashes and hacks instead. Still, blade locking was terrible sword care, and he'd be damn surprised if the sword didn't lose its edge after this.

It was times like these that he really missed his blades.

The pokemon- Bisharp, he remembered- kept him at bay with bladed chops and a steady defense, retaliating to his hits with precise counters and blocks. Riven held back after his initial strategy of using speed to his advantage seemed to fall flat. There was a reason why everyone hated fighting steel types, and it was because of this. Their defense was just too good. Both hide and in their respect styles, steel types were a major pain in the ass. Unless you killed them with fire.

Angling his sword down, point first, he thrusted forward, aiming for vital points in the neck and other gaps in the pokemon's armor.

The best place to strike had to be where the metal converged, as well as joints. Applying the same logic as human armor, having metal completely cover a joint stiffened mobility, making it easier to expend energy and obviously make you a slower and thus- easier to hit target. Only problem being a Bisharp didn't have the same physiology for shit. The thing was built like an iron suit and had literally no problems moving fully encased in armor.

The thrust directed at the soft spot between the arm and torso was struck aside by another forearm, the strike turned awry. Riven ducked under a horizontal slash from the right, spinning low to the left, raising his sword in a diagonal upwards cut towards the face.

Arrogantly enough, the pokemon tried to withstand the hit, figuring that the blade would be no more effective than a toothpick against its metallic hide. Sparks leapt from the contact of sword on steel, the friction of both surfaces heating both blade and hide. Grunting as he applied more force, Riven's hands trembled as he forced his way up with it, leaving a shallow scar along the Bisharp's chest.

But Riven wasn't done. Oh no. Bisharp forgot one very important thing.

_Just because your skin is made of steel doesn't mean your eyes are._

Placing all the force he could utilize, he pushed the blade upwards, into the pokemon's face. Even after it caught on a moment later, it couldn't stop what came next.

Riven's sword stopped screeching for a second as it sliced into a very fleshy eye.

Tesla seemed to react now, dropping his semi-bored smile for a startled gasp as Riven hopped over the reeling pokemon, aiming the tip of his sword for the heart-

Only to get shot out of the air by an onslaught of lightning bolts. Crashing to the floor, he screamed silently as thousands of volts of electricity coursed along his body, heart feeling like it was about to explode. His muscles twitched and spasmed from the electrical impulses, saying nothing of the pain he'd just felt. Legs and arms felt heavier than lead, the attack paralyzing his limbs.

A Luxray's gaze bored back into his own, mane sparking with arcs and crackles of lightning, head held high with pride. Its eyes contained a gleam of superiority, and… pity?

It was pitying him? Riven snarled in response, unable to do anything in his position. God he hated electric types. Hated them, hated them, _hated_ them.

Tesla stepped down from the podium, kneeling down to be eye level with Riven, who struggled to even get on his knees. The blonde sighed sadly. "Dirty fighter huh? You cut out one of Azazel's eyes. That's not going to heal you know, he's probably really pissed. But I guess I can't blame you, you're just a human."

His Bisharp joined him, eye slashed closed, blood trickling down its metal coat. It didn't look all that bothered by it, but in its other eye Riven could see restrained anger.

"Why do you fight without pokemon?" Tesla asked sincerely. "It's a terrible strategy."

Riven looked up at him, finding the question to be simply answerable. Only it wasn't; he struggled to come up with a meaningful answer, avoiding the man's gaze.

"Is it because you lost someone important to you in the past?" Tesla mentioned idly, but despite the tone, the question pierced harder than an arrow. "I've seen that look before, mercenary. To take all the responsibility on yourself, so others don't get hurt. Never works. But you know that don't you?" He smiled at that for a moment, the expression fading away moments after. "If only the world worked that way. Where everyone is noble and nice and _free_."

Sighing, he held up the artifact, staring at it. "It never does though. Shame." Nodded once, and the Bisharp moved itself next to Riven's kneeling frame. "Do you know Kalos' history, mercenary?"

Riven shook his head, glaring up at the steel type. It looked gleeful, an ominous kind of gleeful.

"There used to be kings here. Kings that would do terrible things. One started a war once, creating an ultimate weapon that sacrificed the lives of thousands, all to revive the life of one single pokemon. After that, the lines of kings continued, some worse than others. Until the peasants became tired of their tyranny, and another war began. A revolution. Streets ran red with blood, and kings and queens were executed mercilessly." He paused, sky blue eyes sharp and vicious. "There was a move named after the weapon that killed all those people."

Riven's eyes widened as the Bisharp raised its forearm, standing like a general about to order an execution.

"Know its name?" Tesla picked up Riven's sword with his other hand and crouched beside him. He waited as Riven closed his eyes, whispering quietly into his ear.

"Guillotine."

Glinting off the rays of the setting sun as day turned to night, a blade swung down.


	50. Echoes

And stopped.

Eyes shut, Riven remained still for what seemed like centuries, waiting for death that never came.

Opening his eyes slowly while noting the coldness of steel on his neck, he exhaled partially in relief. Both arms and legs were still numb from the thunderbolt he'd taken earlier, the paralysis stretching up to his midsection but away from the organs.

Tesla could have killed him then and there, but he didn't. Even now, he stood in place, a light smile on his lips, holding a blade in his right while holding his left out- the one that ordered his Bisharp not to take Riven's head.

Confusion and surprise riddled Riven at being spared, even if there was nothing he could do, no one to help him. Any intelligent enemy would kill their enemy any chance they got. But he didn't. Maybe it was because of some grim satisfaction that he had bested him? Or perhaps because Riven was uninvolved? He didn't want to die, of course, but that didn't mean he wasn't a slight bit interested at the thought process. If it'd been up to him, he'd have killed him then and there, no questions asked. You just didn't let your enemies get stronger so they could come back and kick you in the balls, because you were "merciful".

In his world, that kind of thinking cost lives. Just like trying to achieve peace was. And didn't that end spectacularly?

Sky blue peered back at him.

"You look surprised." With his free hand, Tesla released an Audino, ordering it to heal his Bisharp before the eye got worse. The two pokemon went off to the side, a bright pulse of healing light illuminating the room. The Luxray laid down on the floor, taking the time to nap. Turning back to Riven, the blonde man's smile stretched a little wider.

Riven gathered his clouded thoughts. "Why? I'm your enemy."

An amused chuckle.

"I'm a mercenary too, you know. Kind of. The thing about mercenaries?" He reclined on the podium stand, peering at Riven's sword. "We can think for ourselves. We don't have to do _everything_ they tell us to do. Like killing someone. Even when it comes to those spare cogs that try to jam up the process. It's not nice to ruin other peoples' plans, you know. They worked hard on them."

Riven carefully reined in a twitch. His limbs were paralyzed. His face was _not_. "Why'd you do it then? A whim of yours?"

"Curious, aren't you." He shrugged, pointing at him. "Not sure about your case, but not all of us mercenaries are cold blooded killers and miscreants. But really the reason I did it is…" He walked over to Riven, holding the blade downwards, point first, aiming straight for his right leg.

_Could he be a sadist?_ The thought raced through Riven's mind, unable to see him walk behind him, panicking that maybe this Tesla just wanted to see his victims suffer. Ruining a limb in a horrific manner and knowing that person would never walk again was perfectly plausible to sick degenerates like them. If he was… it'd be better to just have him kill him now.

What he did next surprised him.

The sword stabbed downwards with a quick thrust into the tracker placed on his leg, splintering and cracking it with the small application of a few pounds of force. He couldn't feel it, but he could hear the parts breaking until what sounded like shattering glass told him that the device had been destroyed completely.

"There we go," Tesla said, impaling the sword into the podium and wiping his hands. Crossing his arms, he looked at Riven expectantly. Whose facial expression said just about- well, everything.

"That was a personal tracker, right?" He asked, receiving a pointed look in return.

"I know-" Riven tried lifting his body uselessly with his core, "-I'm in a bit of a bind, but what the bloody hell are you doing?"

Tesla frowned at that, listlessly peering at his fingernails. "I've been around some. Seen lots of people. Old, young, sad, happy, depressed… the list goes on. And when I looked at that-" Tesla pointed to the broken device, "-I saw something that saddened me. Everyone deserves to be free, even your enemies. Forcing others to do things holds down their potential. After all, what fun is it going against people who aren't motivated? It's boring."

Riven thought about it, mostly because he couldn't do anything else at the moment. In a way the guy was right, he didn't enjoy being under Nera's heel any more than a prisoner enjoyed being incarcerated. He nodded in understanding. "I can see why you'd say that. For most it's not a good idea if you're working towards something."

"Yeah well, I'm not most. My boss is a busy bee, and he likes to plan things," Tesla said absently, with a tinge of annoyance. "Always planning, always plotting. A schemer. He has some pretty big plans, you know. But he's a little… ruthless. 'Kill X, do X', blah blah. No time for fun stuff." Another grin came over him. "I like to have fun. And you?"

"I'd need to figure out what that is exactly," Riven muttered unenthusiastically.

"Really. 'Cause you looked excited," Tesla said knowingly. "Fighting Azazel. Fighting's fun, and we mercenaries enjoy a little more than most. Gives some spice to life. But alas we have-" His watch beeped repeatedly and after looking at it, he gasped. "Oh, shit. Sorry to leave you hanging, but I'm running low on time, gotta run!"

"Wait," Riven demanded.

"Hmm?"

"You don't make any sense," he breathed. "You spare me, you free me, left me like a Metapod and then you're just going to go? You're fucking strange."

"Heh. Pots shouldn't call the kettle black. You're a weird one too. The amount you talk is indirectly proportional to how dangerous you are." Tesla noted wryly. "Right now being _not very_."

Riven shrugged, somehow managing that with just his face. "Well, when you can't move, at least you can mouth off and preserve some of your dignity. And being face first in the ground isn't very exciting. Neck is getting tired."

"Hmmm. I want to stay and play, I really do, but I have things that must be done. You should be able to move in a good… six hours or so? Boss is getting impatient."

Returning his Bisharp, Audino, and the Luxray, Tesla summoned another pokemon. After the flash of light receded, a large draconic pokemon materialized, its body covered in dark scales. It sported three heads, with the biggest in the center, baring sharp white teeth and eyes colored a deep fuschia, surrounded by a sclera as black as night. The dragon's wings were coated in black scales, its wingspan covering the length of the room.

He'd seen it before, at the dragon festival, but only briefly, and never up close.

The sight of it was ominous enough to give pause to anyone, and somehow, some way, Riven could feel it just like he could Haona. He didn't exactly know why he could feel this- chalking it up to more space magic, because everyone knew you can't question that- but he _knew_. Where his Absol was a pushy female with attitude problems and an affinity for semi harmless violence, this one just felt _vicious_. A familiar vicious, at that.

Regardless, Riven tensed upon seeing it- a natural reaction to dragons it seemed- and tried to back off, but found himself unable to do so given his legs were effectively logs at the moment, managing an incredibly lame half-assed roll. He'd never seen a three-headed dragon like this one before, and it unnerved him more than just a little at having six pairs of eyes watching him hungrily.

The same hungry expression which suddenly shifted, becoming curious, then… cautious? The dragon was giving _him_ a wide berth? What?

Tesla raised a brow at his dragon, whispering something to it. After a brief, dragon sized grunt, the man recoiled, blue eyes wide as saucers. He beamed and jumped in place like a child, as if he'd just struck gold, stroking the smaller left head. With a command, the dragon blew open a gigantic hole in the wall of the auction room with a puff of blue flames.

Riven had managed to roll onto his side, and stared in crippled disinterest.

But just as it was about to fly off with trainer in tow, Tesla turned back to him, a wide smile on his face. A true smile of happiness, one which baffled Riven once again.

"I knew keeping you alive would pay off! It is _you_! Next time we meet, bring your team and all your friends, because things might get a little crazy. And oh so fun!" He laughed to himself, barely able to contain his excitement. "Come back to Hoenn soon. We're going to put on one hell of a show!"

The dragon launched itself into the air, massive wings beating the air around it to propel it into motion. Wind kicked dust at Riven's eyes, shutting them momentarily. A roar pierced the sky, the sound of the cry reverberating along the walls of the room and the sky outside, letting all around know its imposing presence.

And just like that, the man had left, flying into the sky above, artifact and all.

Groaning, Riven let himself flop onto his back, laying there for minutes, just contemplating his situation and everything that had happened to him. Remembering Yanine and Nemos, the Scyther, the festivals, as well as all the bad luck the universe could chuck at him, he closed his eyes and took a nap.

* * *

Isole and Cormac found him some time later, having had some difficulty getting up to the fifth floor, running to his side as they saw him on the ground. They panicked, the strange sight of Riven laying on the floor while not dead instead of doing something better with his time- like snarling at something- not quite registering in both of their minds. A collective sigh of relief came out of them after they confirmed he was lightly snoring. Sleeping on the job, shame.

Muffled muttering filled Riven's ears. Things about paralysis, the situation, damages, the artifact, general distress and something about… idiots and sharp pointy objects.

Cold hands gripped the part of his arms he could still feel, while larger ones held his feet, propping him up beside the podium, next to where his blade had been embedded. Riven woke up to an ice cold hand on his stomach. He shot up- well, the part of his body that still functioned at least- releasing shouted profanities in his half startled, half groggy state.

Hands waved at him, and he wished his arms worked so he could swat them away.

"Riven, you with us?" Isole asked, holding his face still. "I know you're paralyzed, but can you speak?"

"You put your hand on my stomach. Why? Do you _know_ how cold your hands are?" He whined, dazed. "Fucking ice blocks!"

Isole rolled her eyes, snapping a finger next to his eyes. "Are you with us or not? You want another hand on your stomach?"

"No, yes, dammit no. I'm here. Awake," he confirmed, bobbing his head as well. Blinked a few times, trying to come back to his senses.

Cormac shook his head in disappointment. "Sleeping on the job in the middle of a fuckstorm? The Riven I know wouldn't ever do that, he'd be right in the center of it, probably dying and bitching about it. Are you sure this isn't an alien, Isole?" Cormac questioned, noting some cut up chairs, scorch marks, and obviously, the gigantic hole to the outside. He kicked Riven's dead leg as a test. "You don't look like someone beat the snot out of you, but since you have the movement capabilities of a vegetable at the moment, I don't think I have to ask but did someone wreck your shit?"

"Something like that," Riven admitted bluntly. "It was the blonde guy you were talking about, Isole. Had a Bisharp. Was fun."

Cormac all but winced, probably putting two and two together, from the scratch marks on Riven's sword. Weapons against steel types were about as effective as trying to put out a fire with a handful of dirt. You got _somewhere_, just not far enough. It didn't take an astrophysicist to figure out why they were the trump cards of past armies and empires. At least until someone discovered that metal didn't do so well when introduced to fire.

"Uh-huh. Since you're paralyzed, I'm going to assume you decided fuck all to fighting a steel type with a sword because it was a _gigantic_ pain in the dick and went straight for the trainer, and got turned into a human conductor?"

"Mmm." Riven closed his eyes in exhaustion. "Luxray. Right after I cut into the Bisharp's eye and was about to stab the guy in the chest, it shot me out of the air and pumped enough electricity into me to nearly make my heart explode. Probably mixed in thunder wave too because holy _shit_, I'm tired."

"You've been hit by a thunder wave before?"

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Riven stared at them dully. "I had a Manectric _sit_ on me before. In LaRousse, while I was running away from the police _your lot_ called on me."

Isole and Cormac exchanged looks, ignoring him while noticing the broken tracker on the ground. Picking up some of the shards, Isole grimaced.

Riven noted their looks, chuckling to himself in half disbelief. "He could have killed me you know. Was about to cut my head off, but stopped. Broke my tracker too."

Both of them instantly refocused on him. "He spared you? Why?"

"Hell if I know," he huffed. "Guy didn't make a lick of sense, for a mercenary at least. Some of them are eccentric, but usually they're massive douchebags. But him… I didn't know what he was thinking, sparing an enemy like that. Pokemon were powerful though. Bisharp wasn't going serious against me and his Luxray could have fried me without even trying."

Then again though, it wasn't very compelling judging a pokemon's strength against a human's. If a Linoone could tackle with the force of a car going at a moderate speed, it was pretty meaningless to say they were strong when a human at peak physical condition could at best hit for a _quarter_ of that power. It'd be like comparing the density of talc to steel. That is unless they happened to have insane bursts of power fueled by dark and troubled pasts that allowed them to temporarily match pokemon in terms of strength. But hey, apparently every human who came through time via legendary magic bullshit had some form of enhanced ability. Which was kind of cool? Except for well, having creepy side personalities that really wanted to kill things. Or living in freezers and raising the temperature of a room just by being in the general vicinity- you know, _small_ things.

Craning his neck, Riven gestured to the hole in the wall. "Then he summoned what caused _that_."

"And what caused," They both turned towards the hole. "_That_?"

"Dragon," he replied casually.

"Got a name?"

"What was it?" Riven closed his eyes, concentrating, muttering out loud. "Hida? Uh… Dree? Gongs...? Uhhhh… something that sounded like eggs?"

"Hydreigon?" Isole suggested. Thunder bolt must have done a number on his brain. His memory was effectively ass, despite being very attentive to details most of the time. No thanks in part to his mindset of 'everything wants to chomp on your face, you just don't know it yet'.

"Ah, that's the one," he nodded, trying to raise an unresponsive finger. He frowned when it didn't come up. "Three heads. Really dangerous looking. Of the it's going to eat your children and lay waste to your loved ones variety."

Cormac snorted. "Yup. That's a Unovan native. Impossible to miss, no one ever forgets Hydreigon, in tournaments or in the wild. First thing they teach kids and young budding trainers? _Do not_ _fuck with them_. Things are violent as all shit and their power… let's just say it can match Salamence if not outright make it its bitch. Until fairy types were discovered, it made trainers wet their pants in battles. They're incredibly difficult to train, and if he has one… guy's not to be taken lightly. Could have killed you up, down, and sideways if he wanted to."

"I kind of got that impression when I was laying face first in the ground and my limbs decided to stop working," Riven replied dryly. "Got away with the artifact too, but I guess that's obvious already."

Both of them agreed with identical shrugs. "Did you find anything about them at least?"

"From him? Just that he doesn't really care for his employer, but from one of the other mercenaries, he told me they go by the name of 'Singularity'. I don't know what that means but I'm assuming it has something to do with what they're aiming for."

Cormac and Isole mulled it over, brows furrowing in concentration.

"Could mean exactly what it says on the tin," Isole said. "Criminal organizations and past teams never really did put much thought into their names."

"Their fanatic chant is 'together as one'," Riven mused. "Points for originality."

"Lot better than having Team at the front, sounds less like a boy scout crew and more like an imposing organization of sorts. But what it could mean… Maybe it's a physics thing?" Cormac suggested instead. "A gravitational singularity is defined as something that occurs in time and space when matter is condensed into a single point, defying classical and quantum mechanics, as quantum mechanics does not permit particles to condense into a point smaller than their respective wavelengths," he said matter-of-factly.

Riven and Isole were both pretending to snore. They both startled awake after he finished, muttering a collection of half-asleep whats and huhs. Cormac gave them both the middle finger.

"Seriously, fuck both of you." He grunted, placing a foot against the podium as he tore Riven's blade out of the wood. "Let's get paraplegic here off the ground. Can you handle his heavy ass, Isole? Wouldn't want you to damage your lady goods now. They're much too nice."

"Oh? Says the _normal,_" she smirked, hoisting Riven up easily. "I'm at least twice as strong as you. And I can make ice sculptures and you can't," she chided, tracing the air with a bit of frost.

"Tsk," the other man sneered.

Although it was surprising at how easily she picked up a six foot tall man like a sack of fruit. But for said six foot sack of fruit, it was also fifty kinds of awkward getting held over a woman's shoulders. Especially when he could easily see her behind when she walked, made much easier because of the dress she was wearing. Yup. _Pretty_ awkward. "Uh, Isole?"

"Yeah?" She replied as they were taking him to the stairs.

"How are you going to get me down the stairs? They're kind of… _gone_."

"Throw him," Cormac suggested. "He'll be fine. It's the floor that should be worried."

"Throw me and I'll castrate you."

"Cormac built a web padding," Isole assured, feeling Riven's death glare behind her back. "Kind of like a hammock, but you'll slide down it instead of stick. Or… roll down I guess?"

"I guess?" He repeated, not convinced. "If I land face-"

Then he felt himself get lifted, dropped, and rolled along a slightly sticky but firm layer of webbing, the fibers of the web sleeker than normal, noticing what looked like frost flakes on the tips. _So she iced the web to reduce the stickiness. Huh._ He landed against Cormac's Ariados, who didn't appear at all perturbed by the fact than a human just crashed into it. Seemed like a trend.

Getting carried down the stairs the same way again, Riven heard more explosions as they approached the ground floor. "Have they taken care of the Tyranitar yet?" He started, focusing his hearing, not that it did him much good, facing backwards.

"No," Isole answered curtly. "We came up to see if you hadn't gotten yourself killed. We were planning to go out and help the police but… mega Tyranitars aren't playthings. That they're still fighting it and not completely wiped out is incredible. Or that asshole of a trainer is toying with them. I'm betting on the latter, trainers are arrogant at the best of times."

Exiting the staircase, Riven craned his neck to look past Isole's shoulder, jaw nearly dropping at the sight of the base floor. "Holy... _shit_," he stammered. "This place is _done_."

Jagged spikes of ice coated the walls and floors, splintered by attacks gone astray. Craters lined the floor and pieces of glass and tile were strewn about in every which way, the dying embers of flamethrowers still burning along the charred slabs of the walls and stores. The structural supports were chipped and broken, barely holding on, riddled with bullets and the after effects of battle. Long slices were carved into some parts of the ground, and a shop window had been neatly bisected in half. Water lay along the path of destruction- the mark of an aqua jet. Whatever lights were working flickered and sparked, probably as a result of an electrical surge.

In short, place was worse than fucked.

Mercenaries, pokemon, and gangsters alike were frozen to the walls or wrapped up in spider silk, struggling. Most of them were gagged too, so luckily they weren't spewing verbal diarrhea as the three passed by. Isole and Cormac went around the back, where firemen had extinguished most of the flames, but all that had done was expose more of the damage from the ongoing battle.

"This is going to be a disaster," Riven winced, observing the extent of damage to the fractured earth.

"Expect mass political fallout," Isole said, blowing out a cold breath of exasperation. "Thank the heavens I'm not an official, much less the champion."

"Feel pity for the champion. Poor bastard," Riven added.

"Poor _woman_," Cormac corrected. "Champion of the Kalos region is a chick."

"Doesn't change the fact she's going to hate her life for the next few months," Riven smiled darkly. "Did the Tyranitar do this?"

"No, the distractions did. The Tyranitar is facing towards Vernal Avenue, hasn't left that side of the plaza, but I'm sure it's well beyond wrecked at this point. The fires and explosions just harassed this part of Centrico," she stated. Shook Riven lightly, receiving a grunt. "Look, paramedics. We're going to leave you there since you're the definition of useless at the moment. They should be able to fix your paralysis. But it's not going to be quick enough for you to join, not that you'd be much help with no pokemon."

"Guess you can't partake in the heroisms today, Rivy," Cormac smirked. "Much sad."

"Not really. Heroes tend to die," Riven responded flatly. "And if heroes try to take on something like _that_, then I really don't mind sitting out this time. By all means, you idiots can go kill yourselves, only makes my life easier."

Snorting, they left him with the paramedics and ran towards the sounds of battle. He would wave but… it went without saying.

The medics ran several tests, applying paralyze heals to his skin, which helped some of the feeling return to his limbs, but it wasn't enough. At most it would take upwards of two hours, even with medicine. Otherwise he was perfectly fine. He relayed a message to one of the paramedics, and from out of the smoke, a blonde girl with green eyes and antenna hair met him. Her white tank top was now a dull grey from the soot, and her skin was ashy and dusty from the debris of the surrounding buildings. Her hair was disheveled and she looked ready to drop from exhaustion.

"Prime," Viola uttered wordlessly, catching her breath. "Thank you for escorting the civilians out, are you ok?"

"Just paralyzed from my arms and legs, but otherwise yes, I'm fairly all right. You look like you've had better days though," he said, looking at her grimy appearance. "You didn't watch the shirt. I told you to watch the shirt."

She laughed at that, shaking some of the dust off. "What happened up there? I saw a Hydreigon come out and panicked a little, but it just flew off."

Riven took a glance at the sky, trying to make sense of that still. "Guy got the best of me there, took what I was after and left. Everything else was at best a distraction of sorts. How's the battle coming along?"

"I wish I could say we're getting through, but that wouldn't be true," Viola lamented. "Most of the police forces' pokemon have been exhausted and recalled, and the Elite Four won't be here for at most another hour or two. And that trainer…" Viola grit her teeth, and held in what sounded faintly like curses.

That was new. Viola wasn't one for connecting with her inner foulness, and gym leaders seldom cursed. At least the first few gym leaders did. Drake didn't really care, but to be fair, he _was_ a sailor before. To make her want to curse- that was pretty scary. Seeing her angry was a little concerning, it'd be like seeing Roxanne angry. It just didn't happen. "So he's a massive prick, then."

"And a half," she hissed out.

Viola. _Hissed_. Riven shook as he fought a sudden chill.

She stared at him in mild concern. "Are you cold? Do you need a blanket? I know it's night time but-"

"I'm fine, it's just you… hissed," he pointed out meekly. She raised an eyebrow at that, as if to elaborate. "Nevermind, it's nothing. Can you wheel me out to where I can see the battle?"

"Prime-"

"If I get killed it's fine, just tell anyone I was being an idiot and probably deserved it," he assured, nonchalantly giving Viola what amounted to a verbally signed liability form. "Can you help me get on this wheelchair though? I can't move my legs, or my arms."

The gym leader sighed softly.

When she took him out to the Vernal section of Centrico Plaza, Riven could only stare in disbelief as he saw what used to be the beautiful streets of the plaza reduced to a pile of rubble. The cafes that lined the entrances to the avenues were destroyed, and the buildings they resided in were crumbling on the outside, just skeletons of what they once were. The police had evacuated the people, but the damage was still there.

In the center of it he could see Isole and Cormac fighting against the Tyranitar with the policemen and their pokemon, jets of flame and water dancing amidst streams of multi colored beams. But even from there, he could make out the laughing as their attacks seemed to bounce off, and pokemon were blown clearly into the surrounding buildings and cars, kicking up clouds of dust and dirt.

The trainer cackled, sitting comfortably on a rock behind his pokemon, mouth twisted into a smirk. "You can't beat me!" He shouted between more cackles. "I'm a true trainer! You're all nothing but fakes. I'll avenge his death, just you fucking wait! Then I'll take down that runt of a champion and move on to the rest of the world!"

He raised a hand, and an earthquake shook the very ground, fissures opening along the ground, swallowing several police cars. The damaged buildings gave their dying breath, crashing to the ground in a blanket of dust. "Did you see that?" He continued, raising his hands towards the sky. "I've been going easy on you, little policemen."

Riven and Viola watched uselessly from the sidelines, incredulity in his and utter shock in hers. He wondered why she was shaking. Sure, this guy was fucking nuts, but after he mentioned fakes, she very nearly broke down, even more scared than when she was fighting the Pangoro, and _boy_ did that say something.

Isole's Empoleon and Cormac's Ariados were getting tired, their attacks growing more sluggish. They were already worn out from the previous fight, and mercenaries seldom carried upwards of three pokemon, mostly for safety reasons. A full pokebelt raised suspicions, but three or two pokeballs was so commonplace that no one gave it a second thought. Useful for blending in, but absolute shit for battles like this.

The Tyranitar roared, forming a swirling vortex of black energy in its mouth, prepping another dark pulse. Police pulled back, as well as the two mercenaries.

"That mega evolution is problematic." Isole grinded her teeth together. "If Yuvir hadn't been blindsided by that fireblast in there, I could have-"

"Not worth it," Cormac reminded. "You really want all these people to know about you and the others?"

She cursed, considering that.

"But we can't have this crazy fuck running around Lumiose either. Not that there's much we can do at this point." He grimaced, watching the kid laugh. "Forget the Tyranitar. That trainer. We're going to have to kill him."

"Easier said than done." She replied, watching the collected energy grow in size, a deep vicious purple glow emanating from the interior of the pokemon's mouth.

The trainer smirked smugly once again, a crazed look in his eyes. "Goodbye, fakes," he uttered, issuing and order with a flick of his wrist.

Darkness howled forth and a flash of purple light pierced the ground and sky, the power of mega evolution traveling along the attack, which would no doubt cause untold amount of damage to the city.

The police braced, and frantically told everyone to take cover and run.

Riven only sat in his wheelchair, eyes wide, and in a second, the attack exploded against something, a wave of force sending shards of concrete flying in every which way. He gagged and coughed as dust clouded his vision and filtered in through his nostrils. The concussive force of the blast sent everyone further ahead hurling backwards, but the ground beneath and behind him were strangely untouched. Everyone who had been on the plaza was now on the sidewalks, confused.

Riven looked up, puzzled, squinting against the heavy air.

Shimmering among the clouds, he noticed glimmering walls of hard light, layers upon layers of them stacked on each other, arranged like shields in a formation around the plaza, their images easy to make out among the backdrop of dust and distorted light. They began to spin around the circular plaza, like a revolving barrier. The dust cloud was then blown apart by furious winds, making out a speeding metal bird flying impossibly fast high above the plaza, the gale from its wings restoring visibility with powerful sonic beats.

Standing in front of the layered shields, a steel haired man calmly curled up the sleeves of his suit, a fierce look in his eyes. Behind him, a massive psychic hovered inches above the ground. In his hands, a pin gleamed under the moonlight, and a smile bloomed on Riven's face. Things were about to get downright _interesting_.

"It's _impolite_ to destroy someone else's property."

* * *

**I know I said I'd release this within a week, but the traffic stats on stories are currently borked, so I held off a bit, but since the problem has persisted, I decided to release the chapter anyways.**

**It's a bit shorter than normal, so I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. **


	51. Shifting Sands

The trainer froze, standing up at once as he caught sight of the one who opposed him.

A single man stood nonchalantly in place. He looked so calm and poised—something that made him burn with irritation.

"Who are you?" He snarled out. "Answer me."

The steel haired man only smiled lightly, caressing the pin in his hands. Taking three steps forward, he adjusted his tie and gestured to the Metagross behind him with his head.

"My name is Steven Stone, former champion of the Hoenn region. Being a Hoenn native, I really dislike other people making us look this bad on foreign soil, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop your little tirade. Or you can give up."

Teeth were barred in response.

"I'll end this quickly then." A burst of light enveloped the Metagross as Steven raised his hand, the power of mega evolution coursing through the psychic in a radiant sphere of energy. A tether of light extended outward, linking trainer and pokemon as their feelings became one, just as keystone and mega stone reacted, setting forward a chain reaction of explosive energy, shifting and changing the pokemon into a new form.

"Dark pulse!" The boy commanded in desperation, looking more like a cornered beast than a person. "Kill it before it evolves! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!"

Obeying without question, the Tyranitar fired another stream of dark energy, howling through the night once again, exciting the very air of the molecules it passed.

Steven didn't budge, remaining impossibly calm even despite standing no more than five feet away from the attack's intended target.

Just as the dark pulse howled through the air, growing closer and closer, a grey blast emerged from the sphere of light, exploding in its wake like a giant gunshot, rattling the ground with its power. For a split second, the sheer luminosity of the attack shone throughout all of Lumiose, possibly all of Kalos, its glow drowning out the ambient light of the city in a sea of shining grey. Colliding with the dark pulse, the attack didn't so much as dim as it momentarily clashed, then devoured the darkness, cutting and dissipating it as it traveled.

When the attack struck the Tyranitar, it blasted the rock type off completely off the ground and sent it sailing into the air—a testament to both the sheer difference in power and of mega evolution itself. As it traveled, the layers of light screens converged behind it, reforming into a massive cocoon of shimmering panels around the Tyranitar, acting as an improvised cushion as the pokemon made contact with them—the kinetic energy and mass of the target producing a force massive enough to make layers of intricately woven barriers shatter instantly. Shards and splinters of hardened light rained down on the floor like broken glass as the Tyranitar's form reverted, hide cracked and damaged from the attack.

Eyes glowing a deep blue, Steven's Metagross ran complex calculations and algorithms in its mind before the flash cannon made contact, burning through them in nanoseconds—calculating wind speeds, shrapnel placement, people in the vicinity as well as the surrounding structures themselves.

All to limit the effect of the blast.

Explosions were dangerous for a reason. It wasn't so much the actual explosion of flames and superheated gases, but the concussive force of the blast, caused by the supersonic movement of air and resulting vacuum that wall of air creates. The waves did a number on the soft insides of people, damaging the lungs and brain among other things. Regarding the setting, it was extremely difficult to avoid collateral damage with a flash cannon capable of taking down a mega Tyranitar like that in one shot, but stopping the trainer from doing anything drastic was the top priority, even if he had to cause thousands more in damage.

Steven didn't really know how strong the Tyranitar was, and being psychically linked, Meta didn't either. It was possible he didn't really _need_ to mega evolve him, per se, but he couldn't take any chances with this. Dragging fights out like this in civilian environments wouldn't be good for anyone. And although the attack did knock out the pokemon, the after effects of such an attack were… problematic, to say the least. Nature and mega evolved pokemon were by _no means_ friends. Property damage and heroism weren't either.

Focusing on the air around the blast, Meta psychokinetically accelerated the air particles around the affected area in a direction opposite the intended blast, forming destructive interference with the waves of the explosion itself—decreasing the concussive force if only for a brief reprieve. Doing so was impossible for any normal pokemon or man, but when you had the brain of a supercomputer to work with, such calculations were simply tedious, not _completely_ impossible. Still, there was only so much the interference waves could do to lessen the blast-not factoring in the sudden vacuum of air explosions temporarily created- but it was all Steven and Meta could do at the moment, unless they _wanted_ to level Centrico Plaza—which wouldn't be all that difficult realistically speaking, but that wouldn't go over well with the Elite Four, much less the Champion.

Meta's eyes returned to normal, and time seemed to resume as the explosion's force blasted outward in a sonic boom, weakened but still potent enough to cause serious damage. Debris and overturned slabs of concrete were rendered dust and police cars were thrown into the psychic shields, smashed into oversized heaps of contorted metal. Had any people been in the vicinity of the blast, the effects would have been far, far messier.

Which also _would_ have happened had Steven forgotten to teleport the trainer to safety a split second before the flash cannon met its mark.

After the dust had set, Steven emerged from behind a protective shell and observed the destruction with a solemn frown, placing a palm on one of the floating psychic's legs. He shook his head disdainfully, eyeing the trainer not with contempt, but pity. Steven's massive pokemon hovered in place menacingly, watching the fallen human closely. The former champion clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"You should have surrendered."

The boy picked himself up in confusion before trying to respond with another pokeball, but found his arm twisted rather painfully by an invisible force. A psychic aura surrounded his arm, pounds of pressure weighing down on his limb. He struggled against it futilely, screaming in frustration. The police rushed in to apprehend him and take him away, but Steven stopped them with a hand and an understanding nod.

"Give up, you've lost," Steven pointed out. "Stop struggling."

Placed onto his knees, the boy breathed hard, seemingly… crying? "You bastards. You don't _get it_. You _never_ get it! You don't deserve to have pokemon! I'll avenge _his_ death, then I'll work my way through Kalos then to Sinnoh, where I'll follow Sayre's way. "

Steven's eyes narrowed. "Look. At. Me," he demanded, tone sharp and authoritative. "If you can call yourself a trainer, a _true_ trainer, you'll look at me."

At that, the boy picked up his head, tears in his eyes, and with a hatred that reminded the former champion of a memory he wished he'd never seen.

"You said you were a true trainer, and yet, all you did was try to inspire fear with power you can't hope to control, let alone understand. Do you realize how many people you could have killed? Innocent, defenseless, people? Is that what trainers do? Perverting the wonder that is training with your sick ideals? Forged by a group of misguided and sick trainers who believed in the words of a grieving boy who couldn't hold himself together?" Steven snapped, questions piercing like spears of wind. His expression carried the ferocity the champions were known for, instilling fear in even the bravest of trainers. "Who put you up to this? Tell. Me."

Eyes wide, the trainer's breathing picked up, and silent tears ran down his face. In that brief moment, Steven could see the workings of guilt and grief.

_He can't be a mercenary. Mercenaries don't feel either of those._ _I have to proceed carefully, fierce questioning will only worsen his condition._

Tone slackening, his expression became more reassuring, understanding. "Who took advantage of you? Someone used your anger against you. You lost someone you cared about deeply, didn't you? That's why you're angry. You were so angry that you had no choice but to take it out on the world before it ruined you, right?"

It was complete guesswork, but considering the psych profiles of the trainers that were apprehended by the police in Sinnoh, they all shared two common characteristics; the death of a loved one and resentment towards society about why nothing was done. Judging by the rhetoric the boy was using… it was likely the same happened to him, and finding nowhere else to go, he read the Sinnoh story and bought into that cult's ridiculous notions of a "true trainer". Many trainers unfortunately lost their partners at some point. In contrast to how good it was played up to be, the depressing reality of the training world was that it was as undeniably dangerous as it was liberating, and not everyone made it out in one piece. Clinical depression among trainers was exceedingly common, being the group with the highest rates across all regions.

This kid didn't seem any different.

As expected, the boy froze up for a second, then began to sob uncontrollably. He looked at Steven in the eye, shaking his head over and over. "M-my starter… my Noivern. I was going to Anistar and we had a battle with some guy. His Haxorus k-killed him. He wouldn't stop! Even after he took all my money. I begged him to stop and he… he wouldn't! Miron tried- he tried to defend me, but he couldn't. I told the League! And they did _nothing_, just like in Sinnoh!" Tears splashed onto the broken concrete as he remembered. "Miron isn't dead… h-he can't be."

The boy stared at the floor in silence before continuing, "they… they said they would do something... that they'd make a world where none of that happens. And that they'd find that bastard who took Miron from him. They'd gut him like a fucking fish. Yeah… a new world… Where I could be together with him again. They said… they said… to do something like-"

Closing his eyes, he screamed in frustration. "Why would they lie?" He whispered.

_He's delusional,_ Steven thought. _Unstable and in severe denial. Losing his starter… it was even worse than I thought, that's why he bought into that Sayre cult. Would do anything but refuse to accept that his pokemon is dead. Even if it meant turning to violence and terrorism. The real masterminds behind this took advantage of that._ _What kind of effect were they aiming for by using him? _"Tell me who used you, and for what purpose. Please," Steven asked, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "This is important. I know it's hard, but try to remember."

The trainer shook his head furiously once again, lip beginning to quiver. "They'll kill me," he whimpered. "That's what the man said, the one with the scar. He said to let it out. That the police deserved it. But I can't tell you… they'll kill me. That was the-the agreement. I won't… no."

_The man with a scar? _Steven swallowed, exchanging looks with the officers. "Okay, I understand. Did they give you the keystone and mega stone at least?"

A faint nod.

_Wait. Does he…?_

"Do you… even know what you did?" Moving out of his way, Steven showed him Centrico Plaza's sorry state of affairs, withdrawing some distance away. "Think of Miron, is this what he would have wanted? Do you realize you did this?"

After a few seconds, the trainer looked at him for a moment, and began to look around, noting the destruction he'd caused. His gaze was obscured by his hat as he looked down at the floor, and all that followed were heartfelt sobs, filled with the crushing guilt of a broken mind as the police hauled him away.

Steven remained there for a minute, mind processing that for a moment, and anything he came up with spelled out worse things to come than this. _Good god_. He reined in the anger, grinding his teeth together. How could they? They knew these trainers were sick, and yet they still gave them the power of mega evolution, telling them to seek out their own skewed version of retribution, all to advance their own plans_._ Someone was trying to take advantage of Sinnoh's paranoia, and the followers of that cult it created. The fact these were supposed Hoenn based terrorists was all the more worrying.

The former champion could only watch in saddening pity as the police car revealed the boy still sobbing in the back, holding his head in his hands.

_How could children fall so far?_

Reverting his pokemon to normal and returning him, Steven breathed out deeply, trying to calm himself while forcing his mind to think about the situation at hand. Centrico Plaza was in ruins, and ambulances rushed in to tend to the wounded. A squad of police rushed into the tower to secure it now that the Tyranitar was out of the picture.

Riven watched from a distance as the steel haired man dodged newscasters and newly found fans after the situation had settled down, heading towards him. Quite a lot of people had arrived, including five strange looking people that really stood out from everyone else—the elite four from the looks of it.

"Hey," Steven began, looking at the wheelchair bound man strangely while he hid his own uneasiness.

Riven dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Where'd your 'colleagues' go?" Steven asked, checking around the ambulance and general vicinity.

"They left, said it was better they didn't stay," Riven said. "Good thing too. If they saw me talking to you, there'd be more explaining than I already owe them. Less annoyances for me. But you though…You look worse than I do. And I got hit with a few thousand volts. Saw you talking to the trainer. Was it something he said? Wait, was it even a trainer? Screamed mercenary to me."

"Only seemed that way from his behavior." Steven grimaced. "Trainer for sure. He lost his starter. It… changed him."

Riven followed suit, concern creeping up inside. "Shit."

Steven loosened his tie, leaving it unsaid. "He was sick. Devolving into a psychotic break of sorts. They took advantage of him and his state to further their own goals." He ran a hand down his face. "It destroyed his psyche. That boy's a mess. He had no idea what he was doing and when he finally realized it he broke down. Trainers look so happy all the time; it's just hard to believe there are some people like him out there. It's incredibly sad."

"It's not the despair," Riven noted solemnly, drawing Steven's attention. "It's the emptiness. That's what gets to you. It drives you to do things, even when they don't make sense. You'd do anything to bring them back, but if you can't accept the fact that they're gone, you lose yourself. Moving on doesn't lessen the pain, it just makes it worse." _Yanine, Nemos, Mother, Father… everyone_. " The more you think about it, the more hatred twists you up inside. That's when the depravity starts, when you blame others, or hurt them. He's lucky he didn't know what he's doing. The real terror is when you're aware of it, and it doesn't feel wrong, even when it should." He glanced at Steven. "You know, you've _seen_ it."

The former champion nodded firmly, shifting in place. "I still can sometimes."

"Looks like that machine did worse than you thought."

"It seems like my memory, even when I know it's not. Is this what you see every time you go to sleep?"

"Now you know why I don't like going to sleep." Riven chuckled, more out of self-pity than amusement. "How do you cope with it? I just work myself to exhaustion so I don't have to relive it."

"Sleeping pills help, but I really should stop taking them," Steven replied, smiling sadly. Shook his head. "It's a good thing you were here, Riven. And for what you did, even if it wasn't for the right reasons."

The incapacitated young man raised an eyebrow at that, giving him an incredulous look. "Me? Hmph. You're the true hero here, Steven. I haven't seen you battle before, but if you hadn't come along and worked your champion magic, that Tyranitar would've done a lot worse. I couldn't do anything if I tried," he admitted. "I wasn't aiming for recognition regardless."

"I know. But the fact remains that it was because of you that there were such few fatalities," Steven mentioned.

"I see you've spoken to Viola," Riven mused wryly. "Sounds like something she'd say."

"I also spoke to the Elite Four," Steven added with a touch of amusement. "Not that it's impressive, but yes."

"Not impressive to be recognized by the Elite Four as the hero of the day? You champions, just like Viola, too humble for your own good," Riven chided. "You should be thanking her, she's the one who organized the police this quickly. I was just the messenger." He then gave a sidelong glance at Steven, laughing to himself at the irony.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just- for someone who tries to draw the least amount of attention to himself, you sure are going to get a lot of recognition for this… possibly of the rabid fan variety. Your dramatic entrance even made me want to clap, but, well- dead arms. All of those light screens revolving around the plaza,though? I didn't even know that was possible. Impressive."

"It's something I developed with Meta for cases like this. I call it the Hall of Mirrors. It's designed to limit damage to the surrounding area from special based attacks. And I was trying to be less dramatic, actually," Steven frowned. It was the truth, the lighting and the circumstances just happened to make that light screen trick look just a bit more visually impactful. _I really should stop drawing attention to myself._

"Although I was a bit disappointed with how the Tyranitar went down that easily," Riven shrugged. "Anti-climatic. Expected a… you know, super heated battle of wills and ferocity. Not a complete pubstomp."

"My trainer senses haven't gone up and died yet, Riven. I enjoy heart-pumping battles on occasion too, but when there's a mentally unhinged trainer on the loose with a very dangerous pokemon to boot, it's not a wise idea to take chances. Even if Meta could take him normally, I couldn't risk it," Steven explained. "It was necessary to end the fight as quickly as possible. Collateral damage and all that."

Accepting that mildly, Riven watched the news reporters starting to trickle in. "And here I was hoping to chew you out for it like you did to me back in Lavaridge. Damn."

"Maybe another time. But enough about me, what happened in the tower? You said you got shocked?" Steven inquired after a moment. He raised an index finger as the other man opened his mouth to speak. "Before you answer that, did you kill anyone? Don't you even attempt being sarcastic with me."

"Ugh. _No." _Riven groaned, rolling his eyes. "Why does _everyone_ ask me that?"

"Because you're the first person I think of as a supporter of pacifism and human virtue?" Steven deadpanned.

Riven gave him flat look.

"I can understand your brand of humor and delivery, that doesn't mean I prefer to use it," Steven smirked. "Now, about the tower."

"Eh," Riven grunted languidly. "Not much to tell. Guy had a Bisharp and a Luxray. All I had was a sword and suicidal tendencies."

"And how did that work out?"

"Hmmm." Riven looked down at his useless limbs. "I'd say I did pretty well."

Steven brought a palm to his face as the other continued to laugh at his own uselessness. "You really should stop trying to fight pokemon by yourself."

"I've started to really consider it. You'd think I'd learn by now."

"So it's gone then—the artifact?" Steven asked, ignoring Riven's evident affinity for indirect suicide. You really would think he'd have learned by now. Unfortunately, you couldn't save idiots from themselves. Stubborn ones less so.

"Well, considering there's a huge hole in the wall up there, I'm paralyzed, and today really cemented my hatred for the electric type's dickery, what do you think happened to the artifact?"

"Good news then…" Steven sighed. "Empty-handed again, so much for this trip being any semblance of worthwhile."

"But not a total loss. I did manage to get some information," Riven casually slipped in.

"Oh?" Steven challenged. "Please elaborate."

"I, uh, interrogated a mercenary in there."

"By interrogated I assume you mean you stuck a sharp, bladed object in one of his extremities?"

"Minor details," the knife nut dismissed, snickering. "The point is that I found out this organization's name. Maybe. Assuming it's real, anyway."

"Maybe?"

"Look, mercenaries aren't the most trustworthy of people."

Steven's expression was… well, stone.

"Stop it there, you. I can feel you judging me, and you need to shut your face." Riven cleared his throat. "Getting back on track- apparently this group is known as, 'Singularity'."

Steven froze, and Riven swore his breathing stopped along with him.

"Uh, is something wrong with you? You just lost about ten skin tones. That name mean anything to you?"

"Excuse me, I need to make a call," Steven replied as he suddenly remembered how to breathe again, abruptly leaving Riven in paralyzed confusion. He returned several minutes afterwards, white as a sheet.

"And now you lost even more color in your face."

"Might take a while before it returns to me too," Steven replied, running a nervous hand through his hair. "In the gym leader meeting when we were discussing what happened in Lavaridge, Norman told me that after the Petalburg incident, the Contest director was assaulted and three people were killed. The men who did that used the same exact name, Singularity."

"Ah, _shit_," Riven cursed, starting to whisper things under his breath. "Keep telling people… it's not paranoia when they really _are_ after you…"

"That's not all," Steven continued. "This is just a guess but… can you tell me what the man you saw in there looked like?"

Riven blinked a few times. "Blonde, blue eyes, strange demeanor, in a sort of uncomfortably friendly way. Why?"

"Had to be…" Steven muttered, clenching a fist. "The Dragon Festival. That was them too. They're the ones who replaced the eggs with Bagon eggs. The one who delivered the eggs was the same man you saw today. Drake specifically mentioned that the festival organizer who signed off on the eggs noticed the same person driving the delivery truck. I'm going to assume neither of which are coincidences."

Riven scowled deeply. "That makes four," he muttered through his teeth.

"Four what?"

"Times they tried to kill me," he hissed irritably. "I don't like it when people try to kill me and I don't know who they are, only that they're trying to kill me. What does the League know about them?"

"About as much as you do," Steven said, crossing his arms. "They've been subtle about their involvement, yet their lackeys casually throw around the name in arrogance. The subtlety and sudden bursts of risky behavior like today don't make sense. Why risk telling mercenaries about themselves?"

"They couldn't _not_, and that's where they blundered," Riven corrected. At a look that screamed explain, he clarified, "they hired mercenaries. Mercs aren't stupid, and unless they're getting paid enormous sums of money, they want to know who they're working for; it's a dangerous profession, obviously. So… they had to choose between using their own members, which would have been far too risky, or use mercenaries who could give less than two shits about their cause and carry out whatever they wanted without asking too much questions. Also, if they get caught, mercenaries have a tendency to be tight-lipped. Perfect for taking the fall."

He shrugged.

"Normally, that'd work. Except they weren't counting on a third party, much less a fourth, fifth, and sixth. I'm not a cop, I can stick a knife in someone's hand and not care, cops can't, and they _know_ that. And like I said, mercs aren't stupid, they knew the details of the plan made about as much sense as dividing by zero. So I questioned one of them. Mercenaries are selfish and live primarily for themselves, they value their own life over everything else. That's partly why I guessed he'd divulge information more readily with some 'gentle prodding'. He's not loyal to his employer, so there was no reason to risk his own life over it. But he also might've told me because he knew they'd been set up. A giant 'fuck-you', maybe."

"You're fairly knowledgeable," Steven said, slightly impressed. "I wonder where you picked that up from."

"I've been taking mercenary 101 for the past few months, so I'd argue I know a little something about how they function. You dealt with the Magmas and Aquas, right? What does it mean when people like that work across inter-regional boundaries?"

The former champion shifted his focus onto the damaged tower. "Bad news. Very bad news." Gripped the bridge of his nose. "Ugh… I can't tell Wallace about this, or else he'll overdose on caffeine and energy drinks."

"That even possible?"

"Talk to any university student. If it's possible, they _know_. Regardless, this is Wallace, I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen. Drake told me he's started wearing sweat pants and shirts again." Last time this happened, he and Winona had a falling out prior. Steven had to wear a waterproof jacket for a week to prevent the tears from ruining his clothes.

"Isn't he usually, you know…" Riven flipped his head dramatically, hair not quit long enough to simulate the perfect hair flip, unfortunately. If his hand worked, he'd have added a dash of fabulous, but alas it was not to be so.

Steven looked like he'd gotten kissed by a Muk.

"Yes. By the way, please don't do that again, watching that gave me physical pain." Steven scowled, feeling the onset of a Wallace headache. No one else gave him migraines of this magnitude. _No one_. "This is why that scares me. I have to make sure he doesn't kill himself any time soon. He really lets himself go when he's stressed."

"So you're going back to Hoenn then?" Riven asked. "Probably to inform the League of the shitstorm that was today? At least before the news goes and does it anyway. It's like it was created to screw with you. Let's go cause mass hysteria! Such a _wonderful_ idea. No small wonder Will hates reporters."

"I can't really blame him. As an official, it's necessary to deal with them, but it isn't a good idea to trust them either. I do think Wallace can be fine for a few days though," Steven hoped, feeling more and more exhausted as thoughts about the flamboyant champion increased. "I'll help Siebold and the others pick things up here a bit, and see if we can't quell the media."

"Hmph, good luck with that," Riven scoffed. "By the way, Steven?"

"Hmm?"

"After I escaped, what did the news say about me? Am I still wanted?"

"Only as Gray, and yes, I know about that, but your real name isn't known whatsoever, or that you were ever arrested in LaRousse."

"Oh. That's good then." He paused. "Wait, _huh_? I mean, I got arrested. _Someone_ should have noticed."

Steven smiled wryly. "Someone went to _great lengths_ to conceal you."

Great lengths being putting an entire precinct of policemen to sleep, then systematically wiping their recollection of that entire day, to knocking out the city power grid in a massive emp blast, which was responsible for the sudden loss of _all_ digital records of that particular day, including a wanted criminal's records, with the only thing surviving were far-fetched reports of a fictitious terrorist organization and very confused officers. The rumors, however, went that there had been a case of unexplained mass amnesia from a rampant Hypno, a sudden gas leak ignited by a curious Torchic, and a random electromagnetic storm caused from the nesting of a pack of Plusle and Minun in the air conditioning system of a massive data storage facility.

Yes, that day had been rather strange indeed.

"The police said that my trainer records didn't exist, thought I'd gone out of my way to get some really credible fakes, even though I really didn't," Riven recalled. "I'm fairly certain I signed up at Birch's lab. The documents were real, right?"

"Up until you got arrested they were. Again, _great lengths_," Steven repeated. "Someone broke into the League's data storage and completely erased your record. Even the computer specialists who went to inspect it were impressed."

"Circuit…" Riven remembered, dripping acid at the mention of the name. "That's his name. Amazing with computers-"

Steven waited for the insult, bemused as Riven clicked his tongue, picturing the mental gears turning.

"And also a giant dick."

Steven shook his head, not bothering to hide his small smirk. They spoke a little more after that, but eventually concluded their business.

"Anyway, I'll see you around soon, then. I need to get going already," Steven said, excusing himself. "There's quite a few things to do now for me, but you need to go and rest. I'll keep our accidental meeting quiet for a little longer. But don't make them wait too long, okay? Oh and take this in case you lose your phone again." He placed a folded piece of paper in Riven's pocket. "It's my contact number, keep in touch."

Riven made himself breathe, deeply. "Thanks, Steven. And thanks for understanding."

"Well, I still don't understand you," the steel haired man said bluntly. "Just remember this isn't on me, it is wholly your responsibility to deal with the effects of your decision."

"I'm aware."

Steven nodded at that, then turned to leave, waving a hand as he walked back towards the unholy mass of reporters. Riven watched him go, and he swallowed dryly.

_I can't make any promises, Steven._

* * *

_Fwip. Fwip. Fwip._

Riven sat in his darkened room, swinging his blade through floating pieces of paper to test the weapon's edge. After his fight with the Bisharp, he had to sharpen it with some whetstones Kai had laying around; it had dulled fairly harshly due to the friction and abuse it got put through during the fight. Blade locking was bad sword care. Trying to hurt beings almost entirely composed of steel was _terrible _sword care. He only wished that he still had his blades with him instead of this- arguably nice, but still inferior- blade, since Altean black steel didn't lose its edge even if put through more extreme abuse than this.

He sighed as he sliced a sheet of paper cleanly in half, slumping in a chair to sheathe the blade.

Several days passed since the incident, which amassed an ungodly amount of attention from the regional community. Luckily, the officials had arrived in time to repair some of the damage and somewhat restrict the news of the incident from leaking out to international channels- a small miracle-but the property damage was still measured to be upwards in the billions. The Sycamore Labs and the Stone Emporium totaled five stolen keystones and numerous mega stones to further rub salt in the wound.

The whole incident was reminiscent of Lavaridge, really, if just on a much larger scale. Both in property damage and in the amount of _incredibly_ pissed off people and cafe owners. The Kalos League made _damn sure_ to leave out the fact that the kid with the Tyranitar was a trainer and not a mercenary. Mercs causing this much destruction wasn't surprising. But igniting the explosive remnants of Sinnoh was the last thing a region wanted to do, for obvious reasons.

Riven had been thinking about what his next move would be now that the artifact was hundreds of miles away, in the hands of a bunch of people he had little to no information about. Isole and Cormac were equally as lost as him, and after his unreliable narrative of how he found out about their little secret interest, complete with dozens of missing details and facts, they were in roughly the same mood as he was.

His thoughts had turned to what Tesla had told him up in the tower, coming up over and over and over again. It was repeating so frequently in his head that the memory was starting to drive him insane.

Looking out towards the crescent moon, he leaned on the balcony, feeling the cool breeze on his face.

"Everyone deserves to be free…" He muttered, eyeing the alleys behind Vernal Avenue. He watched the surroundings with extreme disinterest. A couple walked below him, the man's arm coiled around the woman's waist as he whispered sweet nothings into her ear. A stray Purrloin rummaged through a nearby trash can. Off in one of the alleyways, a group of kids were scribbling on a wall.

Sighing, he lifted his leg, his fingers tracing where the tracker had been, feeling odd at how accustomed he was to wearing it. He set it down with a pained wince. Balancing on his injured leg still stung, even if the knife wound was already nearly healed.

The young mercenary remained there for a little while longer as he tried to make up his mind, mulling over his predicament and the inevitable question of "what now?" It felt no different from when he was a wandering trainer, just trying to find something to do. Anything.

He decided to think it over on his way to café Kizuna, taking the fire escape instead of jumping straight down. The nights were relatively less active now, with what had occurred. Understandable, given the concrete and several(massive)portions of Centrico Plaza were still under construction. They advised people not to go outside in case anything happened, but Kalosians liked their nightly activities and still went out to restaurants and such.

Arriving in the café, he ordered a pecha milkshake and sat in one of the comfier chairs in the front, taking infrequent sips of the sugary drink. Submerged in his own little world of indecision, he didn't notice a blonde woman trying to talk to him.

When he finally snapped out of it after she clinked on the glass with a fingernail, the mercenary blinked in confusion.

She smiled, attempting to converse in French, pointing to the drink.

Riven stared, realizing that she must have mistaken him for a Kalosian native. "Sorry, I don't speak French," he explained. "Not from around here."

"_Je suis désolée_," she apologized. "I didn't realize you were foreign. Where are you from?" Her English was decent, even though her accent was noticeable but then again, so was his. "Unova? Johto?"

"Hoenn, actually," he replied, clearing his throat. "Littleroot town. You've probably never heard of it."

"Littleroot? No, I haven't. Sorry. But you do not sound like you are from Hoenn," she smiled. "What are you doing in Kalos? With all the… _things_ going on here? Crazy people destroyed Centrico, not good for tourists."

"Yeah, I noticed. Just seeing what another region is like, mine hasn't been exactly stable as of late either. But about what happened a few nights ago… I was kind of there," Riven chuckled sheepishly. He did more than just be there but he wasn't _technically_ lying to her either. Partly hilarious how many times these sorts of conversations came up, they still didn't get old. It took a significant amount of mental fortitude not to grin like a fool.

She looked surprised, eyes wide in curiosity. "Did you see the man who beat the Tyranitar? I heard he was a champion once!"

_Steven gaining fangirls. Why am I not surprised_? Riven suppressed a twitch. "Maybe. He looked pretty strong."

"Oh, really? I saw a picture of him. He's so handsome!"

This time he really did twitch, hiding it with a sip of his drink and a cough. "I guess he's attractive?" Riven agreed awkwardly. Calling another man attractive was… cringe-worthy. Small talk was one of his worst subjects, and right now he was too mentally spent to blow her off, even if the topic was Steven's… dashing good looks?

_I better change the subject quickly before she comes to the conclusion that I swing _that_ way_. "The fight was over pretty quickly though. I was a little disappointed."

"Oh, you like watching battles? Do you train pokemon? I do not see your pokeballs," she pointed out harmlessly, peering at his waist.

"I left them back home," he said with a truthful frown. Again, not a lie. "Kind of miss them now." Stirring his drink, he slouched further into his chair.

The woman leaned in closer, and he gave her a quizzical stare. She appeared to be studying his behavior, going from those curious eyes of hers.

"Is that why you look so sad?" She asked. "When people look like that, they go to a bar. To drink. But you got a milkshake? That's funny! Why?"

Riven looked back down at his choice of beverage and shrugged. "I just like sweet things. It's not as good as the ones they sell in the Juice Shoppe, but it's enough. I don't like alcohol. Wine doesn't taste very good either, I don't get why you people like it so much."

"It's good for you," she pouted, then broke into another bright smile. He almost felt like naming her Sunshine. "My name is Jesica. And you?"

She extended a hand.

"Nathan," he lied blatantly. Decency be damned, drawing attention was Steven's job. Paranoid to all hell that he was, but after what happened a few nights ago, fuck that. He already had enough people trying to kill him as is. Indirectly or not. No chances taken.

They shook hands, and talked about petty things around Lumiose. Riven tuned out most of it, not because the girl was boring, on the contrary, but because he genuinely wasn't interested in the topics. It was a nice distraction, up until she suggested he go to a club to take his mind off things. That sent his mind to a jarring halt, and he nearly tripped over himself trying to decline.

"No, I don't think I mix well with clubs or loud social gatherings," he refused. "Too many people. I think I'd probably kill someone," he joked, the meaning going completely over her head.

Jesica giggled at that. "So then what do you like? I mean for fun? Adventure? Explore?"

_Other than trying to get myself viciously mauled all the time-_ "Yeah, I guess you can say that. Why, you have something in mind?"

"Me? Oh no. Just some things I heard from a friend," she denied, drinking her tea. "You know Parfum Palace, correct?"

"I've been there once," he replied blankly. _"_I was _dying_ to see it." Holding in the snort was really hard this time, but he composed himself. Damn you, black humor. "Heard there was some things going on there."

"Yes. It stopped a week ago, but there's new things happening there now. I have a friend who works as the guard at the gate, he told me what's been happening."

Suddenly, Riven's attention was fully on her, gaze as sharp as a whip. "Care to share?" He asked pointedly, sitting more upright this time.

Jesica noticed the change in behavior, looking at him in intrigued scrutiny. "Interested, are you? You almost jumped out of the seat! Does everyone in Hoenn seek adventure too?"

"I wouldn't say that, but there are some eccentric people out there. Might be the sea's fault. I don't know. I do know some crazies myself though." _If only she knew_, he thought, darkly amused.

"Okay, but promise me one thing," she added, breaking into a friendly grin. She tilted her head, going quiet with a small, knowing smile on her lips.

And there it was. The thing girls did that made it so damn hard to say no. God why. He was going to hate himself after this. Fuck. "Okay, what is it?"

"That you'll have dinner with me?" she asked shyly, a little red in the face. "I don't meet many foreigners, maybe tell me more about your region?" She dipped a finger into the top layer of cream in his milk shake, and licked it. "Oh, it is good."

Riven almost choked on his own saliva. He should have expected that. He really should have. Not that any mental preparedness would have helped, he still gaped like a dumb fish. And that thing with the milkshake was… something.

"Uh… dinner?"

She nodded eagerly, awaiting his answer.

"As long as you tell me about Parfum?" He accepted nervously. _The things I get myself into for information._

Dinner wasn't as unpleasant as he'd originally thought it would be. They were currently eating at a restaurant a few blocks south of Kizuna. Not very high class, but hell, it didn't matter—he was on reconnaissance for shit to do right now. Ever since that botched Parfum job, he'd wanted to return and see if he couldn't get some answers out of that Doublade that decided to suck part of his life energy out and awaken something inside best left asleep. The constriction marks were still there, and appeared as a faded tattoo around his forearms.

Jesica had gone on in detail about the new happenings at Parfum in exchange for some rough recollections of the cities he had visited. The blonde got nearly entranced when he described Forina to her, and honestly, he couldn't blame her. It was really breathtaking to say the least, especially from atop the spires.

As for her, she studied criminology at the college in Lumiose, so she was extremely interested in all the events that were recently occurring in the city.

Now he was really fucking glad he'd lied about his name. A criminal and a criminologist sitting at the same table. Oh the irony. Made for better conversation though, once he found out she was interested in crime and other assorted atrocities. Didn't know how further he could go describing the cities he was in without talking about the shitstorms that had revolved around him in each of those places.

From what she told him of Parfum though, apparently the attacks had stopped being restricted to burglars and thieves, escalating to random passer-bys and even trainers. While escalating in frequency and the amount of attacks made, there was a strange _decrease_ in lethality—with victims suffering minor lacerations and cuts rather than full blown limbs getting hacked off, a trait Jesica pointed out readily. She also showed plenty of graphs, as well as an amateur rendition of the victim's victimology. Already there'd been more than sixteen reports of nightly assaults on someone in the past three days. Every survivor reported getting attacked with an edged weapon out of seemingly nowhere before vanishing, giving them no window for retaliation.

"What is wrong with the world now?" Jesica shook her head, setting her holo caster down to pick at her salad. "It is all very interesting, but I'm afraid for the younger kids now. Sinnoh only happened recently."

"World's always been like this," Riven said simply. "You just don't hear about it until things get out of hand. The officials try not to raise concerns too much. Know anything else about Parfum?"

"Hmmmm. My friend did tell me that there have been people hearing voices in their heads after the attacks. Curious."

"Voices?"

"Yes… Like spooky voices when they are asleep. They say it is like a man's voice. Deep and dangerous. Sometimes they have nightmares too, where they get cut apart." She shuddered. "Scary."

_Ghost influence_, Riven concluded. _Seems that Doublade is acting up, or more Honedge in the area are. Neither of which sound pleasant. Not sure if the attacks are a coincidence. Could be completely different aggressor._

"You are not thinking about going to investigate, right?" She asked, blinking at him owlishly. "It's not safe for tourists. If someone from another region got hurt, it would make Kalos look bad."

"Investigate? I would never," Riven assured, shooting the bull something fierce. "I don't think getting cut up would be fun. I'd rather stay inside than risk my life, honestly. But I can't help but be curious, you have any idea what the voices say?"

Sitting across from her, and under the warm light of the restaurant's interior, he expected something mundane, possibly nonsensical.

Jesica took out her holo caster again, bringing up a tab of the report.

"It is French, but I can translate." She lifted a blonde brow. "'Ancient prince, broken by fire and rejected by time, I wait in the graveyard of blades.' That's all it says. Sounds like a poem?"

Riven went still.

Ancient. Prince. Time. Was it talking about him? Those three details were extremely specific, and probably made no sense to anyone who wasn't the person it was addressed to. But if it was for him, why attack people and leave them messages?

_Simple. To get my attention._

It _knew_ he wouldn't come back after what happened without any sort of incentive. The attacks were _meant_ to leave survivors, probably to spread rumors of the attack. Huh. For a pokemon, it was using awfully human methods to get its message across, however indirect they were. The strategy had plenty of flaws, but with the steadily increasing rate of attacks, the story would become more known as fear accumulated and eventually reached anyone still connected in the world. That a pokemon would deliberately do something like this… that was intriguing in itself.

Looks like he'd found something to do.

Breaking his focus and slowly lifting his gaze, Riven met her eyes, and smiled. "Indeed it does. Do you think you can translate the entire report for me? I'd like to take a _closer_ look at it."

* * *

**There you go, new chapter for you. Rewrote it and edited the thing like nine times. Might be minor typos and such, I'll weed them out later.**

** I originally thought about going full shounen with Steven, but destroying cities wouldn't make anyone a very good role model, and from the things I've seen mega evolved pokemon do in the mega evolution specials…**

**Scary. **

**Leveling half a city? **_**Totally possible**_**. And Steven's **_**not**_** an idiot, he used to be a champion. He seems like the type to cut back, even when shit hits the fan. He's a trainer at heart too, but god sakes think about the ****children, errrr,**** city.**

**Everyone **_**always**_** forgets about little old property damage. With the destructive power of pokemon, it's something that should be far more concerning that it really is.**

**Enough of my inane rambling though, I hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless. Anyway, expect a change of viewpoint next chapter. Consider it a reprieve from Riven's insanity for a little. It rubs off. **

**Or maybe it's my own insanity? Huh. Figure that.**


	52. Message

Gale hummed a low tune as she made her way across the grassy plains, enjoying the breeze and tranquility. Eyed a cloud shaped like a Totodile and held up a finger, tracing its shape.

That is until a loud explosion rocked the wind-swept Lavaridge Plains and completely threw her off-track, blurring green and orange forms clashing in the distance on a far off hill.

She squinted at the source of the disturbance and didn't know whether to frown or go watch. _Baron and Aine._ _They're at it again._ _I don't really have anything better to do until… I guess I'll watch._ Coming closer, she picked a spot on the ground and sat down.

A Gallade and a Combusken whirred back and forth, weaving through each others' attacks, receiving and returning them with parries, blocks, reversals, and multitudes of kicks and punches. They were moving incredibly quickly, as expected of fighters, engaged in a deadly dance of battle. Even from this distance you could hear the impacts of the blows both on flesh and ground. The mound they were fighting on had turned brown from the kicked up dirt, patches of uprooted grass strewn about.

It almost looked like a wild battle to the death with the ferocity of the combatants.

What they were actually doing was a fighter pokemons' insane workout regimen. Any normal person would consider it much too demanding for even _regular _pokemon, especially when they did it for _hours_ on end; morning, afternoon, and a portion of the night—only ceasing the fighting to drink water and eat. They did it incessantly, training like this a couple times a week with sparse days to cool off and help their muscles recover.

Gale would have muttered something about men and testosterone but… Aine was a girl. A very energetic girl that _loved_ to fight, at that.

This particular routine she'd seen a few times before. Apparently, this was an exercise that Riven had thought up in Forina. One that-according to his pokemon- he actually _participated_ in when he was younger. As "training". An exercise routine that they did for nearly five months straight, not including climbing giant spires and running miles every day! That was unsettling in several different ways, and really made Gale wonder if the guy actually did need some professional help to kindly inform him that he wasn't, in fact, as durable as a pokemon was. And definitely didn't need it to tell him he was insane to a degree that could probably give a psychologist nightmares.

_I'm one hundred percent certain_ _he knows that,_ she mused. _No one healthy climbs hundred foot tall spires for small green rocks. Even if it saves money._

Watching from a good distance away, she analyzed the fight, trying to think like a trainer would. Flannery had given her some advice after her very distressed self stumbled into her gym begging for advice.

The gym leader told her to raise them like a trainer would, even if it would be something she wasn't used to. They were battling pokemon, not domestic. They _had_ to fight, they were just trained that way; there was no way to remove the taste and thrill of battle once it established itself. Transitioning from battle tested to domestic was a shocking change if it was sudden, compared to something like being too old to keep up anymore. Even pokemon realized that they were past their primes—that was an exception. Pokemon who suddenly became domesticated were restless and after a certain point of inactivity, began to show signs of depression. In the worst cases, they stopped feeling energetic and just… gave up, as it were. Stopped eating. Stopped drinking. Just wasted away like a person would.

_I'm not going to let that happen._

So, Gale supervised the training sessions of Baron and Aine, in case one got a broken arm or leg, or a burn, or a deep gash and needed medical attention. And _holy crap_, were those injuries unbelievably common. Once, Baron came into her home gored by a Tauros and was bleeding profusely all over the floor, leaving a trail of red from where he had come from. He played it off like it was nothing until he hit the floor face first and fazed in and out of consciousness. The girl had to fly him over to Lavaridge to get him healed all while nearly pitching a fit, the dread of what Riven would do to her increasing when Nurse Joy told her the wound had gotten infected. He'd gotten out okay, but it had been like her heart was caught in an Ursaring trap. If this was what trainers had to deal with on a regular basis, then she was gaining a newfound respect for them. Raising pokemon wasn't easy; it took patience, intelligence, and lots of dedication to do so.

Luckily though, Haona and Boagrius didn't need so much supervision.

The Absol preferred to hunt and work on her speed most of the time, while the grey, amorphous cloud of obnoxious energy tried utilizing his environments more efficiently in conjunction with his weather ball while roaring out things-that when translated- went something like; KNEEL BEFORE GOD, FEEL THE DIVINE POWER, BEGONE, MOVE ASIDE, and I AM LIGHTNING, THE RAIN TRANSFORMED! …Among other cries that consisted of verbal dynamite.

She was astounded the scenery hadn't been gnashed _furiously_ into atomic dust yet.

Gale turned her attention back to the battle, breaking it down. It was a battle of control fought purely in hand to hand martial arts, with the goal of the exercise to focus on reflexes and technique while relying solely on combat ability instead of gimmicks. Baron couldn't use psychic attacks nor teleports; he was also restricted from mind reading due to it being, in Riven's words, "complete bullshit". Aine just couldn't use her long distance fire attacks.

The psychic fighter had an innate advantage in speed and strength from being a tertiary evolution, but Aine was a crafty fighter and seemed to poke holes in his style, capitalizing on them rather than blindly attacking. On the outside she was a fiery ball of energy and positivity, but in a fight she was a calculating and focused battler, something not many fire types were known for. Even Flannery admitted that it was odd, despite having seen her in action before. Most fire types preferred to overwhelm their opponents with blazing blitz attacks and barrages of flame. They weren't known for being very defensive.

The Gallade was in control of the mound for the most time, but only marginally so, as Aine drove him back often. She flipped high into the air after using Baron's cross handed block as a stepping stone, angling a clawed foot downwards, using the momentum of the maneuver to add extra strength to her kick, slamming downwards on the back of Baron's head. He ate dirt as the force of the kick pummeled the psychic face first into the ground, causing a small explosion of dust and dirt to fly upwards. Aine was about to grab him and throw him out when the psychic placed two hands on the ground, lifting himself up into a momentary handstand, then spinning in a clockwise motion, spinning his legs like top. He'd been trying to vary his style and found that imitating a Hitmontop's fighting style wasn't just effective and disorienting, but quite fun. Not to mention visually impressive.

The attack surprised Aine as one of his legs slammed against her ribcage and sent her flying ten feet away onto the ground below. When the kick hit, a loud jarring crack of bone could be heard. The Combusken writhed as the impact of the ground sent a spike of pain in the affected area, twitching.

Gale gasped and rummaged through her backpack for a hyper potion to heal the newly broken bone before it settled and needed the Center's attention. She ran over to where the downed Combusken lay but froze in her tracks as a brilliant white glow shone from the pokemon's form, engulfing the entirety of her body. It began to shift and change-

Then stopped.

Aine shook her head furiously as the white glow of evolution faded away, trying to pick herself up but crying out from the injury. Gale reached her, asking where the broken rib was. When Aine didn't respond, she prodded with a finger until a hiss of pain came out of the fire type, spraying the potion on the affected area as it began to heal and mend.

"You held it back again," Gale said soberly, applying more of the medicine while stroking Aine's feathers. They were warm to the touch. "Evolution isn't a bad thing, Aine. It's okay to evolve."

"_I know…"_ Aine whispered, avoiding her eyes. "_I just don't want to evolve yet_. _Don't worry about me! I'm fine. Really!"_ The Combusken gave her a happy beaked smile and got on her feet, hugging the human girl before returning to where Baron sat nonchalantly on the mound. _"See?"_

Gale sighed sadly, still crouched in place. She knew why the Combusken didn't feel like evolving right now, and it made her current thoughts about this entire situation even worse. Aine had a very loving personality, and she was extremely attached to her trainer. The way she always wondered if Gale had received any news from Riven had always left the flyer feeling more depressed than she'd ever felt before.

How many times did she have to say, "he'll come soon", before his pokemon gave up? There was nothing she could do except keep them fed and as happy as they could be. The happiness they felt was probably insignificantly small maybe, but she was trying. She really was.

Baron and Boagrius didn't seem to mind, being more understanding, and Aine was optimistic and didn't see the negative too often. The one that worried her was Haona. She'd had her parent's taken away from her as a pup and now her new parent had been as well. At first she'd been like Aine, but after nearly half a year had passed, she started growing more distant, and going solo hunting for food more often than not. At times she paced around the plains at night, randomly firing off beams of ice, which remained into the morning. Whether it was of frustration or something else, she didn't know.

What she did know was that the female Absol was extremely attached to the black stone that hung around her neck—a gift from her trainer, apparently. The little stone had fallen once in one of her hunting trips, and she spent two days and nights searching for it. Of all his pokemon, that Absol missed him the most, even if she wouldn't admit it.

Before the two fighting pokemon resumed their training, Gale set down the bag and gestured Baron over. He teleported next to her, red eyes curious.

"_Yes, Gale?"_ His gaze flicked around a bit, wondering if he was going to get reprimanded. _"I didn't hit her too hard did I?"_

Gale shook her head, thoughts telling him she wasn't going to scold him. "I'm not sure what _too hard_ is to you fighters. If you kicked me like that, you'd probably kill me. I'm surprised Aine only fractured a rib."

"_You take care of us,"_ Baron seemed to frown. _"I wouldn't ever hit you."_

"I know, but it was just an observation. You fighters play rough, not everyone can keep up." She bopped him on the head crest affectionately.

Baron dipped his head sheepishly, smiling back at her.

"I'm going to leave the potions here, okay?" Gale said, pointing to the bag. "You remember how I showed you to use them? Do _not_ eat them! That's not how this works! Nurse Joy nearly chewed me up for that last time!"

The psychic pokemon snorted mischievously at that_._ It seemed he started taking after his trainer in laughing at his own misfortunes and self-induced mishaps._ "I know how they work now. I won't eat it this time. If anything happens, I'll use one to heal our wounds, you don't have to watch us then."_ He pointed at the sky in the distance. _"But, uh… maybe you should go check on Boag, there are some clouds gathering over there. He's probably terrorizing some Ponyta. The foals scare easily."_

Gale turned around to see a small herd of the flaming equine pokemon distressing as a rain cloud unloaded on them, frantically scurrying out of the way before their flames dampened. She could hear the scenery destroying boasts of the Castform from here. Shook her head in half amusement as Baron snickered quietly. "They'll be fine, I think, he's just messing with them. Are you sure you're going to be fine here?"

"_Oh, don't worry,"_ he said. Smiled knowingly, crossing his arms. "_Besides, you have guests."_

"Huh? I do?" Gale blinked. "But I never have guests. We're in the middle of nowhere." Suddenly the worst came to mind and she was fully expecting questionable looking men with fierce dispositions to converge on her house and try to kill her. Dammit that paranoia of his really was contagious.

This time the Gallade bopped her on the head. _"They're not hostile, or I would have warned you a long time ago,"_ he stated, holding back a chuckle at the girl's thinking. _"I'm sure they're eager to see you."_

_Guests…_ _What guests?_ Gale thought, making her way back to her residence. She whistled loudly at the giant bird flying in the sky, waving a hand to show her position. Emile landed beside her, shaking himself off. Hopping on, she told him to take her back home, since the walk back was fairly long. Flying was easier regardless.

Flying above the house, she faintly spotted two figures standing beside two dog like pokemon, one white and the other yellow and blue-probably Haona and Grumpy- and ordered Emile to land. Getting closer, she could make out a blonde girl and blue haired boy, patiently waiting for her to come down.

Dismounting, Gale was caught by surprise as they both waved. "Seab, Amy? What are you doing here?"

"We were in town, so we were wondering how you were doing," Amy said, giving her a tight hug. "Nurse Joy told us you came back. I didn't think you'd still be traveling with Riv, but I can't say I expected to see his pokemon here. His Absol's grown so big now that I look at her. She's still so beautiful too."

"Speaking of him, is Riven here, by any chance?" Seab asked, ruffling Haona's fur. She leaned into the gesture, enjoying the attention.

Gale looked at the Absol and frowned. "That's a bit… complicated. You want to come inside? Sorry if things are a mess but I don't usually get visits. I don't have any meals prepared either, I was hoping to do that later."

"That's all right," Seab declined politely. "It took a while to come out here, so I'm a bit hungry. Amy probably is too. Haona said she was going to go hunting right now, you mind if I come with? I want to see her in action."

"Ask her, not me," Gale smiled. The Absol accepted with a momentary flash of her horn, still enjoying getting her head scratched. "And you, Amy?"

"I'll let them have their fun," she said.

The two girls entered the small house, sitting down at the small wooden table. Gale dug into the fridge and served them some oran juice.

Amy looked around the home, getting very cosy vibes from it. She pictured a nice hearth and a cup of warm chocolate on cold nights, huddled up near the fire. Very, very peaceful. As expected from a single house out in the plains, nothing much happened out here. "Nice place here. How does Emile fit? He's a big bird."

"He didn't used to," Gale laughed, remembering all the times he would get stuck trying to get through the front door. "But after I got a pokeball for him I can finally fit him inside, even if he does knock over _everything_ with his wings. I have less trouble with Kyne since he's smaller but picking up after feathers is a little annoying."

"Kind of reminds me of Jak and his wool. It grows way too fast but at least it fetches a decent price here in Hoenn. Having a secondary source of income is awesome," Amy said, raising a fist. "Don't see what you can do with feathers from a bird though."

"They make good arrow feathers for hunters and rangers. Although hunting is a bit frowned upon on the routes and Hoenn in general," Gale said. "They sell if you know the right people though. How do you think I've been able to feed those bottomless pits they call fighting pokemon? Riven was also interested in them for arrows too. Said to store some for him, Pidgeot feathers are very aerodynamic apparently."

Amy looked at her with slight concern. "You look a little bummed at the mention of his name. I mean his pokemon are here so I figured he must be out or something but his Absol also looked… Gale? Where is he?"

"I don't know," Gale admitted sadly. "I haven't known for months."

Amy processed that for a moment, green eyes growing wide, then angry.

"He left his pokmon with you and disappeared? That fucking _scoundrel_!" She growled like a dog, about to storm out to find Seab and conduct a manhunt. "Argh, men! I'll kill him if I find him. Just when I was beginning to accept he was a good-"

"It's not quite like that!" Gale assured, calming the blonde girl down before she unleashed the four riders of the Apocalypse… or worse, a woman's fury. "Really, it's not. He didn't leave voluntarily."

"You mean someone _forced_ him to? He can beat the snot out of a bunch of guys by _himself_. How does that work?"

"They called the police on him. And we were pretty much stuck on an island. Fighting would have made things infinitely worse."

"Oh," Amy said, her vigor deflating like a blimp. "Was it because of Petalburg?"

"I'm not even sure. Actually, _he_ wasn't even sure. All I know was that he got a mysterious call in LaRousse, shoved his pokemon into my arms and then got arrested. He didn't even do anything out of the ordinary either. We were by the park just enjoying ourselves when it happened out of the blue."

Amy stared at her for a few seconds, considering that. "He really needs to eat more lucky charms… No, I don't even think a pot of gold would improve his luck… Wait, you went to LaRousse?"

"Mmm," Gale hummed, drinking some juice.

"How was it?" Amy asked, green eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Oh man, the city is something. So much technology everywhere, it was like stepping into the future. Hoenn is usually more down to earth so seeing that was breathtaking," Gale remembered. "And the battle tower there was amazing also, you really should go some day. The view from the cable trains over the sea was stunning too. Didn't you go to Ever Grande, though? LaRousse is impressive, but brochures always make Ever Grande to be gorgeous. How were the waterfalls?"

Amy seemed to light up like the sun. "They're fantastic! Everything is so beautiful there, from the waterfalls to the gardens. And all the wildlife is amazing too! Never gets too hot or cold there. Of course the only downside is the people," she huffed irritably. "Otherwise it'd be perfect."

"The people? Why's that?"

"It's a city full of trainers who've completed the gym circuit, and the permanent residents there are either all officials, trainers, or ex-rangers." She snorted. "Go figure."

Gale winced. "Intense much?"

"You don't know the half of it, the douche levels of some people can break the scale," Amy muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "They were honestly surprised when they saw our pokemon. Apparently tertiary and final evolutions are as common as grass there. When they found out we had less than all eight badges, we both got the look of disapproval. Then people stopped challenging us. Which is good I guess, that way I didn't have to decline so many battles. Getting judged didn't feel good at all though."

"It is a champion's city," Gale mused. "Did they take you there for questioning after what happened?"

"Yeah," Amy shrugged. "Went about how you expect. We hardly knew anything apart from recalling how close we were to getting turned to dragon food, but hey, the scenery was amazing! And we got hotel rooms hah! I even got to relax in a medicinal bath. I'd say it was worth it."

Gale laughed along with her, smiling at the other girl's energy. The kind of upbeat energy and feelings she hadn't been feeling herself all that much lately. Maybe this is what Riven felt like all the time. God it was glum.

"I see Grumpy made it out well," she started. "Electric types overloading themselves like that… it's kind of scary."

"Yeah, well, that Manectric is pretty stubborn. Medics got to him just at the right time, a few minutes later and he would have fried his electrical system completely; he'd either spark out of control and explode from the inside out, or he'd be unable to channel electricity at all. Both are certain death for them. Seab's glad he's okay, and even though that pokemon is a pain at the best of times, I'd miss him too. It's a love/hate relationship with that oversized electric dog."

"Ah." Gale gave Amy a sidelong look, with a hint of mischief in it. "Hey, I noticed that Seab's grown a bit, by the way. He looks a lot more built than when I last saw him. He used to be so scrawny. Filling out nicely I admit."

"He trains quite a bit," Amy explained. "It shows." She blankly brought up a pleasant memory near the Ever Grande Falls…

"Amy, you still on Earth?" Gale asked teasingly, nudging her with an elbow.

"Sorry," The blonde apologized. "I was remembering something delicious."

"Mmhmmm," Gale chuckled to herself. "Are you two a thing yet? You've been traveling together for a while now, right?"

"A thing?" Amy thought about that. _Maybe I should mess with her_. "Hmmm, I don't think so." She waited until Gale was about to take a drink. "Ripping his clothes off and ambushing him when he's naked doesn't count, right?"

Gale choked and spit out a large portion of the juice, managing to save face by spitting it into the cup, then wiped her mouth with her sleeve disdainfully. "Y-you did that on purpose."

The blonde gave her an evil grin, cackling treacherously. "You should see your face! It's like someone slapped you with an Octillery!" She continued laughing, kicking her feet as Gale regained her composure.

"I honestly thought you weren't joking," the brunette muttered, a tinge of red on her face. "I could see you strong-arming him into something like that. You don't like him then?"

"I never said that," Amy said vaguely, laughter dying down. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be traveling with him. I like him, but we're just traveling partners. I'd say something about you and Riv, but it'd be a little crude based on the situation. I'm not my mom, she's way too crass when it comes to things like this."

Gale sighed in relief. "Thanks."

The two girls talked about what had happened since the Festival, with Gale withholding some of the more sensitive information regarding the azure sphere and Will, preferring instead to reminisce and update each other on what they'd been doing in the interim. It wasn't because she didn't trust the girl, she did, but Steven had told them all to keep it a secret—the less people who knew, the less attention they'd attract. An hour into the conversation and someone knocked heavily on the door.

Gale stood up, wondering if it was Seab and Haona, but her hunts usually took longer than an hour since the herds of Tauros were a bit farther into the plains than normal.

The knocking resumed and a voice came from the outside. "Package for Ms. Serna! Hello? Are you there? Package for Ms. Serna!"

_Package?_ She blinked stupidly. _Why is everything happening today?_ Opening the door with bewilderment, a man dressed in a blue Hoenn Regional Post uniform held a moderately sized package in both hands, uncomfortably sweating in the sun. His mail delivery truck sat behind him, a bizarre sight against the backdrop of the rolling grass behind it.

"Ms. Serna?" He asked, lifting his hat. "You Gale Serna?"

"Ummmm, yes?" She confirmed, wary. "I'm sorry, but I thought the post office doesn't operate past Lavaridge. It might be addressed to the wrong person."

The mailman nodded, setting the heavy package down with a sigh. "Not possible ma'am. Someone paid me two G's to get this to you, no way in hell am I going to pass that up. They specifically mentioned Gale Serna, girl who lives out in the plains. Haven't seen another house for miles out here, so it has to be you."

Gale glared at the package, scrutinizing how suspicious it looked. "What if it's a bomb or filled with some kind of disease?"

"Well," the man began, "if it was a bomb and it was pressure sensitive, I'd be pieces right now. And I'm not quite sure why someone would send a package filled with deadly microbes to a single girl out in the middle of nowhere. Just ain't probable."

"Okay then. Who's it from then?" She asked, noting the lack of a package slip.

"Dunno!" The mailman laughed heartily.

And great. The mailman didn't know who it was from, which was worrisome in more ways than one. No, worrisome wasn't the correct term. Absolutely frightening. What if it was some kind of serial killer that preyed on women? Living alone on the plains made her an easy target is there ever was one, it started making her paranoid.

"I see you noticed it doesn't have a packaging slip," he said, flipping the box around. "That's because it's a foreign package."

"It's foreign?" She repeated, astonished.

"Yup," he said, whistling. "Someone went through a lot of trouble to get this to you."

"Why's that?"

"Lots of reasons. One of them is because it's a hassle to get a package through examinations and x rays in the first place. Customs sucks. Two is because it costs a shit ton to mail a package from another region with the proportions and weight this one has. And three, no one delivers jack shit in your area missy. My guess is whoever sent this to you smuggled it over, probably to avoid the bitch that is interregional shipping, and to conceal whatever it is they wanted to send you." He deduced astutely, shaking the box. Gale got anxiety just watching him do it, lest it explode. "Sounds like a lot of blocky parts in here. They had to have known some guys that'd smuggle it in. Got friends in high places, huh?"

Gale swallowed. "Umm…"

"These methods are used by weapon smugglers, pokemon poachers, terrorists, organ traffickers and drugs traffickers, people with questionable sexual preferences… You know, all that underbelly stuff." He trailed off, every passing thing that came out of his mouth managing to make her feel even worse about this particular delivery.

"I… uh… umm…" she squeaked out.

"But don't worry, little lady! Nurse Joy told me that the letter that gave her the instructions to contact us seemed written in a friendly manner. So I doubt you'll blow up any time soon! But I guess it's still possible, you never know for sure with these things."

Gale felt like throwing the box into the sea at this point, along with her trust in the mail delivery system. "You said Nurse Joy? Nurse Joy paid you?" Now that, she found hard to believe. The Nurses didn't just do that. Maybe help some trainers out occasionally, but they seldom went out of their way to contact trainers. The Joy in Lavaridge did know her personally but…

"Ah, yeah. Paid me the two grand to deliver it here since you live out in the middle of nowhere. The instructions that came with the package told the Nurse to do it. Also told her it wasn't anything dangerous and not to worry."

Gale scowled at him, tapping her foot. "Then why did you nearly give me a heart attack instead of telling me in the first place?"

The mailman grinned widely. "When your job is drivin' like a madman to deliver letters, you need to cherish all the fun you can get. Getting chased by Mightyenas in peoples' front yards for a living needs to get offset by something. Plus, it's amusin' teasin' the young'uns. But if I do say so myself, and pardon if it's a little weird soundin', but I don't think I blame your admirer one bit. I'd do the same, if it was to a girl as beautiful as you."

She donned an uneasy smile at that, going rigid as he handed her the box.

"Welp, I gotta run! Good luck with your package, pretty girl! If it 'splodes I'll come running back and say some choice words at your funeral! Right now I just want to get outta this fuckin' sun." Hopping on his truck, he fired up the engine and raced back south. Even he didn't want to hold onto the thing for a long time, seeing as how quick he fled the scene.

Gale held onto the package with a vicegrip, frozen in place, not daring to move a single muscle. After a straight minute had passed and she hadn't turned into chunky bits of human yet, she slowly brought it into the house, holding it like she really _was_ carrying a bomb.

"Mail?" Amy raised a blonde brow, eyeing the strange package with scrutiny. "It's not a bomb, is it? Because if so, I'm one hundred percent gone."

"I don't think so?" Gale said, walking very slowly toward the table. The crack in her voice betrayed her.

"But you're not sure?" Amy asked skeptically, keeping her distance.

"No, I'm not sure! I don't even know who it's from!" Gale panicked. "The mailman said it was an admirer. It even had written instructions for delivery!"

"That's not creepy at all," Amy said sarcastically, inching closer, but still keeping her distance from the box. "Did you piss anyone off or pick up a creepy stalker, by any chance?"

"God I hope not."

The two girls stared at it apprehensively and watched it from behind a wall. When nothing happened, they swallowed their fears and walked over to the box with a pair of scissors. It had been sealed extremely tightly, weather sealed, to be exact—whoever sent this didn't want the insides to get damaged.

Gale cut into it, opening the flaps to reveal a few pages of paper on top of a cardboard covering underneath.

"What is it?" Amy inquired, poking her head behind Gale's shoulder like a curious Pikachu.

"A letter," Gale stammered, in not quite so pleasant surprise, but surprise nonetheless. After all, serial killers wrote letters quite often. But this one was off. For one, the handwriting was absolutely beautiful. It reminded her of the business letters people two hundred or three hundred years back used to write, which often determined how successful someone could be in securing deals. The beauty of the writing nearly brought a tear to her eye.

It wasn't until she read it that it felt like someone had slugged her in the throat and sucked out the air in her lungs.

_Hey, Gale._

_It's me. You didn't forget about me, did you? (I hope you didn't, I'd be a little bummed) You probably did, not that I'd blame you... I know-I know it's been a while and I'm sorry for that. If you're reading this and Nurse Joy came through(I'll have to kiss that woman when I see her next), then excuse the sloppy writing. I made like seven drafts of this after plenty of frustration, so cut me some slack and don't make fun of me for it. I know I don't look like the type of person that'd write like this but hey, surprise, surprise._

She shook her head in disbelief._ What sloppy writing? It's flawless!_ It was true that she didn't expect someone so glum and intimidating to write like a poet though, where'd he learn to do that? Sliding that in the back of her mind, she eagerly went back to the letter, tracing the inked letters with her eyes.

_But I digress. Sorry I couldn't contact you sooner and made you worry. I didn't have any way to contact you and things were a little dangerous for me. I, uh, hope you're doing well. Hope they haven't been misbehaving too much. Haona is a bit of a pushy little shit and Boagrius gives people headaches(trust me, I know) but don't be too hard on them. I'm sure they're fine with you but don't stress yourself out too much, getting called old because your hair is turning white is no fun, believe me. If you're angry, just make them all run like thirty miles or so, but I guess we'll have to see what horror stories they tell me about their time there, huh?_

Gale smiled widely, continuing to read.

_As for where I am, I can't really tell you that in case someone finds this and I end up in deeper shit than I already am. But I can leave some clues. One of which I left in the box. _

She almost attacked the inside of it before reading the next line. And as expected, the smartass in him made itself known.

_Hubris! Blasphemy! I can _feel_ you opening it, you crazy girl. Stop tearing it apart. It's a surprise. Hold your Rapidashes. Finish the letter, damn you. _

_Anyway, I'm not dead, obviously. Have come close though, but I'm sure you already figured that. This _is_ me. After LaRousse, I got caught up with some unsavory sorts and have a very loose nonaggression work contract with them at the moment, so I'm doing all right for the time being. I can even buy smoothies. I'll take any silver lining I can get. Don't worry about me too much. Make sure to tell Baron that, he worries about everything. Gets a little annoying sometimes. Scratch that, tell _all_ of them that. You included._

_How's Will doing these days anyway? If you've been in contact with him at least. Hope he didn't lose my knife. I will throw him off a cliff, you know. If you happen to see Will and his sister again, can you tell them I'm doing fine? I mean, I've only almost died like six times anyways. I'd say that's a good track record for me. Might squeeze in one more attempt before you get this, have a quota to fill, after all._

She snickered.

_Well, this letter is nearing its end. I can't say for sure when I'm coming back, but I will come back. I haven't given up on them. I just need some time. How much time I'll need I'm not sure of either. There are some things I need to take care of, things I wouldn't like them to be present for. Everything is much more complicated than I originally thought, and damn it- I don't know. I don't know what to do with myself at all. _

_So much for responsibility, huh?_

_But enough of my rambling, I'm sure you're eager to see what's inside. I can feel your curiosity just writing this. Just like a bloody Skitty. So go on, open the box._

"What's inside?" Amy asked her. "You've been smiling to yourself since you started reading that. I take it you've never received a love letter before or something?"

"No, it's not that," Gale said, unusually giddy. "The letter says to open the box."

"Oh? Presents? Well then, what are you waiting for? Open it! Just hope it's not a finger or something..."

Both girls tore off the cardboard covering with unrestrained excitement, their expressions falling into silent shock as they uncovered stacks upon stacks of cash, numbering in the hundred thousand, possibly even more. They stared gob-smacked at the amount of money in the box, picking up banded stacks of bills.

"That's… a lot of money," Amy stuttered, feeling her heart rate pick up significantly. A large stack of money was always something absolutely wondrous to behold, and even a full wallet made a trainer very happy. This though… was closer to what she'd seen in the movies or her own dreams when she was flat broke. How the hell did Riven, a scruffy guy with little to no social aptitude, manage to get his hands on so much money? _Without_ his team? What had he been up to, robbing banks?

Gale sputtered like a fish. She shot back to the letter and frowned when she fully pictured Riven writing the next sentence while laughing maniacally in a sparsely lit cave with a shit-eating grin on his face.

_Hue. Okay, I probably should have mentioned that some sort of strong drink short of rubbing alcohol would have helped fight the shock. Sorry. Ah-hah. Yes, that's a lot of money in there and you should probably pick your jaw off the floor, but rest assured it's yours. And... _mostly_ legal. To cover expenses, of course. Aine and Baron have sinkholes for appetites. You haven't gotten to the best part though! Dig deeper._

She did, removing more stacks of money until both girls reached the end of the box, and secured snuggly in the center of the box, a small pokeball lay motionless. Gale picked it up with a shaky hand, pushing a button as it maximized into her palm. She wondered what kind of pokemon could be inside for a moment, then threw it out. The pokeball opened in a flash of white light, the figure of a pokemon materializing on a chair.

As the light faded, a foot tall red and gray robin with innocent black eyes emerged, the black feathers on its tail displaying a prominent white V. It appeared unkempt and ruffled considerably, chirping out its name as it took in the surroundings.

"Fletch…ling?" The bird cried, tilting its head.

Gale gasped as her throat seemed to snag. Her hands brought up the slip of paper as her eyes began to water.

_Her name is Vizi. She's annoying and pushy, and took like thirty pokeball attempts to catch, but she's pretty friendly. Also eats like a bottomless pit. Take care of her, she's yours. And thank you for everything you've done. I'll see you soon, crazy girl._

Amy could only watch as the brunette cooed at the little bird, tears streaming down her face. For just a moment, it seemed that the sun had become brighter that day. Picking up the tear stained paper, she smiled.

"Riven, you sly dog."

* * *

**Nice break from insanity, yes? By the way, expect longer upload times. College and work starts up next week. Enjoy the chapter and thank you for reading.**


	53. Regrets

The rest of Kalos was something.

Something that was hard to believe could be placed in the same region as Lumiose, let alone be associated with it at all. It was like comparing a shitty rundown house made of twig to the sleek geometric design of a skyscraper. Things just didn't compare. Not that the rural countryside was a bad thing, per say—just very different, in a strange sort of way.

That saying the locals have though? 'You can see Lumiose from anywhere in Kalos'? Well they weren't lying.

He could _still_ see the light from the city behind him this far out west, displaying itself among the backdrop of clouds in the night sky. He wouldn't be surprised if you could see the damn thing from _space_. The contrasting darkness of the rural towns and routes really did serve to amplify the city's natural radiance though. The road to and past Geosenge was almost as detached from society as the roads to the more mountainous side of the region, albeit far less rugged and admittedly far less interesting. As a result, few trainers and lights could be found there.

Dark, peaceful, and with little to no people.

Spending most of his days in a city that was almost always lit up to hell in some way, shape, or form made this change somewhat refreshing too, at least for the lessened strain on his eyes and a bit of nostalgia. He'd been out on the less populated routes while on jobs, yes, but he didn't really have time to focus on the scenery since there was always something that took precedence. Usual things like twelve foot raging pokemon that killed for sport, or taking down an enraged Noivern via wingsuit off a thousand foot drop… and then futilely cleaning the brown bits out of his pants afterwards with industrial grade detergent.

Expecting a less than stellar trek to his destination, shoes shuffled and crunched in the grass as he walked, minding his surroundings idly, even if it was mostly a small forested area with a few overgrown bushes here and there. Didn't hurt to be prepared. If all else failed, _fuck everything and run_ was a time honored strategy that seldom _didn't_ work.

Hypervigilant as he was at the moment, it was doubtful anything short of the ghost he was hunting or some kind of invisible entity could sneak up on him.

In a place such as this, the dim sliver of natural light allowed him to finally open his eyes without squinting, the dark being no obstacle to them. He shook his head with a chuckle at the clear idiocy of what he was doing and how often he told others _not_ to do it. Then went and acted like a giant hypocrite and did it anyway. Walking alone, in the dark, and pokemonless on a route or open wilderness was immensely dangerous and stupid on many levels, mainly because of muggers, wild pokemon, and other assorted things that wanted you maimed, dead, or eaten. Possibly a combination of all three, and hopefully with dead coming _first_. As a result, that specific combination was heavily beaten into trainers not to do under any circumstance, experienced or not.

And here he was doing exactly that.

To be fair though, his alternatives were limited regardless. Besides, he _did_ have a sword. Granted, he was probably in over his head again and the metal stick with an edge probably wouldn't do jack shit against most pokemon in general if they were fast enough, or if they turned him into human paste with hyper beams, but it was better than nothing really.

He'd passed Geosenge a few hours ago, before the sun had set, and still had a ways to go. The town was odd with its monument of stones arranged in strange patterns, and the people there weren't very accommodating to strangers it seemed. Given recent events though, he couldn't necessarily blame the townsfolk for hurling metaphorical pitchforks at tourists.

Apparently some kid and a bunch of ridiculously dressed idiots in red suits had done something that nearly blew up the town and caused a massive earthquake that _almost_ sunk it too. There had also been talk of a legendary pokemon that had swooped in and killed the perpetrators with an attack that sucked the very life of anything that stood in its path. The locals were _not_ amused.

Those metaphorical pitchforks? Make them real pitchforks_. On fire_.

Did Riven believe it? Yes he did.

Three years ago, he would have called it a _gigantic_ wad of Mankey shit like any respectable skeptic, but after the whole slip through time debacle, it was safe to assume that legendaries were always up to some really obscure shit behind the scenes and definitely were _not to be fucked with_. Much less caught. Even under the best conditions and with _champion level_ pokemon at your disposal.

The dead patch of grass along the outer edge of town also served to reinforce that story—long gashes of withered brush and grass nearly three hundred feet in length didn't just _happen_ to die off like that. You could say that a pack of wild Sunflora had picked a fight with a group of energy ball toting Haunter as much as you absolutely fucking wanted, but nobody would believe something so ridiculously stupid.

At least that's what logic would dictate.

Unfortunately, the pitiful nature of human stupidity and intense aversion to making fucking sense proved true again as the story composed of nigh _military grade_ Tauros fecal matter made headlines in the paper. Just as much as the cover up of what happened in Lumiose did. If the Geosenge incident was a three story tower of bullshit, then Lumiose was Mt. Coronet. Made you wonder what exactly they _weren't_ telling you.

Such as, there's a massive Legendary pokemon that can wreck your shit wandering about and you might _accidentally_ die. That and some misguided idiot went and tried to catch it. Digging through public records in a library yielded some rather interesting stories in recent years, all of which correlated with supposed legendary pokemon sightings—most likely all of which were contained behind the scenes, barring the fiasco in Hoenn during the Magma and Aqua's reign of dickery.

They weren't trying to incite mass panic, true, but there was a point to these things.

The legendaries of this region had their own legends even if they were hardly ever seen, and their powers understood less so. Of all the books he'd read about them, their supposed powers were all guesswork and conjecture based on the surrounding areas in which they were spotted. The stories went that one had the power over life and the other over death—a fairy of life and a being of pure destruction. Where one went, plants and vegetation keeled over and died, and where the other went, flowers bloomed and blossomed uncontrollably.

Considering those two prospects, he'd prefer to stay far, _far_ away from either of them. _Especially_ the fairy, instant death was preferable to agonizing pain. That dazzling gleam was intense, to say the least. From a non-legendary run-of-the-mill psychic too. Give it to a Legendary? Who knows what agony that'd bring about.

The goal wasn't the legendaries though, they could go to sleep for a thousand years for all he cared. He was here to investigate and settle some unfinished business.

After that dinner with Jesica, she managed to translate the report on the attacks for him, sending it to a non-wiretapped holo caster he'd bought himself—there was absolutely zero reason he should let Isole and Cormac in on what he was doing anyway. The file contained most of what she'd already informed him of, just with more details, number of attacks, sightings, testimonies, wounds—things he already knew for the most part. What really interested him were the dreams people kept having. The phrase Jesica described to him was common among the victims of the attacks. However, there were some variations among them, those specific variations seemingly serving no other purpose than to torment the victim. It seemed that the ghosts that were doing this really liked screwing with people.

Then again, ghosts _lived_ to screw with people. Not that the wretched things were alive, per say, but that's what they did most of the time. Except for the more malevolent ghosts that were only found in the most gruesome of locations.

Rubbing his temples, Riven looked up at the starlit night and couldn't help but feel a sense of peace and relief. The skies lit up in constellations of all types in the darkness of the wilderness and if it wasn't for the things he had to do, he could lay on the grass and watch the bright points of light in far off space for what seemed like an eternity. In his world, the stars, while beautiful, only served to make the dread feel that much worse. They were so far away, away from the violence and atrocities the world had to offer—disconnected from suffering and shining radiantly without a care.

He exhaled, smiled ruefully and pressed on. Only bad part about thinking deeply and philosophically in a rural part of the region was that you got distracted and forgot where it was you were actually going. Shameful that for all he had prepared for up until now, a few thoughts had thrown him off track. He wandered around a ways north after blindly heading northwest and getting even more lost. That was when a yellow beam of light hit him in the face and he recoiled from the sudden influx of light in his poor retinas.

"Hey, you there! Guy! What are you doing?" Came a voice on the other side of the flashlight. Riven couldn't quite make out a face given there was practically a mini sun shining into his eyeballs but the voice didn't sound hostile.

"First-" Squinting, Riven lifted an arm to shield his face. "-get that flashlight out of my face. My eyes are _melting_."

The flashlight moved from his face to a patch of grass on the floor, letting Riven blink repeatedly as he saw after-images of the flashlight's center. "Thank you," he said, blinking in a daze. "God damn."

When his vision cleared, he saw a ranger standing in front of him, with a Stoutland beside him. He noticed the crest on the man's beret, a sideways wing of a Fletchinder. 107th Kalos Rangers, Coastal Division. They were usually assigned to the Geosenge and Cyllage areas, but were found closer to the coast as well. Their divisions hardly saw any action though, considering the rural nature of the towns they were assigned to. Because of that, it was no secret that rangers prayed to whatever god they believed in not to be assigned there. And for the ones that were…

Well. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade, because life probably kicked you in the dick and stole the sugar. And your water along with it. Tough.

"You're a ranger," Riven pointed out rather obviously. The Stoutland nodded, adding in a small, "land." Its trainer grunted in response.

"And you're a stranger," the ranger said instead, frowning. "What are you doing out here so far from towns? There are no trainers here for you to battle."

"I'm not a trainer. I was just taking a walk," Riven replied simply. Terrible excuses were still reasons, and he was taking a walk, technically.

"Sure. You're not from here," the ranger pointed out. "You're a foreigner. It's the voice."

_Okay then,_ Riven thought, holding in a frown."I was taking a _long_ walk."

"At night?"

"It's less hot."

"Without a flashlight?"

"I have good eyesight."

The ranger rolled his eyes. His Stoutland had been snooping around for this guys scent for a while back already and the paths the pokemon led him in were irregular, like someone had been wandering. Naturally, he had to investigate. He snorted. "You're lost, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," Riven admitted shamelessly.

The ranger buried his face in his free hand, muttering things about tourists, _merde_, and other unintelligible French words that most likely contained a variant of "idiot" in them.

"I've been walking northwest for about an hour," Riven continued through thinly veiled amusement, pointing up to the bright star directly up in the sky. "I have no clue what the hell I'm doing. I've just been following that star and walking west in a diagonal line. At least I think so. Aha."

Looking Riven up and down with a scrutinizing eye, the ranger sighed. "Listen, I don't know what you're doing here, or where you're going, but I can escort you there or give you directions. It's dangerous out here sometimes. Wait…" A beam of light settled on Riven's waist and belt, revealing no pokeballs whatsoever, and therefore concluded this guy's extent of sanity was proportional to the number of pokemon he had on hand. The ranger's mouth twitched. "And with no pokemon too. Are you stupid?"

The mercenary shrugged, chuckling in self-depreciation. "I wouldn't say stupid-"

"Stupid," the ranger held. "Along with very."

"Okay, there are some people that would agree. I know this is unwise on several different levels but I can handle myself. I think."

The ranger gave him a flat look. "If a pokemon attacks you, what will you do? Punch it?"

"Whatever works," Riven smiled again, waving a hand dismissively. "I'll be fine. I do need some help though."

"Help with what, punching a pokemon in the mouth? Sorry but you are on your own there," the uniformed man refused. "I have a family to go back to. I don't want to die so soon." He was a ranger, yes, but he wasn't suicidal. This guy? Clearly had a death wish.

"I meant directions."

"Oh, well then. Where do you want to go? Shalour City? Geosenge is south from here. You're in between them so I guess you might want to go to one of them? Nothing much to do at Geosenge except look at the rocks and Shalour has a gym there. Tower of Mastery too, if that's your thing. They take disciples in a few times a year, but since you're not a trainer and don't look like much of a martial arts guy, I don't think you care about that, right?"

"Right. Actually, where I wanted to go was-" Thinking about it for a second, Riven raised a finger, shut his mouth and hesitated. His destination was known for setting people on edge, but there were no landmarks near there that he could point out to the ranger except for the destination itself. Being endlessly vague would get him nowhere. Cursing mentally, he took a shallow breath. "I want to go to the Blade Graveyard," he stated. "The battle site everyone's afraid of."

As expected, the other man visibly flinched and his expression fell, eyes growing wider. His brows furrowed in concern. "Why in god's name do you want to go there? That place is-" Shook his head. "-wrong. There's ghosts everywhere, to say it's dangerous is putting it lightly. People have gotten seriously hurt there. Don't think there hasn't been any murders there either, because there have been. A lot."

"I know it's dangerous," Riven noted, "but I'm prepared and interested in the site's history, and I'd like to document my experiences there. Trust me, I do this quite often and while I've gotten more than a few scares, I've come out fine, really."

"You don't look like a researcher," the other said idly.

"And acorns don't look like nuts," Riven replied dryly.

"Actually they do?"

Riven scowled.

"Can you help me or not, ranger? That is your job, right? Escorting lost idiots back to civilization before they kill themselves in the wild?"

_I just called myself an idiot. But I guess I'm not quite wrong on that front either._

"Unfortunately…" The ranger grumbled irritably. "All you researchers are too crazy for your own good. But if you die it is _not_ my fault," he groaned. Riven snorted. The Stoutland appeared to be relatively amused, flicking its gaze between its trainer and the man in question. "My name is Carlan, not ranger. I can show you the way but just don't say anything, you make my head hurt." Turning around, he motioned for him to follow, muttering more curses under his breath.

True to word, Carlan didn't talk much, and had a face that _screamed_ he absolutely hated his job. Bags colored his eyes and he slouched his shoulders at times, followed by long sighs of exhaustion. He looked like people who got stuck with guard duty for a week.

Sadly, that's exactly what being a ranger was like anyway. The poor bastard had probably been out on the road for the better part of the day and then some. Add that to the fact that he was assigned to the most boring post in the region and near midnight to boot? It was akin to watching paint dry _while_ having someone spit on your face.

An hour into the walk and Carlan finally spoke up with mild disinterest. "What's your name?" He asked dryly, yawning a bit.

"Nathan," Riven replied, making it seem as natural as possible.

The ranger nodded once and stopped, placing a hand on his Stoutland's head and scratching behind his ears. "Ah. What are you really trying to do there? At the Graveyard?"

"I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to go investigate," Riven answered evenly. "I admit it's not for research purposes but I do want to see what's going on there."

"The attacks," Carlan concluded. "That is not something a foreigner should be looking into. Definitely not a foreigner without pokemon, either. Especially a _stupid_ foreigner without pokemon."

"Maybe not," Riven said, "but I have personal business with the one behind them. Business that left me hospitalized."

"Hospitalized…?" Carlan went silent, brain working through that. None of the recent victims had been hurt too badly, at worst they suffered semi deep cuts along the arms and legs—never enough to warrant an extended stay at the hospital. This only meant he was attacked before the recurrence of assaults in the area."Where were you attacked?"

"Parfum Palace, like everyone else. In the maze by the water fountains."

"I guessed as much…" The ranger grimaced darkly. "How are you still alive? I mean, they let us see some of the pictures… you know, of the ones that got-"

"Cut to pieces?" Riven finished, making scissoring motions with his hands.

Carlan gave him a dubious look, then nodded.

Riven still had trouble accepting that himself, and what happened after that… well. He lifted the sleeves of his shirt up, revealing the darkened skin and constriction marks the Doublade had left him. "Barely got away. It tried cutting me in two but you can see what it chose to do instead."

Eyeing the wound with apprehension and understandable distrust, the ranger gasped as he inspected Riven's right arm. "It tried to _drain_ you?! I heard only that the Honedge only do that to those they believe worthy."

Riven lifted a brow, waiting for the obligatory double-edged sword.

"Or to those they want to punish."

"Yeah, that's what I figured," the mercenary chuckled. "Always a downside. I honestly don't know why it did what it did, but I do want to find out somewhat desperately."

Carlan stood in place, expression stony. He shook his head, closing his eyes. "I can't take you there."

Riven bit his lip, knowing that it would come to this, given his destination. "Why not?"

"What do you mean, why not? You're looking for the one that's been attacking people and even _murdering_ them, and think you'll be just fine? No. I might have taken you if you were going there to take pictures or something, but confront that thing? You would be a corpse by morning. No."

"Argh." The mercenary ran a hand through his hair, figuring he'd probably really regret this later. He looked at Carlan, then grunted. "You know all the ranger divisions right?"

"Of course I do," Carlan said matter-of-factly. "What of it?"

"Do you happen to know the Santalune forest Division led by Sargos?" Riven asked, hoping that would ring any bells. And it did, judging by the flash of realization in the ranger's eyes.

"Ah, yeah. They had quite a problem a while back. Hulk of a murderous Pangoro loose in a forest full of weak pokemon and beginners. I'm surprised they even managed to take it down. Heard they killed it too. Had to. And that some crazy mercenary with a sword helped them do it too. Can you believe that? A sword! The guy's an idiot," the ranger snorted.

"Yeah… about that…" Riven said nervously, then gestured to himself. He waited a couple seconds in silence, both men staring at each other, one with a glint of amusement, and the other with a swiftly deteriorating smile.

Carlan's face went from amused to "really" in about half a second after he realized just who in fact, this black-haired man really was. He pinched the bridge of his nose, held out his hand and clawed his fingers as if to strangle him while devolving into a sputtering and incomprehensible stream of French insults. Looking up at Riven, he shook his head furiously in disapproval.

"God. You _are_ an idiot."

Riven snickered lightly. "Will you take me now?"

"Gladly." The ranger shook his head. "But this is your damn funeral, merc!"

"Good. This way if I die you'll have the honor of cleaning my pieces up, right?" Riven beamed. "Should be fun."

Carlan crossed his arms and groaned once again.

"_Merde_."

* * *

_So this is it, huh? The Graveyard of Blades._

Finally arriving sometime after two in the morning, Carlan had led him here and _swiftly_ fucked off before anything came out of the woodworks to slice him into itty-bitty pieces. Smart move. Before leaving, he told Riven that he'd come back with a search party in the morning to pick up the pieces of his body that were still left, and that he'd write 'dumbass foreign idiot' on his gravestone.

_Nice guy. _

Thoughts about him aside, Riven focused his eyesight on the area before him.

The Graveyard of Blades. A historical relic thought to be cursed and too depressing to be fit for tourist use.

He walked among the site, taking in the hundreds of rusted blades embedded into the ground, scattered among the field of grass in no apparent order or structure- grim reminders of the Kalos region's bloody past. They were arranged in odd places, some grouped together and others farther apart; it was a hurried thing, done by the survivors of the conflict before heading out immediately. Broadswords, longswords, shortswords, and even knives could be seen, with rusted bits of metallic armor spread about or jutting out of the ground. If he had a shovel, the ground beneath him would probably be full of bones. Not just human ones either. The pieces of armor that were still visible were far too large for even the largest man's body, and others appeared to be protective plates placed upon equine and feline pokemon. Pyroars and Rapidash perhaps. The larger pieces to Charizards and Blastoises, among others.

After Jesica had told him about it, he checked out the history of the location and wasn't surprised to find out that this was the site of a large battle between two kingdoms in the great war of Kalos three thousand years ago. Pokemon and people fought for control of a weapon the king had designed, the very same located in Geosenge. All that senseless waste of life just to bring back the life of one pokemon.

He scoffed in disgust. Humans were really despicable creatures.

Even so, standing among the unmarked graves, he felt a sense of familiarity. At his core, he was still a soldier, and he knew what this was like. A pyrrhic victory. To win a battle but sustain so much loss it could hardly be considered a victory. The swords were graves of their own, placed where their owners fell. No time for digging graves. Not in war. Making graves for people was extremely personal, and hurt more than any wound ever could. A sword in the ground was easier for the party that was still alive, both physically and emotionally.

He walked up to a longsword, its steel blade long since rusted over, covered in flecks of dull orange and brown with darkened stains on the edges, the dried remains of what used to be blood running down the length of the blade. He didn't dare pull it out as a sign of respect, but it was far more decorated than the other swords, marking the ground where a high ranking officer had fallen. Yanine came to mind in that brief moment and he placed a hand on the pommel in silence, closing his eyes.

Muttering a short sentence to show respect to the fallen, Riven let go of the blade and turned back to the rest of graveyard.

The entire location reeked of despair, sadness, and grief. But most of all… regret. Regrets of life and of purpose, the question hanging unsaid in the still night—was it all worth it? For some perhaps, but when you were in the thick of battle watching others fight and die while you lived to see the nonexistent fruits of their sacrifice… it wasn't ever an easy pill to swallow.

But looking at it now… it made sense why this wasn't a tourist location and why people seemed to avoid this place at all costs. The air was heavy and difficult to breathe in, like it was composed of gaseous lead, and the haunting sight of the moonlit blades sent chills up the spine, causing the hair on the neck and arms to stand upright. Ghastly and Haunter often roamed these places and nothing made people run faster than ghosts did. Regrets and feelings of resentment were as tangible as the air and grass. Most people couldn't fathom what it felt like, so they stayed away.

_People are afraid of what they don't understand. Many don't _want _to understand._

War and death were a part of humankind just as much as hypocrisy was. Kalos wasn't any different, even if things were much more peaceful than they used to be. This remnant of a long forsaken battlefield demonstrated that the depravity of humans hadn't been eradicated, only shoved under a rug and glossed over.

_After all… history has a tendency to repeat itself._

Riven caught glimpses of shadows shifting in and out of the material plane, purple amorphous masses floating slowly across. Roaming ghosts were spotted here often and weren't as harmless as the ones found closer to civilization. These ghosts resulted from much darker conflicts and leaned towards the malevolent side rather than the tricksters people usually dealt with.

His left hand gripped a knife in his pocket as he headed over to the area with the greatest concentration of blades, shifting it in his palm. It was a knife fashioned out of a Weavile claw and was often used to ward off ghosts; he'd picked it up for insurance against the less… tangible ones. Came in handy when a Haunter had gotten curious and tried to come up behind him but a cut of the knife sent it sprawling into the darkness again.

His object of interest was the raised hill by far the most impaled with swords. With such an imposing appearance, its power could felt as easily as it could be seen. Tragedy, death, and regret wandered these plains like the ghosts that were born from them, remnants of what the fallen once felt before they met their end.

Riven smiled sadly. "I guess we're all a broken part of something. Remnants of what once was."

His thoughts were interrupted by a strange giggle behind him. Taking out his sword slowly, he turned on his heel, breathing evenly as his eyes set upon the entity the sound had come from.

Had to be. Just had to be, right?

It was that fucking Espurr with the berries again. The psychic stared soullessly at him, munching on a berry in its paw like it gave absolutely no shits about where in the hell it was currently standing. A psychic in an _entire _field of ghosts, and there it was, being all creepy and munching on a god damn berry.

"_You_," Riven hissed.

The Espurr giggled, unblinking. Then bit down on the berry again.

"What are you doing here?" Riven demanded, pointing the sword at it. "I doubt it's to munch on berries in a field full of ghosts and rusted swords."

Its response was psychokinetically shooting a berry at his face like last time. Then it laughed at him, continuing to stare.

Eyeing it closely, Riven scanned the surroundings in case that Doublade tried to sucker punch him again. He wouldn't put the ghost above using the Espurr as a distraction, probably as a front to mentally unhinge its victims into letting their guard down or turn their backs. "Where's your friend? The Doublade that's been attacking everyone? It's been rather adamant about what it wants. You know anything about that?"

The Espurr continued munching, cutting a blade of grass with its psychic power and then evenly slicing it into neatly chopped pieces before letting it fall. Taunting him, again. Trying to say he'd end up like that blade of grass? Or maybe it was just being a creepy little fuck. Probably both from the looks of things.

Riven gave up trying to speak to it. Even if it did have the desire to speak to him, and he doubted it would, given the amount of dick it was being; the effort trying was wholly useless as things were. Psychics couldn't use telepathy or any kind of psychic move on him apparently. Heal pulse had some interesting interactions with him but wasn't as effective when compared to its effects on a non dark pokemon or human. The move healed superficial wounds and facilitated recovery while slowing blood loss from more grievous wounds but everything else bounced off entirely.

Was odd though. That this Espurr was everywhere the Doublade was _supposed to be_. First at Parfum, and now here. Maybe a strange partnership, like Haona and Baron's had been? Opposites of each other. Not unheard of, but certainly unorthodox.

He closed his eyes, and waited, focusing his hearing on the wind itself.

A few seconds in the stillness of the Graveyard passed and a faint hum resonated in the heavy air, at the same moment the spell tag in Riven's coat had lit up in a flare of bright red light. The slip of paper shot forth as Riven threw it behind him, turning into the motion to face the light.

As red flames flickered and died in the wind, a crimson blade sliced through the air in front of him, aiming low at his legs. He jumped up, dodging the attack and bringing his blade up to guard as he turned in the air once again, intercepting the following attack with the blunt edge of the sword. The strength of the blow rippled throughout the metal, sending him back a foot.

Riven stood firm, knees bent and blade up. His attacker remained afloat in the air, twin crimson blades whirling in the air as the soul sucking sash of the Doublade swayed with the wind. Yellow eyes with slits for pupils bored back into his atop the central point of the handle guards, intrigued and fierce. In fact, they seemed to hold dull surprise.

Holding back a smirk, Riven was glad he'd gotten a hold of a spell tag used for detecting ghosts in proximity. They reacted to ghostly presences and lit up in bright red patterns when near the disembodied entities, and burst into repelling fire when they were close enough to harm a human. Since he'd gotten attacked from behind the last time, he assumed it would try the same, using the first hit as a distraction and follow up with a deadly blow.

He'd guessed right.

"Sucker punches won't help you now," Riven said confidently, pointing to his eyes. "I can see you just fine, so don't even try to use the dark to your advantage. I'm sure you know that already though, don't you?"

He ran a finger down the flat of the sword, challenging it.

The Doublade remained in place for a second before launching itself at him, attacking with both blades at once as Riven moved to deflect the hits. The attacks were like that of a dual wielder, strikes meant to overpower and break through an opponent's defense with quicker blows than they could handle. Cross slashes and diagonal one-twos followed by split attacks going for the legs and chest, diverting the focus of the enemy so they could open gaps in the defense. But the hits weren't nearly as fast, nor as strong as some of the ones that _humans_ could pull off—no, if anything, these were just test blows. Like what two humans would do before starting to get serious.

The amount of human traits this ghost was displaying worried him. There were theories about how ghosts came to be, but none were proven, or _could_ be proven for that matter.

It was testing him, probing him. But for what? Grimacing, Riven relaxed his stance slightly, wary but not poised. The Doublade's eyes seemed to change, as if asking him what he was doing.

"You know who I am," Riven stated. "You've been attacking people looking for someone. Me. Why? Is it because I survived? Or is it because of _what_, I am."

It said nothing, the sash on the ends of the blades twitching momentarily.

"Speak. Ghost," Riven demanded. "You're not like that Espurr. You can understand me and can surely speak with humans, even if in a dream state. Don't play stupid with me." He pointed his sword at it. "Talk."

When his question finished, a hazy, light-headed feeling came over his mind. His body seemed to resist the influence and although it took some effort, he prevented the intruder from getting in. "No. You will speak to me out here, not in my mind. It's my own, not yours to play with. That might work with other humans, but it won't work on _me_. I'll repeat my question in case you forgot what it was. What do you want with me?"

The ghost seemed to recoil slightly, eyes blinking duly. A deep, disembodied voice came from it, seeming to be in every direction at once. Riven didn't twitch, however unnerving it was.

_Why do I care about your existence, human?_

Riven scoffed sardonically. "You've been testing my reflexes and with everyone you attack, you search for the same person again and again, with the same message. 'Ancient prince, broken by fire and rejected by time?' I'm the only one who fits those conditions. Unless you've come across another time traveler in your little sprees. You sucked my life force out, and from what I've read, that comes with memories too. Children lie better than you."

A deep snort and the Doublade attacked again, this time with faster and stronger strikes, pushing Riven back further. Red blades collided with steel in a series of slashes, the sound of metal grating on each other filling the air. When the ghost let up its assault, Riven shook his right hand out, a few drops of sweat forming on his skin.

_Your life force was interesting,_ it said, with a tone of excitement through the words_. Great fighter, good soldier_. A yellow eye flashed bright yellow in the dark, the pupil enlarging momentarily._ I was too._

Riven's mind came to a halt. "Soldier?" He stuttered.

The ghost vanished and reappeared behind him, striking down in an overhead slash, both blades cutting deep into the ground. A jagged gash was etched into the dirt as Riven side stepped, bringing up his own sword to block the onslaught that followed. The attacks appeared like a blur of crimson lines in the night—a spider web of red tracing along the arcs of the swings as time seemed to move slower than normal. With the adrenaline pumping in Riven's system, and with the stunningly inhuman speed of the attacks, seconds seemed to stretch on for minutes as it pummeled on him. Too fast, too strong. Given he was fighting a pokemon, it seemed like an obvious observation, but holy hell. He couldn't so much as attempt striking back at it like this. The flurry of attacks kept him on the defensive, style shifting as blades became less coordinated, attacking at more random intervals and from different directions.

When it started mixing in pursuits, things got even trickier.

The thing about fighting human opponents with swords was that they had _limits_. Limits in terms of how far their arms could extend outward and how _hard_ they could hit depending on how they swung. If someone with two blades was attacking you, there wasn't any way he could attack you both from the front and back simultaneously, and he either used both blades, or switched between them. There was also the fact that human fighters had _actual bodies_, ones you could wound and disable.

Cut apart a tendon or cut off a leg and the fight was over. Cut off their hand and their movements would be slower, their defenses and strikes growing weaker. Stab them and the blood loss would kill them quickly.

But a floating pair of swords composed of steel that could best be described as unnatural pokemetal? Didn't have quite the same limitations.

It could attack from multiple angles, the swords weren't necessarily bound by the natural limits of elbows and joints, there were no feet to speak of and thus the positioning and stance of the body was impossible to read, mainly because there _was no body_. No balance, no hyperextension of the limbs, no muscles, no body. No weaknesses. Just a pair of swords with a mind of their own and the power of a pokemon behind them.

Even if he could counterattack, what _would_ he attack? Just like with the Bisharp. He was starting to really dislike steel types now. The silver lining—if you could consider it one—was that at least it wasn't a Steelix. Bad comparison though, the giant Steel snake with a hammer for a face at least had some sort of body that wasn't entirely a weapon.

Oh, and having no body meant you also couldn't get tired. Battle of attrition was out the window. He had to come up with something.

After deflecting a frontal strike and swiftly pivoting his body to block the attack from behind, Riven jumped onto one of the blades and flipped over to the other side, taking a moment to catch his breath. Fortunately, since his opponent was strong enough to push him back and didn't possess an arm, that little maneuver was perfectly viable. On a regular person the sudden weight of his body pushing downwards would just end up in an embarrassing and sloppy fall for both fighters, not to mention being potentially fatal as well.

_Impressive. Such agility and technique cannot be found on humans of today_, the Doublade mused, sash coiling and uncoiling. Riven watched the clothlike fabric with well deserved apprehension. _You asked me why I wanted to find you._

"I did," Riven replied after a moment.

_Truthfully…_ The Doublade said. _I just wanted a good battle, I have been asleep for over three thousand years, and I am _incredibly_ bored._

Three thousand? Just the right length of time to coincide with the war… But if that was the case… What if Honedge really were born of the souls of fallen humans? And if so, how? If that was true, why did the souls not become Haunter or Ghastly, who seemed to have no recollection of their past lives? Perhaps it was a reflection of who the humans were in their lifetimes rather than how they died. Things certainly began to make sense in that regard.

"This Graveyard," Riven realized, recalling the rumors on how Honedge were created. "The reason you chose this place. Why it's special. You… you fought here. You _died_, here. So it is true… You were one of the king's soldiers."

Swords were littered everywhere, with plenty of dead souls lingering about. If there was a factory for producing Honedge, this would probably be it.

_That was so long ago…_ The Doublade let out a demeaning chortle._ But I can remember. What I used to be. Who I was. A man who sacrificed his life for his people, his country, and for his king. But this place… It was a pointless waste of life for a foolish king. I realized that after I became what you see. Now I am free but without purpose. All I have left is to do what I have always done. Fight. Don't you feel the same, dark prince? Deep down you're just like me._

Riven fell into silent contemplation. The ghost wasn't wrong. As much as he'd like to reject those claims, that he did have a direction, somewhere to go to. His pokemon came to mind, although they were safe, not in danger. They were his responsibility. A purpose on the other hand… he didn't quite know. He didn't have a direction, hell he was only doing this because there wasn't anything else to do. Was it out of curiosity? Boredom?

"Were you a knight?" Riven asked suddenly.

_Perhaps I was, _it replied, almost reminiscent.

The human clicked his tongue. "Heh. Here I thought knights were supposed to be chivalrous. Not kill innocent people." Some of the victims were petty thieves and trespassers but-

_Whoever said they were innocent?_ The ghost corrected.

There it was. He had a feeling there was more to it than that.

Riven shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Are you saying they deserved it? You saw my memories when you attacked me. I assume you saw their's too? Something didn't sit well with you?"

A deep growling came from all directions as the Doublade's eyes seemed to dull. _I did not enjoy watching what they did. The depravity some of them carried out was sickening, even to me. I may not be a knight anymore but I still have standards._

"Fair enough," Riven accepted with another shrug. "What I don't understand is why you haven't gotten yourself caught by a trainer to fight in tournaments. If fighting is your passion, that's the most logical place to pursue it."

_I do not serve idiots with the inability to lead._

"Plenty of experienced trainers know how to lead," Riven returned flatly. "The idiots that don't never make it past the fifth gym."

_Hmph, they also don't know how to fight. Useless._

"So is that what this is about?" The human pounced. "You're trying to find someone that is worthy enough to wield you. Seems the pokedex does get things right sometimes. Not entirely full of ridiculous claims, that's nice to know."

"How about we wager something?" Riven proposed, raising his arms into the air. "Fighting to the death against a mere human is inherently unfair, you know."

_If you consider yourself just human, then there is something wrong with you_, the Doublade pointed out dryly. _You_ _have more in common with us than you believe._

Riven gave it a small smile. "Maybe so, but it still doesn't change the fact that I'm neither as strong nor as durable as a pokemon. I'm also only using this flimsy sword. So let's wager. If we're going to fight until you kill me, then let's make it interesting."

The ghost pokemon stared at him, eyes expressing intrigued curiosity. _Name your terms then._

"If you win, you can drain me of my entire life force. I know you ghosts savor that. But if I win…" He flipped the blade in his hands in the air a few times. Angling it to reflect the light of the moon, his expression went serious, tone growing focused. "You will become my set of blades. I may not even classify as royalty, but if I defeat you, I would be worthy of your service, correct?"

After all, using the Honedge line as weapons was fairly common in the past. Kings rode into battle with Aegislash and some of the fighters of this world's legends had used Doublades to solidify their legends into history. They were stronger than regular swords and most importantly, _could_ grow stronger. A blade could not. Having a Doublade as both a pokemon and a viable weapon was rather enticing, not to mention convenient too.

Sashes of ghostly fiber twirled and twitched as the ghost thought about the proposition carefully. After a few moments of pondering, its twin blades settled into a ready position once more.

Both combatants didn't need to say anything to know what that meant. Steel screeched against steel as Riven and the Doublade clashed in the center of the field. Through his peripheral vision, he saw that the Espurr was still watching them with bemusement, sitting atop one of the swords.

He thought it'd be different this time, attacking and defending against the hits. But it wasn't. Not at all, actually. The attacks were still coming from impossible angles, quick and precise. This pokemon seemed to be a fan of using pincer moves with the blades, attacking from two angles that were—simply put, difficult as shit to block. He was barely scraping by, defending and just managing to deflect the slashes with his sword before the next hit, and the next. When he did manage to counterattack, steel simply bounced off steel like a parry instead of a direct hit.

God this was frustrating.

His sword had absolutely no special properties, and his opponent wasn't human. If perhaps his attacks did manage to hurt it, even slightly, he'd long be exhausted before the damage would accumulate anyway. The amount of counterattacks he was able to get in compared to the amount of time he spent getting pushed back by a flurry of inhumanly fast strikes weren't nearly as proportional as he would have liked.

The Doublade eased for a moment, with only one blade attacking Riven instead of two. He'd have called it a breather if he didn't know any better.

He did.

Purple energy began to flow around one of its crimson blades, enveloping it like a protective coating as shadows poured in to fill the gap. The light it gave off was dull and faint, and solidified until the sword was colored a blackish purple, the length of the blade appearing longer and more serrated than it was.

Riven knew it was shadow claw. What he didn't know was how much it hurt getting thrown into a cluster of swords with what amounted to a casual swing. The force of the attack rattled against his guard and pierced through it like it was made of paper, the power of it lifting him off his feet and into the air—right into a group of about thirty blades. At least they weren't sharp, or it'd have been quite a problem.

Picking himself off the ground around some of the disturbed swords, he noticed the Doublade coming at him again. Reaching for one of the fallen blades, he picked it up and used it in conjunction with his own to fend off the dual attacks of the pokemon, being far more successful this time around.

Was it disrespectful? Probably. But he was about to die. Pride killed more warriors than any weapon ever did.

This sword he picked up didn't last too long, breaking into useless pieces of rusted metal after a few hits. So he kept using more. There was an entire field of them, after all.

Like he said before, pokemon vs human? The matchup was completely unfair, even if he was different from standard humans—which brought him to his next predicament.

His own typing.

Ghosts were extremely vulnerable to dark attacks, and based on what Isole and Kai told him off that day where he'd gone berserk, he had access to them. Of course the only problem being exactly that. There was always the possibility that if he did allow himself to be taken over by the Nightmare, he may not be able to _come back_. Power boosts were welcome, but they weren't worth losing yourself forever.

But he also didn't have much of a choice. His sword couldn't harm a being made of metal that couldn't bleed, and he had no pokemon of his own to fight with. Riven was out of options.

There was only one thing to do then.

Deflecting another strike, Riven backed away and closed his eyes, leveling out his breathing. He'd never actually tried to bring out the dark, mostly out of reasons already specified, but mainly because he didn't know _how_.

_Kai said that dark types use negative emotions to bring out their potential. This field, my own thoughts, they're extremely similar. Yeah, this can work._

Going deep into his memories, he began reliving them, details as vivid as they'd always been. The blood and death were the same, no detail missing in the slightest. His head began to pound and a familiar feeling arose inside, twisting, coiling-

_Focus. Connect it with the battlefield. What do you see? Where can you draw power from?_

Placing a hand on the ground, memories poured into his mind.

What he saw was the violent clash of two grand armies, hordes of armored pokemon clad in steel plate fighting alongside armored knights. The sun bore down on them as blood flew. Both human and pokemon fell, cut to pieces of perforated by vines. Others were blown to bits by beams, incinerated by flames, or crushed by the very earth they stood on. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air, just like the battlefields he'd been on. Pokemon lay dying as they bled alongside their own, torn apart by the enemy side.

He could feel what they were thinking. Anger, pain, regret, and sorrow spoke to him, backed by the overwhelming sense of hatred that flowed throughout the air on that very day. The torrent of negativity cascaded into his mind and he almost fell into agony. Resisting it was like trying to struggle against rapids upstream as water blasted you back down. He was drowning in them, flailing about, feeling like his mind was going to shatter.

_Use it as a weapon. Fighting is what you do. This is what you are._

He exhaled slowly.

For a split second, the world went black as power surged within, dark energy passing through his veins and into his limbs, giving him a newfound sense of strength. Even with his eyes closed, he could see patterns of negativity flowing throughout the air, flashing in various colors from red to pink. Auras, perhaps? Or what Kai called, the "Other". Streams of them coalesced around the Graveyard, appearing to him as the auroras of the north—beautiful, if a bit twisted when you thought about it.

Knuckles cracked and he opened his eyes again, the blue on his right replaced by the very same color of the Doublade's swords.

The ghost was stunned momentarily, witnessing the same aura it'd felt when it last drained the human's lifeforce. Why was this one so different from the others? A feeling of fulfillment washed over the ghost—something it hadn't felt since it was last alive. Joy, like lighting a match in a room devoid of warmth. What it once thought was empty sparked to life again by the thrill of fighting a worthy opponent. It couldn't wait to cross blades again.

And they did, steel sparking against steel as they fought, both fighters falling into a dance in the night.

Riven couldn't believe how different this felt. His body movements were stronger and more importantly, faster. He was driving the Doublade back now, the darkness coursing throughout his blade hurting it far more than any regular strike could. This felt… honestly amazing.

As amazing as it felt, however, there was a time limit. The negativity and dark thoughts were barely being kept in check and inside his shirt there seemed to be a small object burning intensely into his skin. The Diancie stone was flashing a bright pink as it warded off the dark. If anything, that was the only reason that he was still able to keep in control. But it wouldn't last.

He had to end this quickly.

Blocking another pincer, Riven slash the pommel of one of the swords, leaving a shallow black cut on it as the ghost backed away. Using pursuit, the steel type slashed in an upwards arc with one sword, the force of the blow lifting dust, and its target high up into the air. The next sword appeared in front of him, thrusting forward in a stab. Riven brought his blade up and intercepted it using both hands, but the attack had sent him backwards into an off balance fall.

As he fell back towards the floor, the ghost vanished and reappeared a distance away, rearing up from another shadow claw. Purple energy surrounded both its crimson blades as the Doublade cut in a cross—purple shockwaves slicing through the air and ground as they traveled. Riven turned upside down in midair, gathering what little dark energy he could into a small point at the tip of his finger.

"Dark pulse," he called, and darkness howled forth.

The Diancie stone cracked.

Both attacks collided, resulting in an explosion of dust and grass, uprooting more blades in the vicinity. Riven landed on the ground again and recoiled as he felt his mental state start to wane. Something wanted out, and badly.

He closed his right eye, now burning furiously. Panting, he tried to think of where to strike his enemy to cause the most damage and end the fight before he ended himself. The blades were out, considering they were probably meant to take punishment, and the pommels were fairly sturdy from the test cut he gave to one of them. The darkness helped, but the steel coating made it resistant to physical attacks and he doubted he could fire off another dark pulse without going insane at this point. Unless-

_The sheath. Every time it attacks me, it keeps those a good distance away, even more so when darkness suddenly started listening to me. If I can hit that with my strongest attack, I should be able to end this._

The only problem was getting to it. If need be, it could use pursuit to escape as much as it could use it to attack, shifting location at will. Annoying. Maybe-

Riven narrowly avoided getting killed only by falling backward as two crimson blades emerged out of his shadow like spears.

_Well that's new._

It was when he saw the sheath emerge soon after that he got an idea. Waiting until the Doublade began attacking him again, he disregarded the ghost's blows, ducking under overhead swipes and sidestepping past downward slashes to get near the sheath. As expected, the steel type used pursuit to shift its position before Riven was able to connect with his own sword.

Behind him, a crescent shaped slash headed for his head as he turned into it with roll, jumping back up to his feet with a handstand. Slicing horizontally to parry the following hits, he jumped high into the air, spinning as he came down to add momentum to his strike. The blade came down, dark energy flowing around it, ready to cut deep.

Then the blade snapped in two as the Doublade managed to bring up one of its swords. The broken piece of the sword whirled past Riven's face as he came down.

_Fuck, why now!?_

His curses were cut short as pain erupted along his back, stinging like fire as his knees crashed into the floor. A long gash had cut into his back when he was unable to defend against the slash from behind, extending from shoulder to hip in agonizing pain.

Barely managing to escape the ghost's attacks, he could feel the warm liquid trickling down his back as he rolled along the grass. His sword was gone, the only thing left remaining was a jagged stump that couldn't cut even if it married a grindstone. That left one thing he could use, his last resort.

The Weavile claw knife.

It could channel darkness far better than his sword could, but he doubted he could use it to parry the Doublade's attacks at all. Sturdiness wasn't something dark types had in spades, or at all for that matter. As much as Haona could dish out damage, she couldn't really take a hit.

_Heh. Same with me, I guess. One cut and I'm reeling from pain._

Picking himself up again as his back screamed, he pointed the remains of his sword at the Doublade. If he could use darkness to his advantage, there was something else he could use too. A move universal to practically all pokemon.

Lunging forth this time, Riven held onto the knife with his left hand, the right holding onto his stump of a blade. The Doublade slashed in a crossing crescent, blades sweeping from head to feet. Springing into the air amidst the slashes, he extended his body as it fell; leveling out into a roll and back onto his legs as he went straight for the sheath.

A smile broke out on his lips as the Doublade attempted to pursuit again. Its body vanished and reappeared behind him as expected, blades coming down on him. Except this time, Riven was ready. Flipping the sword over into a reverse grip, he raised his right arm, locking with one of the Doublade's. Exposed on his left, the ghost attempted to blindside him but was astonished when its blade was blocked completely by the human's forearm, as if it was made of steel.

Upon closer inspection, a small blade of condensed darkness blocked the metal from tearing skin. Yellow eyes blinked in surprise as they saw Riven smirk.

His right arm broke away from the blade lock, sending one of the swords awry. Floating low in the air, Riven jumped onto it, using it as a platform to boost his speed. At the same moment, energy pooled into his legs, illuminating his body in white light momentarily as he kicked off, leaving after-images of himself along his path.

Flying through the air, a small Weavile knife came out of his pocket. Channeling all the dark energy he could without pushing himself over the edge into it, a fierce red glow outlined with black wisps coated the knife. Spiraling, Riven turned his body with a spin, using the speed boost from the quick attack as well as the night slash within the knife to turn himself into a makeshift drill.

The Doublade was unable to react as the Weavile knife stabbed into its sheath, followed by a rising wave of dark power. The night slash blew outwards from the stab, red and black spirals of razor sharp darkness shredding the grass behind it in a cone ten meters wide while snapping swords like twigs. Metal cracked as the Doublade fell limp from the attack, floating weakly in the air.

Riven gasped for air, holding onto the Diancie stone like his life depended on it, which was layered with cracks. His head felt like splitting and his body ached all over. Throwing away the now useless piece of metal that was his sword, he felt like screaming from the migraine. Darkness receded around him, the colorful auras vanishing as it did.

The small pink stone that clung to his neck seared into his hand like molten iron, then shattered as well, shards scattering into the wind.

Breathing hard and slowly getting to his feet, Riven approached the Doublade. Crimson and brown met yellow in understanding.

"Looks like you lost," Riven managed amongst his labored breathing.

_It seems… I did_, the ghost responded. _Truly amazing. To be bested by a human of all things. What are you?_

Riven looked up longingly. "Don't know myself. But-" He nodded at the steel type. "I'm going to find out. No matter what I do. I promise you that."

_Resolve… Perhaps you do have what it takes to wield me. Don't disappoint me, I get bored easily. _The Doublade chuckled. _But a wager is a wager_. _My name is Efrain, and I, am at your service_, _new King._

Grasping both blades with his hands, Riven pointed one at the sky and swung the other, releasing a shadow claw with a mental command, carving a few words into the ground.

_Now it's my turn to attack_.

Exhausted and wounded, he headed Northeast to Shalour, a ghost of a smile on his face.

* * *

**Well, that took a hell of a long time to do. 4 weeks, ouch. Sorry about that, I've just been busy to the brim lately. Practically my entire days are booked with class and work. I also picked up metal gear rising recently and that took up quite a bit of my time. That game is life.**

**Also, I revised some earlier chapters and polished them up a bit. Story rating changed to M because reasons.**

**I'm also trying to be more descriptive in battle scenes. Let me know if it's working. Describing the movements of a Doublade is difficult when it doesn't have a body unfortunately, so I could only use general descriptions. Bah.**

**Will try for regular weekly releases again. I've got my permanent schedule now so things should be progressing a more smoothly from here on out.**

**Thanks for reading and review/follow/favorite at your own leisure.**


	54. Shalour

Riven awoke to a mind-splitting headache, drool running down the side of his mouth, and a room with red walls decorated with designs of Fennekin and other assorted fire pokemon. There was a faint smell of cinnamon in the air as well. He noticed he was lying in a bed below another and with a quick glance across the room, noticed an identical one to his next to two rather large windows with the blinds closed. A functioning human would recognize this was a pokemon center rental room, but his train of thought was a jumbled mess and didn't quite seem to register where he was at the present moment.

"Wow, you're already up!" Said a chestnut haired nurse as she walked in. She was a Joy, but that was mostly a general term trainers used to describe the ones that worked in pokemon centers. Contrary to what most trainers believed, they weren't identical. The term just made life easier, and the nurses didn't seem to mind.

She shined a light into his eyes, examining his pupils.

"My you recover fast. Most people are down for days with a wound like that, you sure you're not some kind of pokemon?"

While that statement was mostly a joke, it made him tense for a second before relaxing. "I think I'd realize I was a super powered creature if that was the case," he smiled back, laughing even if a bit delayed. "It's not like I can shoot dark pulses out of my fingertips and form blades with my hands, right?"

"Right," she chuckled back before easily shifting the tone of the conversation. "You gave the people outside the center quite a scare."

"Wait, center? As in Pokemon center?" Riven repeated, unable to recall when he'd walked into a center at all. _I thought this was a hospital. _"The fu- I mean how did…? When did I do that?"

The nurse gave him a small, comforting smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't remember. You were a bit delirious and were white as snow from all the blood loss. We were going to give you a transfusion but there was no medical records on file. Luckily you somehow recovered enough to not need it. What you do need is some iron supplements though, the blood loss was substantial and you might still feel weak. Your entire shirt was soaked in blood, what happened to you?"

Riven _should_ have been more concerned about nearly dying in public for the umpteenth time, but was more distraught at the notion that yet another shirt was lost to the combination of suicidal shenanigans and outclassed tussles with very strong pokemon. His wallet was no longer on the tier of "starving-Orran-child", but he still couldn't help but frown. Being poor might leave someone, the mentality won't though. "Fought a pokemon off," he muttered plainly, still frowning.

"You can't just say that so easily!" The nurse gasped. "Don't tell me you fought it by yourself!?"

"More or less," he shrugged, groaning as the motion jarred his sensitive back. "Got some help from my blades… That also happen to be sentient and classify as a pokemon. Did you know what happened to the Doublade I had with me? Red blades, yellow eyes?"

The woman looked slightly fearful. Not surprising, ghosts unnerved Joys at best. The more malicious and rarely seen ghost types could strike fear in even experienced trainers. For a living weapon the effect was doubled.

"It's in the pokeball on the table," she said, pointing. "That ghost scared us straight, though it was damaged pretty badly. With the attacks recently, Honedge and their evolutionary line have been under suspicion, and that Doublade of yours is… intimidating, to be honest. I guess the trainers weren't lying… The color of those swords really do look like someone dipped steel into a pool of blood. Scary…"

_They have no idea,_ Riven mused mentally. "Yeah, he gets that a lot. Wait. Was he already in the pokeball or did someone put it there? Because if they did, we're going to have problems," he glared sternly.

_I fought that bastard with my own blood, sweat, and tears damn it. He's _my _pair of psychotic sentient swords._

The nurse shook her head. "No, it was already in the pokeball. From the trail of blood you left, I'd say you were at a pokemart before you passed out in the pokemon center. We did get a call from about twenty different people saying they saw a man walking sluggishly around with a huge cut on his back and bleeding on everything. The cashiers were so shocked they forgot to charge the fee for the items you bought. What kind of pokemon did you and your Doublade fight? The gash on your back was extensive."

"Scyther," Riven lied, gripping the bridge of his nose as his migraine pounded in his skull. Any medically trained professional would recognize that the cut had been far too clean to be a Scyther's jagged chitin blade, but they couldn't necessarily force him to tell the truth. Victim rights, heh. "Managed to drive it off, but it slashed me in the back and hurt my pokemon pretty badly. Those x-scissors are _nasty_. I was trying to get him to the center, I guess? It's hard to remember. Ngh."

He groaned, holding his head.

"Are you all right? You've been holding your head since we started talking." She came over and examined him again, checking for fever and other signs of illness. When at last she noticed his hair, her eyes narrowed, seeing something was off. "That's odd. I swear your hair was fully black yesterday. Now it has a large streak of white in it. Did you somehow dye it overnight?"

Another shrug. "I can't remember most of what happened when I got to Shalour, honestly. Could be I did something nonsensical like dye my hair while I was off dying, but I'm not even sure how long I've been here." Closing his eyes when the pain intensified, he held his head in his hands.

"Is the migraine that bad?"

"Mmm. Feels like someone's driving a stake with a width of a building into my skull," he explained while rubbing his temples.

"Would you like me to bring you some medicine for your headache?" She asked. With a nod, she left the room, leaving him alone.

He ran a hand through his hair and settled back onto his pillow, sighing as the headache numbed slightly. _Going to need to buy more black hair dye. Diancie stone shattered too. Need to find a replacement. If I keep going off like I did back there I'll have a head full of snow hair soon enough… and probably a cracked mind. Actually, snow white hair looks pretty cool…_ His brain throbbed again. _Damn it, is this what a hangover feels like? People actually do this for _fun_? What are they, insane?_

Joy returned a few minutes after, handing him a glass of water and some pills, along with the iron supplements. He took them and felt his migraine lessen. "Thanks. By the way, Nurse Joy, I have a small concern."

"Mmmm?"

"I'm not a trainer. I can't really be here," Riven said. "I don't have a license to show you. How much do I owe you? My wallet is-"

He reached out with an arm to grab the bag on the table-

She grabbed his wrist gently and returned it to the bed. She let go of his hand and held up a scolding finger. "You were wounded and had a pokemon, that warrants exceptions. No buts about it, mister. Now, lunch?"

Riven was about to object, but decided against it. "That'd be good, thank you." _It's been a while since I've had pancakes. Wonder if they still have that pecha jelly with maple syrup?_

* * *

He was out of the center in two days, much to the astonishment of some of the people who'd seen him when he'd been walking around like a zombie two days prior. While recovering, he managed to strike up a few conversations with some of the trainers. The good thing about being a mercenary(and getting a haircut) was that it helped his interpersonal skills far more than he anticipated. Curiosity about the training world in Kalos also served to make him listen with earnest.

The training atmosphere in Kalos was different than in Hoenn, with an emphasize on style and finesse rather than the more laid back "flowing" attitudes Hoennites had. The spirited nature of the younger kids hadn't changed, though. They were still as zealous as ever.

It made him smile. If a little.

When he left the center, he emerged to a town built along the coast, with a long stone bridge connecting the two sides of the city. In the distance he could see the Tower of Mastery, near the sparkling crystalline waters of the ocean. People walked up and down the bridge, with many couples staring out at the ocean, pokemon enjoying the view along with them. The feel of Shalour was very peaceful, almost like Dewford, if it had been a little more populated and built upon a slight incline along the coast rather than on an island.

Deciding to go to the beach on a whim after being bed ridden for nearly two days to stretch his legs, he juggled the pokeball in his hands, a slight bit hesitant. Trainers hung around the beach, playing with their pokemon in the sand. Some martial artists practiced on the sand with their own fighters, running drills and jogging laps up and down the shoreline. Martial arts had a heavy presence here from what he'd read at the Lumiose library.

Riven looked down at the pokeball in his palm and pushed the center button. Figuring what the hell, he released Efrain from the ball.

The shiny Doublade emerged in the air, floating idly above the water. He was released facing the water and hovered around to face Riven. The human tried to discern what the ghost was thinking, but with no face and only eyes to go by, it was pretty difficult. He crossed his arms, then asked, "How are you doing?"

_I'm dead_, Efrain replied dryly.

Riven gave him a look. "You fucking serious. Really?"

_You put me in a ball_, the ghost stated. _Forgive me if I'm a slight bit perturbed by that_. _Being caged is not enjoyable to me._

"I honestly don't even remember when I did that," Riven admitted, squinting as he thought. "Besides, the virtual reality in the pokeball isn't too bad, it's easier this way in populated areas. People get nervous these days when you're carrying around visible weapons, pokemon or not. I don't want police getting suspicious."

Yellow eyes peered back at him.

"I'm actually a wanted terrorist in my region."

…_Oh._ Efrain turned around slowly_. Well then_.

Riven held in a shit eating grin.

_I still don't like being in a ball_, Efrain complained. His sashes twitched and yellow eyes scanned the surrounding area, pupils shrinking as they faced the sun. _Why are we near the coast?_

"Why not? I did spend most of these past two days in a bed because you almost killed me. Some relaxation isn't totally uncalled for. Nearest town with a center was Shalour regardless. Geosenge doesn't take kindly to strangers, and the Graveyard was close to here anyway."

_Two days? It's only been a few hours at most,_ the ghost said, confused.

"Ah, you've never been in a pokeball before. They're designed to slow the flow of time for pokemon," Riven explained. "Took me a while to understand it and don't even try to ask me how the damn things work because I've no clue. Days will seem like hours, and months only seem like weeks. It's so pokemon don't get bored, probably. I imagine spending days in a ball with nothing to do would be incredibly dull. Also, it's strange talking to you like a person."

_I am a person_, Efrain corrected. Riven could almost hear the frown in his voice. _I just happen to be dead and have swords and a sheath for a body. I'm still Efrain and have very human annoyances. _

"Must be strange then. Dying then coming back, I mean."

_It is an interesting process_, the ghost mused. _I don't recommend trying it, though. Dying hurts when you can remember it._

"How'd you die?" Riven asked, dreading the answer.

_I was stabbed in the groin, gut, lung, neck, both legs, and chest, _Efrain said, as if reading from a book. _And in the toe._

Riven winced. "Yeah, I can see why that'd hurt. Least it wasn't something shitty like infection. Dying while smelling your limbs turn to cheese isn't pleasant. I'd rather get stabbed, it's over quicker."

_Indeed. However, had I died anywhere but the Graveyard, I would have become an empty ball of gas with no memories. Probably. I'm… not really sure if I'm lucky because of that. Eternal rest or an existence of a life I'll never live again. Maybe it's easier to forget? Being stabbed through the groin isn't something I'd be eager to repeat._

"Don't know about the other part, and I hope I _never_ do, but that's a good question," Riven agreed, flinching again at the prospect of getting pierced through _there. _"Being a pokemon might not be as bad as you think."

_Says the one who is more of the latter than the former_, the ghost shot back. _I wasn't a hybrid, unholy abomination like you. _

"Oh look, I smell hypocrisy. Says the pair of swords that can talk. We're little abominations together." The human gave a short snort. "Part of it is still your fault though. If _you_ hadn't tried to suck my life force like some kind of soul vampire, I'd still be fairly regular. At least I believe so. The hell did you do to me? If it's too complicated to explain, ghost magic is fine too. Makes things easy, I don't have to think so hard and just chalk it up to bullshit."

_I'm sure you do that often. It's not "ghost magic", you simpleton_. The Doublade hovered slowly up and down, sashes swaying in unnatural ribbons of motion. _I presume it was that I nearly killed you?_

Riven looked unimpressed. "That's even worse than ghost magic. You're not even trying, are you?"

Ignoring him, Efrain continued_, if your power hadn't erupted when it did, you would have succumbed to me. Your instincts and bloodlust took over and responded to that. They were latent in you and awakened afterwards, I guess. Those of the dark fight harder than most to survive. I didn't notice it much when I was alive, but they really are a resilient type. They'd stop at nothing to slay their enemies. You are much the same, dark prince. Although… your bloodlust is far more frightening and driven than any creature of the dark I've ever fought. I'm dead and our battle made my steel rattle—those thoughts and feelings are malevolent to an absolutely frightening degree._

"Humans are despicable beings," Riven sighed, looking down at his hands. "And I'm human first, the strange dark type comes second. Pokemon don't hate and wish to kill quite like we do. I'm not surprised, really."

_So you don't deny this part of yourself? This joy for the kill?_ Efrain questioned. _Aren't people generally uncomfortable with this side of themselves?_

Riven stared out at the sea absently, taking in the salty breeze. "People shut out parts of themselves they don't want to see." A hand reached out, then came back in a clenched fist. "From what a friend told me, I'm more of the 'other' than the other two parts of the soul. I _am_ the part that people shut away. It's what dark types are. I just try to rein it in more than most, even if that thing in my head wants to cut loose, desperately so. My hands aren't clean, Efrain. My world was a disaster- I… I guess it was only natural it produced rejects like me. Although, it was similar to yours, wasn't it?" He smiled at his pokemon. "That's why you chose me as your opponent, not because of what I am."

The ghost said nothing, but Riven could feel the unspoken agreement through the silence. He shrugged, holding his hands out, palms facing the sky.

"I suppose it doesn't matter now though. It's all ashes of the past. Here and now I'm your trainer, er, user? You're a weapon and a pokemon. Huh. Makes things difficult. Besides, how the hell do you coordinate what you see with your split eyes like that? Isn't it disorienting?" Riven tried crossing his eyes while moving forward, nearly tripping.

_This is why sometimes I wish I didn't remember what it was like to be human,_ Efrain grumbled coarsely. _Being able to relate to a Kecleon is disconcerting._

"I see." Riven held his chin in a hand. "Well then, since we're here, mind if I test you for a bit? First as a weapon, then as a pokemon. It'll take a while to get you into the swing of things, since there are names for every move now. You might not even realize you've already used some of them. So, is that fine with you?"

Efrain dipped in the air to show his approval. _I am the swords that will carry you to victory. Just don't put me in that ball again or I'll reveal the depraved hilarity of your dreams._

Riven's glare was incendiary.

_They're highly entertaining_, Efrain continued, cackling lowly._ Killer Skitty who can bite a man's face off. Very interesting._

"Nosy bastard. We going to do this or not? I've- we've got things to do."

_Yes, prince._

Grabbing the handles of both crimson blades, Riven clicked his tongue, testing their weight and feel. "Name's Riven. I'm not a prince here, just a mercenary trying to find his way. I'm no one, so stop calling me prince. That's annoying."

_Fine then, no one,_ Efrain replied.

Smirking, Riven fell into the sword's dance stance, swinging one of Efrain's swords at the water. The motion and power of the swing was boosted by Efrain's own strength, creating a slight razor wind that cleaved through an approaching wave and continued for a few feet afterwards.

_Nice balance between blade and handle,_ Riven noted, taking several more swings at the air, kicking up sand from the small slices of wind.

Trying something new, he aimed his attention at an outcropping of rock along the beach. Swinging swords at rocks was one good way to give blacksmiths and other metalworkers an aneurysm, but since this equated to magic biometal, common sense was really up in the air right now.

Still cut through without a problem.

_Excellent cutting ability… Efrain's blades might never need sharpening. That's good to know, means no dull edges during combat. That's… pretty amazing. Pokemon truly are something spectacular._

He ceased the practice after several more tests. Holding Efrain outwards then gently tossing him up into the air, Riven grinned with unusual excitement. "You are _damn_ sharp. Those are some utterly nasty edges you've got. Are all Doublades this effective? You cut through solid rock in a straight line without even dulling. That's impressive."

Efrain gave him the ghostly equivalent of a shrug with his sashes. _Maybe I'm just that good?_

Riven rolled his eyes and was about to start practicing again when he felt envious stares boring into his back like spears of contempt. A group of teenaged kids whispered among themselves, pointing at Riven. More specifically, at Efrain.

A couple seconds were needed before things clicked in his mind, at which point Riven wished he could fly away. Efrain was a shiny pokemon. Trainers got absolutely _rock solid_ from seeing a shiny. Hard as _diamond_ if the pokemon was halfway decent and not some run of the mill Tentacool. These trainers got more excited by encountering a shiny than they did seeing a girl naked. Which should have been disconcerting had the general age of most of them been post-pubescent. Since this was only the third gym though, most were pretty young. Still, Honedge and its evolutionary line were rare enough to train, but a shiny one could make all sorts of boxers and panties go flying into orbit—didn't matter if they were twelve, or fifty.

The group of trainers came up to him and began to ask him all sorts of questions about Efrain, with some of the richer kids even asking him to trade for a _full team_ of pokemon in exchange. One offered a bloody _keystone_ for him, which was astounding to say the least. Denying their requests as well as bets and wagers, they challenged him to a couple of battles instead, grumbling about life being unfair.

Riven humored them, choosing to let Efrain get into the swing of things while practicing the names of the moves as they battled, mostly letting the ghost do his own thing with sparse help from him. The Doublade was stronger than their pokemon by a significant margin and experienced no trouble defeating them. Years of combat experience as a knight must have helped, since even fire types couldn't catch him with those tricky close range pursuit teleports.

Content with a picture at least, the kids took off, leaving Riven and Efrain in the midst of a nicely trashed to hell shoreline—complete with scars in the ground, blood littered everywhere, and patches of glass from stray fireblasts. Typical signs of a battle really. Want to know where a trainer fought? Look for glass or scorch marks, you weren't officially a trainer until you've caused _at least_ a couple of officials' heart attacks in property damage estimates.

"You did well for your first trainer battle," Riven said to Efrain, who was floating idly beside him again. "Nice job too, you didn't accidentally or purposely kill anything. Did leave one hell of a mess though. Can't help it with bladed pokemon, I guess."

_A shame,_ Efrain chuckled darkly._ Hmmm, I_ _thought human trainers and their gladiator-esque mock battles were ridiculous but-_

"They're kind of entertaining, aren't they?" Riven finished. "Yeah, that's why pokemon follow trainers so readily. It's fun smashing your opponent face first into the ground without having to worry about murdering each other. Satisfies your twisted thirst for violence and your pitiful human sensibilities at the same time too. Like a nice little ball of contradicting shit you can't find in a perfect balance anywhere else—that you also get to beat the _living hell_ out of. Bonding at its finest. Pretty great."

_Now I'm starting to believe why you're a wanted terrorist._

Neither could say another word as a blue orb of energy flew at them. Without hesitating, Efrain cut it in two with a shadow claw, both sides of the sphere splitting into two and exploding in the sand with enough force to send the grains twenty feet into the air and in every which way.

A wave of the grains swept over trainer and pokemon, giving both an earthy shower.

Riven spat out sand as a blonde-haired girl with an extremely long ponytail came running up to them both, frantically apologizing. A Lucario calmly trotted behind her, the glow of Aura sphere vanishing in its hands slowly until it was no longer present.

"I'm sorry! We were training and the attack went awry. You're not hurt are you?" The girl asked Riven, who looked fairly irritated. The ghost next to him appeared roughly the same.

"No, I'm just _dandy_," Riven answered through grit teeth, still spitting out spare sand grains.

"That's good then. I'm lucky your Doublade saved-" The blonde gasped in astonishment and disbelief as she caught sight of Efrain up close. "Wow… a shiny Doublade. That's amazing! The color of his swords are blood red! Scary, but amazing!" Her eyes lit up like stars while the Lucario behind her had its face buried in its paw.

Somehow, seeing a sassy Lucario was more hilarious than anything Riven had seen in the past week. A muffled giggle escaped him. "You're Korrina, aren't you?" He asked, noting the extremely long hair and rollerblade attire.

She blinked, abandoning her spontaneous gushing at the shiny. Seriously, it was like they were Murkrow who'd seen their first crown. Korrina smiled, bright green eyes full of energy. "That's me! How'd you know? It usually takes people a while."

"You can't go anywhere in Lumiose without seeing your face somewhere," Riven replied. "You're always on those giant television screens on the south side."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." She reddened a little, but the color faded quickly. "Sorry about the aura sphere, Lukan usually doesn't lose focus like that. He saw you and he shot it at you without thinking. I'm so sorry!" She started scolding her Lucario, who didn't really seem to care all that much.

Ignoring the fighter's nasty glare, Riven shook his hair and clothes off. "It's fine, training accidents happen. Lucarios don't seem to like me much, for some reason. I'm used to it."

"Lukan doesn't really like anyone," Korrina laughed, teasing the aura pokemon with a scratch behind the ears. He grumbled at the gesture but leaned into it regardless. Then she turned back to Efrain with a predatory grin on her face. He actually had backed away a slight bit and seemed _just a bit _reluctant to go near the gym leader. Pawning over him, she spoke, "I saw some battling going on here, was that you?"

Riven pointed at his pokemon, passing the blame like a politician. "Mostly his handiwork. I didn't really assist too much. He's still getting used to things."

"It's a male?"

"His name is Efrain and- well, it's a long and depressing story, you don't really need to hear it. It's not that interesting either, anyway. _So_ dull." That earned him a dirty look from his pokemon. "Put me to sleep within minutes."

"I'll take your word for it then," she said, grinning fiercely. "How about a battle then? Your Doublade and my Lucario? Efrain isn't too exhausted from the battles is he? If he is well then that's _too bad_."

Riven held in a snicker. _She's goading him. She's goading him! Is he going to fall for it? Is he going to-_

The Doublade eagerly accepted, sliding both blades across each others' surfaces, sparks flying from the force of it.

_He did,_ Riven mused, then regarded Korrina. "If I win do I get a badge out of this?"

Korrina smiled at the joke as she retreated a distance away to give room for the battle. "I guess we'll see!"

The fight proved to be fairly interesting—a result of Efrain's typing making the Lucario's strongest attacks useless, even if they had a same-type attack bonus. Watching the fighter struggle against the speed and pincer attacks Efrain employed was highly entertaining its own right. Aura spheres came into contact with Efrain's blades, all but passing right through as they split apart near him. Riven could compare it to seeing two magnets repel each other. The attack never really made contact with Efrain, but seemed to be deflected or bounced off, similar to what psychic attacks did to him.

They seemed to be evenly matched, with the Lucario's own steel typing make it more resistant to physical attacks than normal. Its quick reflexes also allowed it to dodge Efrain's attacks, but not without some degree of difficulty. Korrina stood there, impassively calm as she watched the battle unfold.

Riven raised an eyebrow, examining her. There wasn't any way she hadn't been in this very situation a thousand times, she was a fighting type gym leader, and third in the traditional circuit. Ghosts were uncommon at this point, but not unheard of. There had to have been something she had up her slee-

A flash of brilliant multi-colored light shone from the top of her right hand, reacting with a stone on the gauntlet the Lucario was wearing. On its surface it displayed a helix of color; the symbol of mega-evolution.

"Okay, Lukan! Let's do this like we practiced! Mega evolve!"

A tether of light linked trainer and pokemon as a sphere of energy enveloped the fighter, and from it emerged a mega Lucario. Its faux ears had grown longer, turning into what seemed to be tails, and grew several more spikes along the shoulders and arms.

It moved was surprising speed as it broke through the energy shell. Energy pooled into the Lucario's hands, with wisps of purple fumes rising from the gap in between its hands. A dark ball of ghostly energy formed quickly afterwards, blasting towards Efrain. Just managing to avoid it with a timely pursuit, the shadow ball flew into the water several yards ahead.

When it did, an explosion that could destroy a decently sized building launched water high up into the air, raining down rivulets of water down upon the beach.

Riven gawked.

One shadow ball. _ONE. _Not even a STAB move either.

Sure he'd seen Steven completely trash that kid back in Lumiose, but he was holding back something considerably. And given the guy was a champion, he expected such power from the Metagross. But a third gym leader with a Lucario whom had barely kept pace with Efrain up until now?

Holy fucking _shit_.

The battle didn't last too long after that. Mostly because Korrina didn't want to destroy the beach, and Riven obliged. The beachgoers were getting a slight bit grumpy about getting showered with sand, water, and equally irritated Krabby. The shoreline had gotten infested with them in short order because of the explosions. Seeing flying crustaceans was pretty amusing, though.

"That was a great battle, even if we didn't get to finish," Korrina said, as the two walked along the beach, pokemon behind them. She offered to show him around the Tower of Mastery, since he figured why not. It also didn't hurt to gather more information about mega evolution. That kind of power… Just thinking about it in the hands of a deranged asshole made him shiver.

"A gym leader trashing the beach would be very frowned upon by the League. You made the right decision. Trainers get so engrossed in the battle that they forget property damage is a thing," Riven said.

"You're not a trainer?" Korrina wondered, raising a brow. "You command your pokemon like one, and Efrain's incredibly strong."

"I used to be," Riven smiled ruefully. "Not anymore though. Things happened and I left that life behind, it wasn't for me, I guess?"

Korrina looked downcast upon hearing that. Riven felt kind of bad for lying that way, but he couldn't tell her he was a mercenary that was _also_ being labeled as something that amounted to an international terrorist. She was a gym leader, and they tried their best to keep trainers encouraged—to motivate them to realize their dreams.

Sadly most of them quit. Even in Hoenn, a majority of them stopped training if they failed to beat Norman. Then they became rangers or researchers. It was probably the same here.

The rest of the way was spent in silence, but when they came to the tower, Riven was taken aback by the size. The sight didn't render him a useless, gaping mess like his first time seeing Lumiose did, but it was impressive. The way there was interesting enough and more still when the massive doors opened, revealing a stone interior with a giant statue of a Lucario in front. There were rows of stairs leading up to the top. There were people meditating and practicing with their fighting pokemon, all of which gave Riven nasty glares. Especially the Mienshaos and Lucarios. Efrain rattled in response.

Korrina walked him up, giving him a rundown of the place. Apparently it had been built where the first mega and keystone had been found, and thus the first known mega-evolution. There were intricate carvings and depictions of Lucario and other pokemon, showing the legend of the discovery.

They entered a room near the top, where Korrina's grandfather stood. Riven twitched upon looking at the man's strange choice of… hair. While hilarious, it was inappropriate to laugh. A Blaziken reclined lazily against the wall, opening an eye to see who'd arrived.

The young man next to Korrina looked more intrigued by the Blaziken than by anything he'd seen so far.

"You fond of Blazikens, son?" Korrina's grandfather asked, smiling. "They're powerful pokemon and companions."

Riven cleared his throat, apologizing. "Sorry, I just have a Combusken back home. She's an energetic little thing. Loves to fight. Your Blaziken just reminds me of her. Sorry for staring," he said, to which the fire type nodded.

"That's okay, hah. He loves the attention anyway." Gurkinn grinned. His Blaziken snorted steam and grunted, closing its eyes again. "Came to see the tower, eh? And with my granddaughter too! How was the battle?"

"You knew we battled?"

"Naturally," Gurkinn replied. "Korrina doesn't give anyone personal tours unless they've battled first. I know for sure she doesn't bring in boys just because, right?"

The blonde girl flustered, waving her hands around. "Of course not! Lukan had a battle with his Doublade. It's a shiny too, so beautiful!"

Gurkinn chuckled, pointing to behind Riven. "Is that why it's hiding behind you, son?"

He nodded in response. "Efrain isn't too good with people fawning over him. Hurts his dignity I guess? Does it hurt your dignity?"

The Doublade wrapped a sash around Riven's arm. The human keeled over slightly, scolding him mentally.

_Don't soul suck me, you shit_, Riven complained.

_Don't insult my honor, geezer, _Efrain shot back.

Riven remembered the streak of white the nurse pointed out and scowled. _I am not old._

_Yes, you are. You're older than everyone here put together, including me, so stop lying._

"Having a nice conversation?" Gurkinn wondered, bemused. "You're making strange expressions."

"He's being difficult," Riven replied, slapping the sash away. "Ghosts are handfuls." He squinted at a carving of a pokemon behind the old man, adorned with a crown and a dress, a cross shaped blade in its hands. "What is that?"

Gurkinn turned around. "Oh, that's Diancie—another pokemon that achieved mega-evolution in this very place. Its form is beyond beautiful and can create diamonds with its hands. Truly a magnificent pokemon."

_Diancie… Is there one here?_ "Did it leave any of its diamonds behind?" Riven asked.

"That's a bizarre question. But yes, there is a deposit of them below the tower. They're quite a sight to behold. Are you interested in stones?"

"Something of a hobby, yeah," Riven acknowledged. Which wasn't untrue either. Lately stones had been very prominent in his life. No, his life revolved around them, to be exact. Ancient artifacts too. God, he was turning into Steven. Maybe rock collecting _was_ a disease.

Korrina's grandfather led them back down the god forsaken rows of stairs into the underground portion of the tower, which had been there since before it had been built. How long it was there had been estimated to be in the thousands. Ancient, by this world's standards.

Coming to an antechamber illuminated by a shining pink glow, a cluster of pink stalagmites rose from the ground. Beautiful, jagged lattices of glowing rock, just like Gurkinn had said. The only problem was that just being in the room made Riven feel sick to his stomach.

Korrina saw him lurch and brought him out. "Nathan, what's wrong?"

He was sweating profusely, legs trembling just from standing a mere five minutes inside. "Too much exposure…" he whispered, holding in his desire to vomit. "I don't feel… don't feel good in there."

The gym leader exchanged a look of concern with her grandfather, who looked just as perplexed as she was. Lukan, on the other hand, was far from it, crossing his arms with a hmph.

"Did you eat anything that didn't sit well?" Korrina asked. "You look ready to hurl."

"I kind of do want to hurl," he admitted, holding a hand over his mouth. "Forcefully too. Shit."

It took thirty minutes for him to regain his composure before he tried going back in. Upon doing so, the feelings came back full force as the light from the crystals seem to burn his very skin. Six minute of being inside and blood started to flow out of his nose. Having enough, the other two hauled him away from the antechamber when he couldn't stand up anymore. They put him in another room adjacent to that one, listening to his request to get a few samples from the cluster instead.

While recovering in the room as his head swam, Efrain hovered over him.

_Fairy energy. Disastrous to dark types. Do you have a death wish going back in there?_

"I didn't expect… a reaction… like that," he gasped out. "I felt like I was on fire and my intestines were being ripped apart. It's getting stronger."

_Yes. __A mild nosebleed is fortunate. __What will you do when you become as susceptible to fairies as other dark creatures?_

Riven picked himself up slowly, wobbling to his feet. "Cry, probably. Then cough up blood while I'm at it."

Groggily examining the room, his mind processed the images carved upon the walls at the pace of a Dunsparce. Then, as if a dam had been opened, the flooding waters of realization came crashing in.

"I've seen these markings before," he whispered, running up to the walls as he traced his finger along them. "I know I've seen them."

They were the exact same geometric lines he'd seen on the clothing of the people that the azure sphere had shown him. In the center of the room, the lines met at one point, forming a depression in the wall.

Almost… spherical. A lock, perhaps?

Glancing above, there was a depiction of a Claydol, followed by rays of light from atop the heavens. Below, there were figures that looked like people seen sitting in a sea of flames and raging seas. All along the circular room, the same scene was playing out, again and again, between the geometric markings.

The sight was almost haunting.

Out of place and carved neatly into the very bottom of the wall, an ancient language spelled out a phrase.

Gurkinn and Korrina returned, holding fragments of the stones. Riven shot back towards them, eyes wide. Pointing to the wall, he nearly shouted. "What does this say?"

The old man pursed his lips, and thought. "From what I remember... Linguists said it says-"

"Says what?" Riven all but demanded. "What does it _say_?"

"Hold on. It mentions-"

"-to follow the protectors of the divine," Korrina finished. "Which lead to the end of legends."

* * *

**Will revise for grammatical inconsistencies and spelling derps later.**

**Yes. I was late by a day. I should change the approximate update time window to +/- a week. What can I say? 17 units, 20 hrs of work a week, and midterms do that. Next week I have another damn round of those demons as well as like 2 papers due, not counting homework and work as well. Next chapter might release a few days later than a week, two weeks if everything goes to crap. Ah well. Did I mention my bike broke and I have to walk forty five minutes from home to campus about four times a day? Yeah...**

**Real life, son!**

**Sol: I updated last week at 3:44pm PST. At 1pm EST, I was working on Sunday. There's no way I updated then.**

**Update time should be renamed update day, as any point in the day can still be classified as "today". Can't always get them up on the dot, as much as I'd like. Also, timezones are important. **

**Was the pun in the previous chapter necessary?**

**Yes.**


	55. Ties

Another bloody riddle.

"Nathan, are you okay?" Korrina asked, noting the way his lip curled upwards.

Riven ignored the question as he was too busy being caught up trying to piece together jagged pieces of an ancient puzzle that seemed to get vaguer the more he thought about them. Even so far as Kalos, there were similar markings found, hundreds of miles away from Hoenn, spanning seas and mountainous terrain. The fact something relating to the azure sphere could be found in what was, at the time, a dinky hole in the ground- only reinforced the notion that whatever he'd stumbled upon in Dewford held larger implications for the world than some local, long forgotten civilization would.

This race, this civilization, didn't exist as a small little cluster of human activities or cities. Far from that. This civilization probably controlled the _world._ Conjectures mostly, but there wasn't a better explanation. If this was a culture, then that meant the people had a way of communicating over long distances, or at least were capable of long distance travel by sea or land. Possibly. He doubted they had modern technology to get around quickly either. Swimming or flying across continents wasn't feasible either, unless your ride happened to fly at supersonic speeds, and or happened to be a legendary bird. Not technically impossible and some pokemon were rumored to be capable but… it didn't seem likely. In that regard, airships and cruise liners several hundred years back or more also didn't.

If they did, he'd swallow a knife.

This though… this was _here_. A sign of people who came before.

And yet, absolutely no mention in history books at all. No ruins anywhere but for select locations that seemed innocuous at best and needed a special item to so much as access. At first glance what appeared to be innocent markings and carvings actually told a story, alluding to some kind of event or happening that occurred in the past. All of it in pictures, visions, and riddles- the spheres acting like keys notwithstanding. Shit, it was almost… almost like they were trying to hide something apart from those human evolution stones. That or they tried being mystical and vague on purpose, for no other reason than to be _massive_ dickwads.

Still, the stones _were_ a remarkable discovery in and of themselves but-

Something didn't sit well. That couldn't have been the end of it, to go through all this trouble. Riven was certain there was something these people were trying to hide as well. But hide from whom, and _what,_ exactly?

No clue at all. He _did_, however, have in his possession a sphere that opened stuff like this. Well, Steven had it, but semantics. All he had to do was call him-

Oh, that's right. The guy had already left for Hoenn a week prior. Damn.

_Steven probably wouldn't be too thrilled if I told him to take another trip across miles of open sea for something that _could_ amount to nothing. I'll call later, this place isn't going anywhere._

Looking back at the carving, he pursed his lips, brow furrowed. Only when two fingers jabbed him on the shoulder did he break out of his trance.

"Nathan!" Korrina repeated, waving her other hand in front of his face.

His brain finally gave him the signal to pay attention to his surroundings and turned to face her, blinking. "Huh? Did you say something?"

Korrina put her hands on her hips as her grandfather let out a chuckle. "This one's more of an archeologist than a trainer, I see," he said wryly, with a hint of a smile. "Recedes into a private world just like they do. Nice catch, granddaughter."

The gym leader gave her elder a dirty look.

"Uh, okay. Erm..." Riven laughed nervously, gesturing up at the carvings. "Lately I've been getting caught up investigating things like this. Never know what you might find, right?"

"I suppose," Korrina said, calming down. "People have tried figuring out what the words mean by legends and such, but no one's ever really figured it out. We thought it had something to do with mega-evolution but I guess not."

"Hmmm. It's still a possibility…" Riven ran the palm of his right hand over the smooth stone, tracing sunken depression in the wall with a finger. "Doesn't this look like something belongs in here? A key perhaps? Taking a _wild_ guess I'd wager something… _spherical_?"

Korrina and her grandfather both tilted their heads in unison. Lukan didn't seem to care, preferring to lean against the wall and pick the dirt out of his paws instead.

"We thought the same thing too," the older man nodded, understanding. "But anything we tried didn't seem to work. Keystones and more amounted to nothing. Eventually we gave up also. Why, got an idea?"

_Oh yes I do._

Hesitating for a few moments in the guise of thinking deeply, he wondered whether telling them would be a sound idea. The coincidence that these markings and the first known evolution stone were found in the exact location couldn't just be chalked up to chance. They somehow related to each other in one way or another, that much was certain. At least, logically speaking it seemed that way. Given that, telling Gurkinn and his granddaughter might have been rather harmless, but he barely knew them and couldn't risk a leak. Those Singularity assholes already beat him to one piece, best not risk them finding another and turning one of their own assholes into a _super powered_ asshole.

_Better play it safe then. Keep it local._

Riven shook his head slowly. "Unfortunately, no. Could be anything, if this does even open anyway. I'd imagine if someone wanted to conceal something, they wouldn't leave the key lying around for the taking. You didn't try tearing the walls down?"

"And risk the ceiling caving in on us and destroying the history of the location? I'd die before allowing something of that nature to happen. This is a historical place, not to be defiled by drills or excavations," Gurkinn answered sternly, curling a lip in contempt at the thought. "Team Flare tried once. They _deeply_ regret doing so, I assure you. I'm glad those two kids put a stop to it."

Taking his word for it, Riven headed back up stairs with them, placing the Diancie stone in his bag. As large as it was now, just holding it in his hand made him feel nauseous. Thanking Korrina and Gurkinn for their hospitality, Riven headed back to Shalour. Korrina probably noticed something was up, but as thigns were, she couldn't really act on those impulses. Good thing too.

Walking along the long bridge back to the more populated side of town, his mind still on markings, but more importantly, the depictions.

The images shown were… unpleasant to say the least. Because seriously, when are figures of people burning in freaking flames ever a _good thing_? The message was that man had been punished, that much was clear, but the lingering question of "why" remained.

Then there were the figures at the top. All of the images were of Claydols descending from the sky, with rays of light coming down from the heavens with them. And then the burning people at the bottom. Heh, hellfire and brimstone. Not ominous or foreboding at all, right?

_So Claydols really are dicks. No surprise there._

Pulling out the holo caster, he quickly dialed the number under the menu item that read, "Stone."

Riven snorted. Of course he wouldn't place his entire name in there. The guy had a pathological tendency to avoid people. Well, not that Riven was any better in that regard, but he was technically a criminal and possibly, maybe a terrorist according to some people. He had a damn _good_ excuse.

A few rings later, Steven picked up, sounding a slight bit distraught. "Riven, please tell me you aren't calling me to tell me something _else_ happened in Kalos."

"Apart from the usual crap that happens around me?" Riven chuckled.

"The usual is what scares me," Steven said dryly. "Your normal usually involves something getting stabbed, blown up, or destabilized. Catastrophically so."

"That's not- alright, maybe it is true," Riven admitted begrudgingly. "A little."

"Right. So, did you call for anything relatively disastrous so I can prepare myself something to calm myself with?"

Steven held in a breath, then sat down just in case.

"Sadly, no. Disappointing, I know. What do you know about the Tower of Mastery?"

Steven paused, recalling his trip to Kalos to study mega-evolution and its origins. "I distinctly remember it was where the first recorded non-legendary mega evolution occurred. The gym leader's grandfather's grandfather, I believe. A Lucario."

"You ever go downstairs? Where the Diancie stones are?"

"A few times, yes. But nothing of value except for a few pictures and such."

"Those pictures didn't stand out to you?" Riven inquired, wondering how they missed Steven's sharp eye. "The whole burning in flames didn't? Not even a little?"

"They are worrying, yes, but so far no one has found any meaning to them," Steven said, reiterating what Korrina had said previously. He heard a groan on the other end. "Something irritating you?"

"Yes and no. What's irritating me is how vague these things are but the silver lining is that no one really had any pieces of the puzzle before. We _do._"

"Is that so?" Steven went quiet momentarily. "If this is what I think you're implying, do explain."

"The markings along the walls in there, they had the same pattern that the peoples' robes in the Dewford cave did. When I touched the sphere, it gave me some kind of vision, I guess? I don't really know what it was, but their clothes were glowing with the same patterns. Think the human evolution stones might be related to mega evolution in some way. And the messages can only be seen by others who can't be evolved, like me and others from my time."

Steven's eyes widened. "Keystones…" he whispered, almost too faint to hear.

"Come again?"

"Keystones!" Steven repeated. "We always speculated why mega evolution needed a human partner to occur, with a sufficient link. At first scientists proposed this type of second energy to mega evolution, one that was found in humans instead of pokemon. We analyzed the wavelengths of the energies, but didn't find anything that stood out. They seemed to be one and the same. I think- I think that whoever these people were, they were trying to bring back something lost. Something we humans as a species, lost at some point in our irregular evolutionary habits."

"Humans acting like keys themselves, without the need of keystones? They were keys?" Riven guessed.

"Well, in a sense, humans are already keys." Steven stated. "We just require a keystone to allow us to unlock a pokemon's potential. At first we thought that the keystones themselves were the keys, but really, they're just the means. A tool. I believe it's because we are naturally very weak "keys". Akin to pure water being a poor conductor, but if ions are dissolved in a solution, a current flows through perfectly. Without these keystone mediums, we wouldn't be able to induce mega evolution correctly. But if-"

"-we were to become more like pokemon it would make it hell of a lot easier to do. Our potential would increase by a frightening degree, right?"

"Yes… yes it would," Steven said, pacing around his office. "While also giving humans access to the same range of abilities pokemon have. Both conduits and keys."

"Which would in turn increasethe chance for lunatics with god complexes to abuse that power," Riven gravely concluded. "Seeing what mega evolution can do, I'd be a little concerned about who got access to this. That's why those mercenaries and fanatics getting that artifact piece is concerning."

"With good reason. Perhaps that's why everything is so secretive?" Steven mused. "The creators of the spheres foresaw the same thing and deemed it as too dangerous." _Or someone else did._

"Don't blame them," Riven growled. "You saw what a few of us could do with powers like that. Entire forests and cities burned to cinders isn't something to take lightly. I never saw mega evolution in my time though. Why weren't the Roses keys themselves? There were plenty of fire pokemon they used."

"Did you see any Charizards or Blazikens?" Steven asked.

"No."

"Then that's probably why," Steven said firmly. "Apart from that, what if the Roses _did know_, but you didn't? You did say you only fought with Mightyena and human weapons. They probably didn't see you as enough of a threat to warrant using such power. I've seen a mega evolved Charizard's power first hand. It's _quite_ intimidating."

"I bet." Riven gave a short grunt. "If I was them, I certainly wouldn't have used my trump cards against us either. As hard as we fought, we lacked manpower and pokemon, for one. Although, I'm just now figuring out there's a lot I didn't know that would have made our life _unbelievably_ less shitty. Probably would have given us a fighting chance too."

A long sigh.

"Anyway, there's a spherical indentation there in the wall. I think if we used our sphere on it, it might open something. Problem is getting down there without anyone noticing. Lucario's have scary detection abilities."

"You didn't warn Gurkinn and Korrina about what you knew?" Steven asked, surprised. "You don't trust them either?"

"It's not that I don't trust them. She's a gym leader, that already puts her one above most people, it's just- if they knew a little too much, people can come after them. Dead gym leaders would cause a regional destabilization, like in Sinnoh. Then we might as well throw any hope of discovering more about this into the nearest deep sea trench."

"That's certainly different from your attitude in Lavaridge," Steven remarked, sounding impressed. "An improvement, I have to say. It sounds like you actually care."

"Whoa, hey. Don't jump to conclusions there. I've had plenty of time to think and get used to this world. Running around a city like Lumiose for the better half of a year and dealing with questionable people behind the law's back builds up your skills of discretion," Riven replied casually. "As for what happened back in Lumiose… that was about as discrete as a cart full of explosives. But to be fair, that wasn't really _my_ fault. There were like six parties clashing at once, then shit went to even further shit."

"I'm definitely not blaming you," Steven affirmed. "We were fortunate it was mostly property damage and disgruntled citizens. Your intervention was appreciated, even if none of the Elite Four knew who really was behind the warning."

"A crazed trainer wrongly accused of being allied with a terrorist organization or cult of psychopathic children?" Riven said dryly.

Steven shook his head, a slight chuckle escaping him. "Yes, that."

"Heh. Regardless, you should check out the Tower if you have the time. You deal with dropping the bombshells on Korrina and her grandfather. If I do it they'll think I'm full of shit for not telling them anything when I had the chance."

The former champion held in a groan. "I'll notify you if I find anything then. I can head over there some time next month. I'm still in the process of researching mega evolution here in Hoenn, so I have some other matters to attend to."

_Huh?_ "There were stones in Hoenn too?" Riven asked, honestly taken off-guard. "No one ever told me."

"You weren't floating around the higher trainer circles, or even interacted with people much, so I'm sure you wouldn't have," Steven jabbed. "But if you say that the spheres are related to it in some way, it'd make sense if they were also found in Hoenn, no?"

"Well… yeah, I guess. Also, do you happen to know any ruins or locations with sightings of Claydol anywhere?"

"Claydol?" Steven wondered where that question had come from. "A few places, All in ruins, yes. Among other places. Why? Looking to catch one?"

"Not necessarily, they're kind of assholes."

"I own a Claydol," Steven frowned.

"Does that in any way diminish your pokemon's brothers' dickery? Psychics as a rule of thumb put me off," Riven hmphed.

"Don't you have a Gallade? That's a bit contradicting," Steven pointed out.

"He knows he's kind of an asshat anyways. And he's part fighter. They're marginally less dicks so he's fine. I can be hypocritical when it suits me, leave me be."

The stone collector sighed heavily, already much to used to his antics. "I'm not even going to try to argue with that. What will you do now then?"

Riven looked out towards the sea, watching the trainers play in the sand with their pokemon. Then turned back towards the pokemon center, deciding. He drew one of Efrain's blades, lining up the crimson edge with the view of the sun on the horizon.

A reminiscent smile appeared on his lips.

"Cut my chains."

* * *

Riven's sudden call came as no surprise to both Cormac and Isole, both simply waiting until he decided to call again. He'd been gone for most of the month already, barely coming into the home if at all. This time he'd been gone for nearly an entire week.

The older male mercenary picked up with a casual stroke of his finger. The younger mercenary's voice came through, steady and resolute.

" I'm-"

"-leaving? Finally," Cormac answered casually, peering at his fingernails. "My nails are pretty long, maybe I should trim them. I should go to the store later, pick up a nail filer too."

"Wait, what?" Riven stammered. "You knew what I was going to-"

"-Yes," Cormac cut in again. "You've only been gone for fucking ever, it was bound to happen anyways. We all knew it. The moment that tracker got fucked by that one Tesla guy, you could have disappeared into the wind. Only a matter of time before you got fed up with Nera's bullshit, really. I get tired of her shit sometimes too, honestly. Oh that nail is going to become an ingrown, I just know it."

A loud, frustrated groan that sounded like a mix between a Mightyena and a Growlithe puppy whining and growling brought a shit-eating grin to Cormac's face.

"He had a long, epic 'go-fuck-you-and-your-couch' speech cooked up didn't he?" Isole asked with a slight amusement. "Hah."

Cormac shook his head, grinning his ass off. He held back tears of laughter as he heard Riven ranting in the background.

"I DESERVED AN EPIC GO TO HELL SPEECH, DAMMIT!" He yelled into the holo caster, frustration growing as Cormac's laughter became hysterical cackling. He stormed out of the pokemon center to spare the young'uns from language that could taint an antiseptic chamber."This is bullshit. It's mandated that when it comes to things like this, I have to say something incredibly awesome before leaving and you… That was my chance, damn you."

"Ahahah… hah... ah. Let me catch my breath… Okay, there we go." Cormac breathed in deep once again, trying not to burst into a fit of giggles again. "I have to say, screwing with you is hilarious. What did you think this was some kind of _novel_? Haha!"

"Go die," Riven growled. "Rehearsed it like twenty times too…"He muttered under his breath, followed by another string of curses. "I was ready to dare you to stop me then-"

"-we'd have a climactic two on one battle, cause hundreds of thousands in property damage, spout unbelievably cool one-liners and turn our backs to explosions as they occur randomly out of the sheer badassery of our glorious selves and manly declarations of resolve?" Cormac chuckled. "That'd be fun. You know, if we were in a movie or something. But we're not. Damn shame too. Although, leaving like this it seems like it was a giant waste of time bringing you here in the first place. You did do some good here for us to be honest, and the city too. Not that it matters much since most of Centrico is totally fucked. Disappointing how things turn out, eh?"

"Very," Riven sighed, mood deflating rapidly. He ran a hand down his face. "Skitty's out of the bag now, I guess. Or has been. Yes, I'm going to fuck off. Nera hasn't given me anything concrete in the slightest, and I'm going to try and chase my own leads from now on. Don't even try following me. I doubt you will, but still. Leave me alone. I also wouldn't say this was a complete waste of time to _me_. That mercenary work did let me make plenty of connections though, so thanks for that."

"So that's what he's been doing," Isole said, raising her voice so Riven could hear her. "Connections that worked fantastically, because that old cuntstick Cyril didn't so much as warn you that he'd be setting you up too."

"Oh, don't worry," Riven said darkly. "I'm expecting to pay him a little 'visit' soon. I helped put him where he is, I can tear apart his entire organization if I wanted to. He knows a shit ton more than he's letting on, and I intend to make that skeleton spit it out."

"Argh." He frowned. "This though… is so anticlimactic it's not even hilarious."

"Thus is life," Cormac shrugged, to which Isole agreed and went back to making another ice sculpture. "So you're going back to Hoenn then? Visit your girlfriend?"

"Not yet," Riven said, ignoring the second comment. _Getting real tired of denying this._ "My name still hasn't been cleared there, and I have to tie up loose ends here. Probably establish an ID that I can use to get to Hoenn safely. Might take a while, sadly."

"Alas, also life," Cormac agreed, stroking his chin due to a general lack of a long, white beard. "Riven," he said, tone serious. "You know what this means though. If we see you anywhere else, and you're in our way, we won't show you any mercy because we know you."

"I'm aware," Riven said evenly. "Just like you told me on the plane, you don't trust me and I don't trust you. That's how mercenaries operate. Keep in mind the same goes for both of you. Get in my way and I'll beat you into the floor or cut you to pieces. If Nera gets in my way, this time I _will_ kill her. I didn't enjoy getting treated like a mutt on a leash. Especially from a Rose, as if her family hasn't done enough to me and mine."

"Good," Cormac replied, a sliver of pride in his voice, even if he rather be caught dead than admit it. _You're learning, kid._ "Want me to send Kai your regards?"

"Don't have to. I already told him about this a while ago. He knows. But do tell him thanks. For everything. Especially, _that_."

"_That?_ Oh? You both swing that way?"

"Shut up, Cormac. He's a good guy, and tell Isole to make up with him already. They're practically siblings."

"And here I thought they were lovers," the older man blinked. "I've been showing off for nothing? She was mine all along?"

"I still highly doubt that, but you do have your head permanently stuck up your ass," Riven teased. "Far up enough that it reaches where your head is supposed to be."

"Ouch. Harsh coming from the guy that keeps women waiting. Those are the worst kind. Tsk, tsk. You're not even suave."

"If you're the definition of suave, you make sandpaper look comfortable."

Cormac snorted. "By the way, even though Isole's been making these snide little comments about your criminal misadventures, she says hi. And making kicked Growlithe eyes that you're leaving, by the way. Sickening."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Riven scoffed, hearing a loud smack then a complaint from the offender. Followed by a very large face to table like sound. "Anything else you feel like saying to me?"

Isole snatched the holo caster away from Cormac, switching on projection mode while doing it. Cormac's head was buried face first in a desk, which was also partially frozen over, with her hand holding him down. She had a serene smile on her face before punting him to the side.

"Stop freezing Kai's furniture," Riven frowned. "It stresses him out."

"You destroyed half his house," Isole countered, raising a brow.

Riven twitched, then coughed. "Lies."

"Sure," she said, smiling. "To avoid dragging this out, I'll just say bye for Sharpy here. Take care of yourself, dark boy. We'll tell Nera you slipped away on a boat in Coumarine. I'd say don't get yourself into any more stupid and life threatening situations, but that seems to be what you excel at." Her tone was chiding, but not without a hint of humor in it. "Planning on anything right now?"

"Nice try," he snorted. "I got a few plans. A few… more or less somewhat a teeny-tiny bit attention grabbing."

"Remember to keep the explosions tame," Isole said, raising a finger. She hesitated before continuing, "listen, Riven. If you want to contact us, not Nera, feel free to do so. We can give you some favors if needed. But not now. We don't tell her everything. You got it?"

"I'll keep it in mind. See you around then. Hopefully not trying to murder each other."

"Don't count on it," she smiled. "It is you."

"Yeah."

The call ended and somehow, Riven didn't feel any different. Isole and Cormac were supposed to be his handlers, but really, they were about as watchful and restricting as a Slakoth. Honestly, he could have left ages ago. The only concern he had was that tracker, and once it was off, well, Isole and Cormac stopped asking him about his absences fairly quickly afterwards. They weren't really friends, per say, but allies. You never quite knew with mercs.

Breathing in the salty breeze of the ocean, he stretched, once again reclining on the edge of Shalour's stone bridge. He'd remained there for a few days, resting and training with Efrain on the beach, enjoying the town's pleasant atmosphere. But it was time to do things.

Efrain rattled lightly, still sheathed.

_I sense some maliciousness from you, prince._

"You can do that?"

_Ghosts can sense it fairly easily. We are attracted to despair and lingering malice. It is in our nature to be so,_ he said evenly. _I have a sneaking suspicion you are going to attempt something underhanded._

"I'm going to go talk some 'sense' into a local crime lord based in Lumiose who thinks he can get away with throwing me under the bus," Riven hissed. "And you're going to help me."

_Is that wise?_

"Of course! After all, I put him in power," the trainer mentioned as casually and as cheerfully as possible. If Efrain had a mouth, he'd have choked on his own spit.

_You are indeed, the worst prince I've ever seen._

* * *

"Blake," the Director called out, stopping the scrambling scientist in his tracks.

"Yes, sir?" Blake answered, fixing himself. "Is there something you need?"

"What have you been able to deduce from the blood sample? Anything definitive to our cause?"

Blake pursed his lips before beaming. "Plenty, sir. I don't mean to bore you but for one, it's… outstanding. The human genome is full of nonfunctional junk. I mean, we use less than ten percent of it. The rest of it is just there, with no practical purpose. But this… it has more much codons for complex proteins not usually found in normal humans. And… uh, it's immensely similar to a pokemon's DNA. If we could replicate this, then we'd be able to engineer people with the abilities of a pokemon!"

"I see," the Director replied, intrigued. "How long do you think this could take?"

"Ironing out the kinks… years maybe. At least five or so with sufficient funding. Less with more people working on this than just me. Genetic experiments are finicky. Ever since Mewtwo and Team Rocket, it's hard getting people on board for that kind of stuff. Who knows what kind of kids this will create."

"Mewtwo was different. They had no templates," the Director explained. "You do. If this sample comes from a natural source, some kind of… mystical, human-pokemon hybrid, then theoretically this should work. The normal disasters that come with human pokemon genetic experiments can be avoided. Should we succeed, we can surpass our limits. But this for the children of tomorrow. For us, who exist as we are, it seems the past holds the key."

"Did you- break the Claydol?" Blake asked apprehensively. "Is it all right, at least?"

"Do not worry about the psychic, Blake. That is not your job. It is fine, physically. Its mental state can be argued over, but ultimately it is not our concern. We extracted what we needed and my mercenaries retrieved what we wanted. The operation didn't go as smoothly as we envisioned. It seems someone caught on to what we were up to and prevented the trainer from… well, that has no relative importance now."

He placed a firm hand on the scientist's shoulder. "Keep up the good work, Blake. You and Yun are proving to be very valuable assets. When you have spare time, I'd like you to look at the artifact the mercenaries brought in, perhaps you can shed some light as to its meaning?"

Blake nodded. "Yes,sir!" He turned around and left for the laboratory.

Taking a long, heaving breath, the Director clenched a jaw.

_Who stopped that trainer? And how did they find out? I lost some mercenaries too. Thankfully none of them knew what we were up to, but not knowing who knows about us is worrying. A rival group, perhaps? Or a lone wolf? Tesla looked ecstatic when he returned, as if he had too much fun. _

It wasn't a rare occurrence for him, but he was never _this_ gleeful. He had practically skipped into the laboratory, humming a tune without a care in the world. It struck him as odd. Unfortunately, mercenaries like him weren't ones that could be intimidated, or coerced to cooperate like other grunts. Tesla had only reported what he wanted to, which was rather minimalistic most of the time.

Still, he had other agents and a far reaching network. With time, they would spread their influence.

When they did, the light of progress would shine through, guiding the lost through the valley of darkness.

_Man should never be held down by fate._

* * *

"Stop him!" Thugs yelled as a blur of black charged through the warehouse.

A wave of yellow flashes zoomed by the figure as it seemed to move with the dark itself, cloak flowing behind it. Crimson shone in the dim light as guards fell quickly, the desperate grunts silenced abruptly in mere seconds.

Glints of silver came from the shadows before the figure dipped behind a crate, the metal daggers embedding themselves into more thugs as they tried to stop him. The remaining men brought out several pokemon to help them. Houndour and Houndoom snarled and snapped, backed by growling Manectric and screeching Golbat.

"Give up and we'll kill you nicely," the men warned, approaching the crate with guns in hand.

The hooded man simply walked out from behind them, hands raised. While doing so, the dark pokemon took a step back, stunned. A vicious smile broke out on his face, followed by deranged cackling.

The thugs noted the pokemons' behavior and took a step back instinctively, beginning to sweat. "Why the fuck are you laughing?"

"Because you're going to die for someone who really isn't worth it," he said, with a grin that was all teeth. "I'll give you three seconds to surrender and leave."

In typical fashion, they responded how he expected them to. "Fuck you!" One of them exclaimed, then ordered his Houndoom to incinerate him.

"Shame. The irony is quite hilarious isn't it, Efrain?" The figure laughed once again, dodging the blazing burst of fire that careened into the wall behind him, turning the metal into searing hot steel, heating the very air around him into a heavy haze of heated gas.

Before they could react further, a deep voice sent a shiver up their spines.

_Why, I think it's hysterical._

The next incinerate was cut short as a crimson blade shot down from above, into the Houndoom's neck, with the second emerging from behind one of the men's shadows. What followed was a confused mess of random attacks, with utter disregard for the safety of their own ranks. Men screamed as fire and bullets crossed, ending in a self inflicted slaughter.

Only the pokemon were left, unsurprisingly. Leaving the injured pokemon on the ground, the hooded man walked past them all, the Doublade responsible for the confusion coming to his side.

Kicking down a door, he traded glances with the man he was looking for. Cyrille.

Men stood by him, all armed with stronger and more ferocious pokemon.

"Prime," Cyrille said, giving him another one of his spine wrenching smiles. "You look troubled. Killed everyone, did you? I was hoping you died."

Riven smiled under the hood, not bothering to speak, simply throwing one of Efrain's sword at him like a lance.

The old man didn't move a centimeter as the blade connected with the wall adjacent to him carrying enough force to crack through reinforced concrete.

"You missed," He smiled. "So much for your revenge. So you have a Doublade. What good will it do you with a room full of Fire and Dark types. You will die here."

Waving a hand, his henchmen gave the order and a collective stream of flames advanced towards him, immolating the furniture and goods between them in a synchronized display of hell incarnate.

Riven chuckled. "You should hire more trainers."

Fire roared, filling the large warehouse room with blinding light and heat. Shadows seemed to burn away, leaving no room for ghosts to hide. The amount of fire reminded Riven of the Arcanine and what Nemos must have seen before death.

He would have been equally as dead. Would have. Pokemon made all the difference.

Flames eased and dissipated, leaving scorched earth, ash, and molten metal in their wake. For a moment, everything was quiet.

It was only interrupted as Cyrille screamed.

Riven appeared alongside him, left hand gripping the embedded sword, his other holding its twin, which dripped red fluid from its edge. On the ground lay a severed arm, sliced cleanly through the middle of the forearm.

It shot up, edge on the old man's neck, staining his wrinkly skin with his own blood. "Doublades can be in two places at once, all it takes is a pursuit and they can instantly connect again. Your lackeys should really pay attention. Tell me about the mercenaries who took the artifact. I know you know them. Seeing the precious cargo you have back there, you made quite a lot of money from that profitable exchange. Mega and keystones worth millions. Start talking, you're going to need medical attention soon. Better get it quick."

The men and pokemon tensed, easing only when Cyrille shakily ordered them to stand down. "Charaph. That's all I'm going to say. That's what they were called." He groaned in agony, grimacing at his bloody stump.

Riven smirked, stepping behind the man, blade still next to his throat. "Good. By the way, consider this a warning not to betray your allies who worked ever so hard to put you where you are."

"I'm going to destroy you, Prime. You'll pay for this," Cyrille snarled venomously.

"I'm looking forward to it," Riven said. Slashing upwards at a light with a shadow claw, it fell from the ceiling, cast a shadow on Efrain's embedded sword. It began to glow with violet light, shadows seeping around it from the wall itself. As pokemon and trainer were about to step into the shadow, he warned, "Cyrille. You really should leave. I mean, it would be such a shame if this place exploded for no good reason."

The crime lord's eyes widened as Riven was gone.

Reappearing in the alleyway behind Sycamore's lab, he entered the lobby. Dropping a small dufflebag on the counter before walking into another shadow, he waved at the girl in front of the main desk, who looked bewildered.

Excitement broke out as Sycamore rushed out to the main lobby, wondering with awe who returned the stolen key and megastones. He looked around and outside, but saw no one. The secretary followed him, and in his happiness, he gave her a bear hug.

Riven emerged on the lab building's rooftop, watching them from above. Removing his hood, he sat down with his feet dangling over the edge as he waited, giddy as a child.

Two minutes later, a large explosion rang throughout the night on the far side of Lumiose, leaving a trail of smoke and fire high into the air.

_Fireworks._

Ah, it felt good to be free.

* * *

**Was going to get this out yesterday, but the power went out for an ENTIRE day yesterday. A fuse box in my neighborhood freaking exploded. It was like something out of a Michael Bay movie, sparks and everything. Shite you not.**

**It was great though. I did get to see the outer rim of the milky way when it was dark. Beautiful to say the least. And I practiced sneaking around like a damn Assassin with my hood on. Fun stuff.**

**Next chapter there will be stuff. In a nice, warm place.**


	56. Lost and Found

Finally being able to find some time after managing Devon and balancing his research on other rather interesting projects, Steven found himself flying towards Shalour on Meta's head, high above the forested regions and plains of rural Kalos. He'd arrived in the region the day before, refusing to waste time on trivial things like renting a hotel room. A pokemon center would have to do.

The only problem with that was he had to hide himself. Wearing a hoodie and shades indoors made him look very suspicious, not to mention irked his sense of fashion considerably. He'd looked in the mirror once and couldn't stop thinking about how much of a douche he looked like.

He was extremely glad he was back in his suit now. Horrendous, a champion having to wear shades indoors.

An image of Riven laughing his delinquent ass off came to mind.

He tsked distastefully, the sound drowned out from the howling of the wind against his ears. Meta inquired about its trainer's mental state briefly, but a pat on his head ceased any worries. The former champion stared out at the sight of the stretching ocean, light from the sun shimmering off the water and waves for miles—the color of it reflecting the very same as the sphere in his travel bag. That deep, pulsing blue that could utterly mesmerize him for hours on end. It lacked the flowing beauty of the legendary Soul Dew protected by Latios and Latias, but something else gave it its luster.

If nothing else, it was a testament to human ingenuity, a sign that man had overcome its bounds and unlocked hidden potential. Whether doing so had been this civilization's undoing or just another society that had collapsed under the strain they put on the environment remained to be seen.

_I hope he's right about this._

He guessed it wasn't just Riven wasting his time for kicks. And who the hell knew where that guy was now. There really was no point in calling him if he wouldn't answer his holo caster. He had a tendency to go dark unless he wanted something. Something that usually either relocated Steven's stomach near his toes or metaphorically threw him into an icy lake. Both were far from preferable.

Steven sighed as Meta flew in view of Shalour, with its iconic bridge and beaches. In the distance he could see the tower, a proud edifice standing north of the town near the shoreline, displaying the Lucario after which it was built.

Slowing down, Meta descended slowly so as to not raise alarm. Spiked legs anchored in front of the entrance, startling a group of tourists that stared stupidly at the man who'd just come down from the sky on a blue metal psychic that could reduce a human to chunky goo with just a _fraction_ of its power.

Paying them no mind while praying to whatever god could hear him that they wouldn't recognize who he was, Steven raised a friendly hand as Korrina, her grandfather, and several fighting pokemon emerged from the tower's giant doors. They all looked ready to brawl, probably because of the fighting pokemons' response to Meta's presence. With aura sensitive pokemon like Lucario, they became very reactive to psychic based threats fairly early on.

Self preservation instinct, perhaps.

"Good afternoon!" Steven said warmly, displaying no form of hostility. After what had happened in the region, the gym leaders and officials were in the right to suspect trainers who just seemed to fall out of the sky on a pseudo legendary pokemon.

"Who're you? Your psychic made all the Lucario antsy!" Gurkinn demanded. "Well then, spit it out!"

"You… do know who that is, right, grandfather?" Korrina asked, nudging the elderly man in the side. Slack-jawed and in disbelief, she slowly gestured for the fighting pokemon to stand down.

"No clue. Does dress rather elegantly, though. Maybe he's a duke's son? If he is, maybe we _should_ shoot an aura sphere at him. Then we can see if rich people are made out of something other than ego and ignorance."

"Grandfather!" Korrina cried. "That's-" She leaned in, whispering in his ear as the trainer shied away from a curious group of tourists. "-Steven Stone, former champion of the Hoenn region. He would crush both of us! Don't provoke him!"

Gurkinn's eyes widened slightly, settling as he crossed his arms. "Oh sh- I mean, I'm quite sorry, Mr. Stone. I didn't mean to provoke you. That Metagross of yours did startle our Lucarios, though."

"Ah, it's all right," Steven reassured. "They wouldn't be the first. Meta has that effect on quite a lot of fighters. You don't have to apologize. I have been here before though, I'm surprised you didn't recognize me."

"Hmmmmm." Gurkinn's brows furrowed in deep thought, stretching out the hum for a damn eternity. "Sorry, son but no. I don't remember you at all. Must have not been wearing the suit."

_If only I could be this invisible everywhere_, Steven thought hopelessly. These days he couldn't walk to a store in Rustboro before getting assaulted by reporters. He was a natural introvert and desperately liked his alone time, something his job and general way of life kicked to the curb quite often.

"Yes, that's right," he replied. "I came here twice before with colleagues. Dressed much less formally and I walked here. I don't usually like to make dramatic entrances."

"We noticed," Korrina smiled, noting the ex-Hoenn champion's wary glances towards the tourists. "You should come inside before any reporters or fans come after you. You're pretty popular among the younger girls in Kalos, ever since the Lumiose incident."

Steven stammered for a second, mind briefly tripping over itself. Then a long heave of breath escaped him.

"This happens fairly regularly, I assume?" Gurkinn asked wryly.

A miserable nod confirmed it.

"Heh, being a champion must be tough."

When they went inside, Steven recalled the first time he'd seen the tower, amazed by its structure and interior. But what amazed him the most was the story of the first known mega evolution—at the time, anyway. The recent events regarding Rayquaza in Hoenn had been… eye opening to say the least.

"So, what are you looking for here, champ?" Korrina asked. "It's not every day a champion comes here to sight see."

"Former," Steven corrected with a small smile. "Wallace is the champion now. I just search for stones and follow myths and legends on my spare time."

"Wallace. Hmmm. Is he that guy that dresses... erm…" Korrina wiggled her fingers in the air, drawing blanks. "Strangely- no, flashy? Err-"

"Flamboyantly?" Steven suggested, seeing as how that and eccentric were about the only two words that could properly describe the man.

"Yeah, that. I remember him making a commotion at the international League meetings. My poor ears! Along with Alder, they make such a ruckus. At least Diantha, that short kid, and Lance are tolerable."

"Wallace drives me up walls sometimes too, but he's a good friend." Steven brought his hands up, clasping them together. "Complicated relationships aside, I came here to see the underground level, specifically a room with carvings etched into the walls. You know it, right?"

Both the gym leader and her grandfather eyed him suspiciously.

"Some guy came here some time ago looking for the same exact thing. Do you know him?" Korrina asked, raising a blonde brow.

"Somewhat, I guess. He told me about this location and I got particularly interested. Mind if I take a look?"

"Ummm, sure? I don't think you're going to find much, though. It's just a bunch of etchings and pictures."

"We'll see then," Steven smiled back.

Once in the room, his eyes scanned the sight before him. There were the depictions Riven described, ones he'd already seen, but now he was _interpreting_ them differently. Whereas before he only assumed they were some kind of mythological stories made by an ancient civilization like they were in most other places, now they did tell a story. One that wasn't fictional. This was a recalling of past events, most likely.

Amazing. How unrelated things could be connected so closely. Maybe the world was a giant web of connections, with only some strands being able to be seen with the right tools.

Just like the sphere he held in his palm.

Taking it out, a dim blue light emanated from it in the sparsely lit room, catching the eye of Korrina and Gurkinn.

"What's that?" They both questioned, coming closer.

"Hopefully, answers." Steven followed the marks in the walls until his hand felt the spherical depression, hesitating as he looked back. "I'm going to tell you something that is going to shock you, and you have to understand that under no circumstances except in the most dire of cases that you must tell no one." A deep breath. "It might have something to do with mega evolution and…"

"And…?" Gurkinn eagerly awaited, intrigued by the mention of mega evolution.

"Human evolution."

Gurkinn and Korrina sat down hard enough to kick up dust.

"I sure hope you'd like to explain that," Korrina said, trying to rather unsuccessfully wrap her head around what Steven had just said. Even her Lucario seemed stunned by it. "H-human…"

Steven turned to face them fully, dusting a spot on the floor in front of them. Sitting down, he held out the azure sphere and begin the recollection of events.

"Oh, _crap_," Korrina uttered lowly as Steven finished his story. "That's… _wow._"

"You mean to tell us that humans, like you and I, can exhibit powers exactly like pokemon?" Gurkinn looked towards the Lucario behind him, eyebrows raised so high that if they went any higher they'd reach his forehead. "Along with the ability to heal and take punishment like them? Become a hybrid?"

Steven nodded. "I wouldn't call it a hybrid, but more of a –well, return to our roots? I believe that this was our natural state before some kind of drastic evolutionary or genetic change rendered us how we are today. But the important thing to note is that not only does this give people access to powers we've only been able to dream of, but it would also increase the likelihood to induce mega evolution."

"Okay, now I'm extremely interested," Korrina remarked. "I'm just guessing but is it because of the way keystones work?"

"Precisely. Devon's been conducting extensive research into the subject. What we found was that there's a latent energy within all of us, an energy that is channeled through the keystone and connects to the mega stone, which reacts to a pokemon's own energy. That energy fuels an explosive transformation, just like an exothermic reaction between molecules."

Steven gestured to the pin on his suit, his keystone embedded into the metal.

"We know, as keystone holders, how long it takes to reach the point at which mega evolution can be possible between trainer and pokemon. There needs to be a 'bond'. I suspect this is because we are generally very poor at harnessing this hidden potential and takes a long time to be able for us to do it effectively. However, if we could gather energy the way pokemon can… mega evolution could theoretically be achieved in a much shorter time. By anyone, and possibly _boosted_ as well. The possibilities are really endless."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Korrina surmised. "For just anyone to use mega evolution?"

"Unfortunately, yes. We can't count on everyone to have benevolent intentions after all. From trainers or others alike. Recent happenings here in Kalos, in Hoenn, and as you know, Sinnoh—have all shown us just what some are capable of when pushed too far. That Tyranitar nearly destroyed Centrico Plaza. I couldn't imagine an entire team or terror group getting a hold of this power. This is why this needs to be kept strictly confidential."

"I understand," Korrina nodded grimly. "But why tell _us_ this? I'd expect people more important than us should know."

"Truthfully, because I'm not quite sure what effect this sphere will have when I use it on the wall, provided it even does _anything_. A sudden explosion or flare of light with no sudden explanation after my arrival would make you suspicious of me and well… this is you and your grandfather's tower. I like not to damage things that aren't mine. So I just informed you beforehand to prevent any miscommunication."

"Thank you for being considerate, at least," Gurkinn said. "Let's see it then. What this sphere has in store, and if your contact wasn't feeding you a load of Swinub-wash."

With Gurkinn's permission, Steven stood up, facing the wall, sphere in hand. Truth be told, he was nervous. Nervous enough that his hand was trembling and a bead of cold sweat came down the side of his face. The feeling was hauntingly similar to finding that mega evolution stone in Hoenn, the beating of his heart drumming in his chest so loudly he could hear it.

With the most utmost care, he inserted the sphere into the depression and waited.

At first nothing seemed to happen, several seconds passing by in agonizing and awkward silence.

Just as Steven's excitement began to die down, however, the sphere lit up like a shining blue star, spreading its light across the room and outwards, bathing the surrounding area with the luminosity of a spotlight. Blinding, but beautiful. It expanded and burst, a spiraling chorus of dancing and flickering patterns spreading in the air. The carved lines in the walls began to glow blue, extending further until they covered the entire wall and floor. Hidden lines began finally revealing themselves as the light burned through the rock and dust concealing them.

A helix of blue lights descended into a fractal in the center, resembling the helix structure of DNA, the very symbol of mega evolution.

Steven, Gurkinn, and Korrina froze in shock and awe of the beauty they were witnessing. The fractal patterns continued to light up even outside the room, encompassing much of the older area of the tower, even the Diancie room. As the light reached the lattices, pink turned a brilliant azure, humming as they did. A large clunk came from beneath the ground, with the sound of what appeared to be gears turning. The floor opened up into a series of steps in a spiral corridor downwards, illuminated by the light of sphere.

The three humans and the Lucario headed inside without a word, too awestruck to formulate even the most baffled sputters, let alone words. Properly describing it was impossible, and the closest Steven could get was 'surreal'. Like something out of his dreams, an otherworldly blue shining out from the arrays of self repeating glyphs adorning the walls.

As they entered a subterraneous room large enough to be a grand hall, their eyes laid upon the largest concentration of mega evolution crystals any of them had ever seen. Appearing to be systematically organized, large six foot tall crystal lattices of the mineral covered the hall, arranged in cocoon like shells. The soft blue light descended into a large chandelier of blue light crystals, acting like light bulbs.

Steven, Korrina, and Gurkinn whipped around as the gym leader's Lucario grunted. Energy poured out of the crystals and into him, forming the tether of light that came prior to mega evolution. A sphere of light formed around the Lucario as he transformed, emerging as a Mega Lucario.

But something was different.

A powerful, concentrated aura of power rose from him, his own Aura bolstered by the influx of energy around him. He could _see_ and _feel_ the world above and around his self; from the layers of rock and silicate that composed the surface to the breathing of every human in the vicinity, being able to feel the oxygen and carbon passing in their lungs as they breathed. Even the motion of waves and the pokemon in the ocean were able to be observed, for miles in every direction'.

Lukan fell to his knees, overwhelmed by the sudden increase in his Aura. He could see the very souls of the humans before him, appearing as a silver coat of armor over Steven and a green, ethereal aurora over Korrina and Gurkinn.

"H-he mega evolved," Korrina stammered. She looked at her keystone, which remained perfectly inert at the moment. "Without me."

"These aren't mega evolution stones," Steven concluded. "They're keystones. The largest keystone deposit I've ever seen!"

"Enough to make keystones for hundreds of trainers…" Gurkinn trailed off, eyes wide as saucers.

"Not just for trainers," Steven said, running up to one of the cocoons. "But enough to power cities! With enough energy to induce an even stronger mega evolution." He was about to reach out with a hand to touch the crystal when Lukan shouted in pain.

"_Stop!"_ He cried, voice thundering across the hall. His eyes were a bright blue, the powers of Aura overcoming his sight_. "Pain. Too... much."_

"What do you mean, pain?" Steven asked.

The Lucario struggled with the power in his body, shaking as his body attempted adjusting to it. He lifted a paw, a single finger pointed at the base of the crystal structure near Steven. _"Not natural… human." _His form reverted as he went unconscious, releasing a blast of energy that knocked Korrina and Gurkinn several meters back while flinging Steven against the wall.

The light within the hall dimmed slightly, returning momentarily after the energy shockwave dissipated into the walls. Coughing, Steven noticed the phenomenon as Korrina ignored the scrapes and cuts she'd received, rushing to the Lucario's side.

Steven noted his holo caster had neither reception, nor seemed to be working properly. Taking out his instruments from his bag after regaining his breath, he measured the readings of the stones; naturally they were off the charts, but waned to almost nonexistence near the walls.

_The walls are made of material that absorb the energy? How is that possible? Is that how we couldn't detect this before? A type of mineral that acts like a blackbody that absorbs this particular type of wavelength? Amazing._

He went back to Korrina and her grandfather, who steadied himself with Lukan, who seemed to be regaining consciousness slowly.

"Are you all fine?" Steven asked, worried about the elderly man in particular.

"We train with our fighters every day. If we couldn't take a hit what would we be, hah!" Gurkinn replied, smiling wryly. Then let out a deep cough of dust. "Argh. The question is are you okay? You got thrown against a _wall_."

"I'll manage," Steven assured. "Only got the wind knocked out of me. Believe it or not, I was a trainer once too. Got thrown about more times than you think. I did fall down a ravine and broke my arm in three different places. Another time a hyper beam went off near me and launched me into a steel door. Regardless, I've never seen a release strong enough to send shockwaves, this is something else."

_He's not a prissy rich guy_… Korrina remarked in her mind. "Lukan, can you stand?"

The Lucario nodded, still disoriented but capable. He opened his eyes as Korrina hugged him tightly.

"You said something about human pain," Steven reminded. "What did you mean by that?"

Swallowing, the pokemon stared down at the floor, shuddering. _"The energy, I could feel it. The feelings of those it came from. Pain, overwhelming pain. Like every part of you was being torn apart and cut. Every nerve dying and hardening… slowly and quickly."_

"What do you-" Steven's jaw clenched when his eyes finally saw the structure of the cocoons that housed the crystals, making the connection in his mind. Six feet in height and at most two feet wide, with varying heights but never falling below five feet, the realization hit him like a meteor. A terrible, _horrifying_ meteor.

"No. No, no, no." He repeated, running a hand through his hair.

"What is it?" Gurkinn and Korrina asked. Lukan's crimson eyes flashed with pain and grim acceptance.

"These cocoon structures are meant to house- these keystones…" Steven whispered, swallowing hard. "My god what did they _do_?"

Gurkinn and Korrina exchanged looks, dreading the answer.

"These- t-they're people, Korrina. These keystones used to be _people_."

* * *

_I can't decide_, Gale hummed.

She was perusing the items in a clothing store in Lavaridge, picking out traveling clothes designed for durability from the various selections they had. Being unable to decide between a red jacket or a white one, the flyer noticed a green headcrest sticking out from behind a row of clothes and sought a secondary opinion.

"Baron, which do you think looks better?"

Two pairs of red eyes peered over the counter and through a row of shirts when Haona decided to weigh in on the decision too. The store owner had long since controlled himself from getting spikes in blood pressure upon seeing her and not noticing fire and brimstone following her appearance. In fact, much of the town had grown accustomed to seeing her. The town was still standing after all, no need to worry.

"_Red,"_ Baron said idly. _"Looks cooler."_

"_No, White. White is the most beautiful,"_ Haona corrected, raising her horn high. _"It demands respect. Unlike red, which is suited for hot-blooded males and arrogant trainers. Like Will and that fool of a Typhlosion, Quil."_

"_Oh, ho. Says the White Queen," _Baron mentioned dryly, receiving a kick in the shin from the Absol's hind leg.

"Sky blue it is then!" Gale decided, figuring it was best to disappoint both of them rather than one or the other. Both pokemon groaned, going back to bickering at one another. Outside, she could hear the thundering of an all too obnoxious Castform trying to pick another fight, this time with a black haired girl's Honchkrow.

_Typical Boagrius. How do I put up with you?_

Dark clouds formed over the cloud pokemon, ready to unleash a thunderous flash of divine justice.

"_HEAR ME, YOU DARK FEATHERED SON OF A GHASTLY, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A FIGHT OF HONOR AND STRENGTH WITH NONE OTHER THAN I THE OFFSPRING OF LIGHTNING AND DEATH ITSEL-"_

A pokeball ended his tirade swiftly before they got into any more problems with the local trainer population. "Nope, not today." Gale chuckled, tucking the pokeball away. She waved at the girl apologetically. "Sorry for that, he gets really worked up."

The girl mouthed a soundless "thank you" as she uncapped her abused ears. Her Honchkrow squawked at her, ruffled feathers returning to normal from their fluffed up position.

Baron teleported next to her, peering over her shoulder at the game she was playing on her phone. Haona trotted alongside them, sending dirty glares at any person that dared look at her funny.

"_What's next?"_ The Gallade asked, tapping the screen. Her ship veered up and into the enemy fire, ending her streak. Gale scowled briefly at him, which only increased his amusement.

"I need to order some materials to fix the screen door. You broke it when Aine threw you through it, remember?"

"_My back remembers,"_ Baron whined, then pouted. _"My head doesn't. It hurt."_

"_Awww, poor baby Bib,"_ Haona chided. _"Just mad Aine kicked your ass."_

"_She'd kick your ass too! Slacker queen!"_

Haona snorted, lifting her head regally as she walked.

Gale laughed at their antics, having grown far too used to having them around.

Her mind recalled the time that'd gone by after having received them and the letter. Three years and two months, to be exact. She'd grown now, being two inches taller and more womanly in various _areas_. Areas she _still_ wasn't used to. Being a late bloomer was probably a result of that. It ran in the family, according to her dad.

_I'm twenty one now,_ Gale thought, surprised. It was like yesterday she was just a skinny seventeen year old running around with a bunch of strangers. But now…

Now she could drink. Not that she would but it might've helped her mental state these past three years rather considerably. What _had_ gotten her mind off things was taking up training with Aine and Baron. They went easier on her, of course, but they taught her how to defend herself. Baron had taught her the way Riven had taught him, even if the moves were more designed for crippling and brutal lethality than anything else.

But that was good. If some ass tried something, she could smash his knees in and gouge his eyes out.

Training was relaxing. She'd also set up a sort of flying service, taking trainers from Lavaridge back to Petalburg for a price. Not that the money was needed, but saving was never a bad thing. The service wasn't as enjoyable once word got out though.

She'd started to wonder why the majority of her clients were largely male. It got _extremely_ suspicious once the older, more experienced trainers with _bird pokemon_, mind you, were paying to get rides. One even went so far as to pay her triple to take him around the western side of Hoenn for the better part of a month. She'd left him at Meteor Falls after he tried peeping on her in a stream.

Screw him.

Needless to say, Gale ended that quickly. Creeps were coming out in droves and she'd rather not sic Haona on anyone. Murder charges were serious business. So was assault. Even if it was an a perverted asshole.

Ordering the materials and filling out a request for repair, Gale prepared to go back home, about to reach for Emile's pokeball. Patting down her persona and around her waist, she cursed. Only three pokeballs. One of which housed that cloud of boisterous energy and none for her favorite, grouchy bird.

"Shit," she said, smacking a hand against her forehead.

"_Something wrong?"_ Haona asked.

"_She forgot Emile's pokeball,"_ Baron laughed. _"You want me to teleport us back? I can do it. But it'll get me tired. I'm only good at short range teleports."_

"No, no, that's okay," Gale refused, huffing. "I'm going for a run I guess. It'll help me build up my cardio! Mind if I return you both?"

"_Not at all,"_ they both said in unison. _"All that shopping made us sleepy."_

"You know it's unsettling when you two do that."

"_We know."_

Baron extended a green hand and took the shopping bags with him as red beams of light returned both him and the Absol back to their respective pokeballs.

"Okay," Gale whispered. "Let's do this the hard way then."

Several hours and plenty of stops with refueling from Boagrius to prevent herself from dying of thirst, she arrived at her home after nightfall, legs feeling like noodles. The distance from her home and Lavaridge was extensive and the fact that she went to Lavaridge by riding on the back of the repairman's truck completely slipped her mind. She'd done it to go fill out the work order in town and get other things at the same time, forgetting Emile's pokeball at the same time.

"Not… worth… it," she panted, placing her hands on her knees. "Not doing that again. _Man_. How do marathon runners do this?"

Collapsing on a patch of grass, Gale enjoyed the coolness of it, as her body currently was searing. She was sweaty and tired and damp. A good shower would feel nice. Remaining there for a few moments, growling and snarling from inside her home broke her out of her relaxation.

Climbing to her feet, she approached the door without a sound, placing an ear against it.

Growls and snapping continued, with a muffled sound of a human voice inside.

_Don't tell me_, she thought, preparing herself mentally. _I hope some idiot didn't try to rob a house in the middle of nowhere. Please tell me people aren't _that_ stupid._

Quickly and quietly turning the key and the knob just as the snarling got worse, Gale swung open the door, revealing a hooded man atop her dining table. He was holding his hands out, shoving his foot outwards to keep the Mightyena at the foot of the table back. Clearly not working, seeing as the dark type was one moment away from pouncing and tearing his idiot throat out.

"Evie, stop!" Gale called out, gesturing for the pokemon to come to her side. She listened, not taking her eyes off the man for a second, licking her owner's face briefly before going back to snarling. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?"

The man lowered his hands, straightening. His jaw clenched and his hand reached out slightly before retracting back towards his side. He hesitated, not quite getting the words out. "Uh- er…"

"I'll ask again!" Gale demanded. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house!" Evie snapped again, electricity arcing between her fangs. Her ears reared back, tail stiff and bristled.

Exhaling, the man gave her a small, almost nonexistent smile. Hands reached up to take off the hood. When it came off, brown and deep blue stared back into Gale's widening grey, eyes cold yet strangely friendly at the same time.

"Hi, crazy girl."

* * *

**Timeskips, ye. Short, but next chapter will be much longer. Midterms done so might release next one early this time! I'll elaborate on the relationship between keystones and mega stones later, as I've spent lots of time on the bulbagarden forums reading up on this when the answer hit me like a brick. **

**Also, the difference between humans and pokemon. But that will also come later and in due time.**

**Forgive any errors, will revise later.**

**The two events are not concurrent, no. Timeskip occurs in between them.**


	57. Catching Up

Gale stood there for a long, drawn out minute.

Then blinked furiously, rubbed her eyes, and walked past him, not taking her eyes off him until she got to the refrigerator. Upon reaching the appliance, she took out two fistfuls of ice, went over to the sink, and filled a bowl full of water.

Then she dropped the ice cubes into the bowl hard enough to splash water up into her face, lifted it, and unceremoniously dunked it over her head. Shivering from the chill and dripping, she continued staring at him.

Riven raised a brow so high it could slap god.

Honestly, he expected something like a gasp or a plethora of curses but this was… not what he expected. He reached out with a hand then pulled it back slowly, not sure whether to ask if she'd finally lost her shit, or to keep his distance in case the crazy was infectious.

"I- er… Gale. Why did you-" She kept staring and he kept stammering. "-Okay then. You're channeling your inner Espurr, I see."

"Are you real?" She blurted out. "You look real. You can't be real. You've been gone for nearly four years, it's not possible there's no way you'd be here unless I'm extremely delirious… Has to be the run… probably still asleep outside…"

Riven's gaze shifted awkwardly between Gale and her Mightyena about a good seven times. If there was something the testy dog could agree with him on, it was that her trainer had possibly lost her marbles for good. "Reason I call you crazy…" He whispered, grabbing her arm in the middle of her crazy tirade.

Gale looked down at it, dazed, then glanced up at Riven. Grey eyes blinked like a Sawsbuck caught in the headlights. He pointed to himself repeatedly, even drawing circles in the air around his face and mouthing, "it's me".

"You're touching me," Gale responded, an inch away from catatonic. Frowning deeply, he shook her and she swayed with the motion like a limp stalk of wheat.

"Yeah," Riven confirmed, arching another black brow. "Are you on some kind of drug?"

"That's right, maybe I _do_ need to get drug tested," Gale said, breaking away from him to go sit down at the table. Upon which she went through several breathing motions.

Deciding that standing behind her awkwardly was a slight bit uncomfortable, he went through her fridge and helped himself to some juice instead. Maybe if he sat there long enough she'd realize something.

It took her a while to accept the fact that he wasn't, in fact, imaginary nor was she on some sort of hallucinogenic mushroom she may or may not have _accidentally_ ingested. Actually, it took her several of her breathing exercises and four glasses of juice, the last of which Gale snatched from Riven's hands and drank herself.

"Stop stealing my food," she reprimanded with a glare and a raised finger.

"Are you finally sane again?" He asked blankly, going to serve himself more. "Or am I going to have to dig through your entire fridge."

"Don't- you know what? I don't know. You tell me. I hope this isn't a bad dream either," Gale breathed out. "Because if it is, it's not funny and if it's a ghost I'm going to kick its ass."

"The ice water dunk you took would have woken you up if it was, but all it did was get you soaked," he pointed out. "So… you're as awake as you can be. Why did you do that anyway? If I didn't know you I'd say you'd lost it."

"I was burning up from running all the way here from Lavaridge and two, I needed to make sure my brain wasn't just messing with me. It felt nice."

"You ran here from Lavaridge?"

Gale nodded dimly, fanning herself off with a hand.

Riven whistled.

That was a fairly long distance away. More than a few miles, really. He was surprised she wasn't dehydrated or passed out yet. Though the girl looked like she was about to check off the second option quite soon.

"Yeah, I forgot Emile's pokeball when I went on an errand in town. I kind of regret that now."

Riven chuckled, rolling the empty juice glass in his hands as silence fell. Anxiety gripped him as Gale stared at the table with a face he'd seen all too much on his own. No words came from out of Riven's mouth, and soon his own countenance matched hers. Once the humor faded away, all that was left was uncomfortable and awkward silences—grievances and the like.

The worst part.

He was afraid this would happen. Honestly, what could he say? 'I've been gone for three years, how's it going?' Or, 'hey Gale, you got taller, thanks for taking care of my pokemon for me, but I'm back now!' As if all this time had gone nowhere, or that it was inconsequential.

It wasn't.

Human relationships were such fragile, delicate things—intangible and complicated things that abided by ever changing rules, never working the same for everyone. They were frustrating to deal with and normally he didn't bother, but he couldn't do that to her. All this time he'd been alone in Kalos, depending only upon himself. Friends weren't something he had access to in three long years or something he had to deal with at all. Three years spent trying to figure out what to say to her when he returned. What to say to his pokemon for his absence.

Sorry wasn't enough. It never was.

Now that time had come and he was stuck, like a Magikarp out of water, gasping for air. An opening. Anything to get him out.

Finally, she spoke, tone rueful. Her tone pierced through him like a spear of ice. "You're back," Gale whispered, shifting in her chair. "You're really here."

"Yeah," Riven replied, swallowing. And looked away.

"Three years," she said. A smile crossed her lips. "And now that you're here… I-I can't say that it's the same. I mean, you got a haircut and look decent now. A girl could show you to her parents without them getting a heart attack now."

Riven smiled slightly, noting her attempt to lighten the mood and diffuse the tension. He did it often, after all. "And you got taller. I'm still taller than you but it's a start. Grew your hair out a little longer too."

And well… the rest of her had also grown.

_Not the time for that_.

"You look…nice."

"'You look nice?' At least some things don't change. You're _still_ bad with small talk and compliments," Gale said, a tinge of amusement in her voice. Finally turned to face him, but mismatched blue and brown wouldn't meet her eyes. "Riven… Look at me."

_I want to, but I can't._

Her mouth settled into a thin line, thinking of what to say. He preferred the truth and straight forward answers, not beating around the bush. It was obvious to tell what was on his mind, his face said it all. "I'm not blaming you," she said, tugging on his sleeve. Leaned forward, placing a reassuring hand on his arm this time. "It's not your fault. They understand too, you're the only that needs to still."

Riven faced her suddenly, eyes wide.

Gale scanned him as he did so. His pupils had always smaller compared to a normal person's, appearing as pinpoints instead of actual pupils. The windows to his soul were always cold and menacing, hiding secrets he wouldn't entrust to anyone. But now they were now full of regret, of _guilt_.

A feeling he'd probably never felt before, and it was tearing him apart. Just like it did to her.

Gale knew, now. Holding something against him that wasn't his fault would be selfish. Three years ago, she might've blamed him, but not anymore. Half a year ago, that'd changed.

"They do?" Riven asked in disbelief, feeling like a giant weight had lifted off his shoulders, leaving behind only jitters and frayed nerves. A hand still trembled.

"Yes." A slow nod. "They've matured too." Gale then smiled brightly. "They got so big! Well, Baron and Boagrius are the same as always. Haona grew to her full size already. Her fur is so soft and she even grew out her bang because she likes the way it looks. Also…"

Gale hesitated.

"Aine evolved."

He froze. "She-she did?"

Gale nodded sadly as his face fell once again, guilt flooding back in. "She was ready to evolve even before I got your letter. She just waited two years to finally do it. Evolved seven months ago. Stopped repressing it all of a sudden."

Riven's jaw clenched. He could read between the lines and what that sudden change meant. It was soul crushing. _She was waiting for me… and I wasn't there. She gave up waiting for me._ He closed a fist, fingers turning white from the pressure.

Gale looked down at the floor. Telling him the truth hurt. But he wouldn't appreciate it either way. If he saw her evolved form without knowing about her evolution, his mental state would just get worse. This way hurt less. But hurt none the less.

And that wasn't fair. Life was an unfair bastard.

_Fair or not, I have to help him through this_, she thought. "Hey. Aine doesn't hate you. On the contrary. She always says she can't wait to show you that she can kick Baron's ass now. Did you know she kicked him through my screen door the other day? She's incredibly strong. She's even come up with combo moves! Flannery is quite proud of her. You should be too. "

That seemed to help, his face easing slightly. "I am. I just… wish I was there to see it."

"You're still a trainer after all. At heart," she said, poking him in the chest.

He shrugged, taking it in stride.

"Want to play catch up? It might cheer you up. You look terrible."

"It's obligatory, isn't it?"

Gale grinned and trailed off, telling him about what had happened in the three years. About the way she started training with Baron and Aine, while running her flight service and raising Vizi. The more Gale went on, Riven seemed to brighten. Then did something odd.

Abruptly stopping, she tilted her head.

"What?" He asked.

_You smiled_, she noticed. The first, sincere smile she'd seen on him. Not a smirk, or a sarcastic grin. A true smile. "Nothing, you just seem a lot… happier. Kalos wasn't that bad was it?"

Riven's expression collapsed into dreaded disgust, like a kid who had to drink his medicine. "Kalos was… something I'd like not to repeat. And I don't mean before I wrote the letter. What came _after_ was what was bad."

"What did you do and who did you piss off?" Gale snickered.

He laughed sheepishly, glancing towards the wall for a moment. "Ah, well... I did something incredibly stupid to not very nice people. Repeatedly. Mostly for shits and giggles and because pissing them off amused me greatly."

"Not very nice people… The grumpy kind or the-"

"I'm going to hang you by your entrails, strap you to a chair and start pulling teeth type," he finished. "Tried to kill me so many times I lost count. Key word, _tried_." He scoffed, a wry grin on his face. "I can't deny it was fun, minus the paranoia and general people wanting you dead thing."

_That's the Riven I know_. "You're the only person I know that finds fun in almost getting killed."

"Not true. Trainers all have a streak of insane in them. Speaking of which-" Riven raised a finger, then shot it at Evie, who'd grown reasonably bored, lying prone on the ground as she listened to the humans talk. She'd stopped snarling at the male that her trainer apparently knew. "When did you get a Mightyena?"

"A little while after the letter," Gale responded, calling out to Evie. The dark type came to her side, still eyeing Riven with reasonable scrutiny. She panted in happiness as Gale stroked her fur. "I found her as a tiny little Poochyena getting bullied by a bunch of trainers outside Lavaridge. By the way, I used Baron and Haona to beat their puppy kicking asses into the floor. Hope you don't mind."

"I'm not complaining." Riven crossed his arms, locking eyes with the hound. "If justice was served then it's all right. Putting shitty kids in their place is fun, after all."

"Mhmm. Oh!" Gale exclaimed, then ran off towards the back of the house. She returned, holding a small card in her palm. She held it up so he could read it.

_Hoenn League Trainer Identification Card: Gale Serna_

_Location of Registration: Lavaridge Town, Leader Flannery_

_Hometown: Lavaridge Town_

_Age: 19_

"…Oh. I suppose this one _is_ my fault." He muttered, leaning back on his chair. "You didn't even want to be a trainer. What changed?"

"Spending time with your pokemon and watching them train inspired me. Your pokemon are still yours though. The only ones registered to me are Vizi, Evie, Emile, Kyne, and Yukiko."

"Yukiko?"

"My Snorunt," Gale explained. "I won her in a battle. The trainer who caught her asked me to battle him. If I lost I'd go on a date with him, and if I won, he'd give me the Snorunt he was looking to sell. He was a really desperate guy. Pestered me for days."

Riven processed that and gave her a dirty look. "You used my pokemon to cheese that, didn't you?"

Gale _tried _looking innocent.

He hmphed, coming out like a half-snort.

"Your turn. Anything interesting happen in Kalos aside from the usual things that happen in your life?"

"You mean unusual?" Riven wondered. "As in, normal?"

Gale thought about it. "Yeah, I guess our normal is your unusual."

_Steven said the exact same thing_, Riven recalled, bemused. "Well, a Kalosian girl asked me out to dinner at a café."

"Oh? Was she pretty?"

Riven gave her an obvious look.

A devious little smirk appeared on Gale's face. "Did you seal the deal then?"

"I don't know what kind of deal you're talking about, but she gave me a translation of a police report on a bunch of random attackings," he replied, effectively slaying whatever Gale was going to say next.

"Ulterior motives as always." She frowned. "Did you at least get something out of it?"

At that, Riven threw out a pokeball from behind his back. A flash of light revealed a floating pair of blades, both of which were a deep crimson. Two yellow eyes opened, looking around the room before focusing on Gale.

She froze. Evie's fur then stood on end, beginning to growl lowly as she positioned herself between her trainer and the ghost.

"Calm down," Riven said. "He's not going to slice you into pieces. By the way, this is Efrain. He used to be a knight in the Kalosian war three thousand years ago. Now he's just a ghost."

"Wait, what?" Gale gaped. "He-he's a human?"

"_Was,"_ the ghost replied in a disembodied voice that sent shivers down Gale's spine. _"Dying fixed that. And now… now I am what you see. A pleasure to meet you. Gale, I believe? You are prominent in his modern memories."_

Gale turned to Riven. "What does that mean?"

"Ummmm… Well, how do I put this? That girl I told you about? That… erm, led to this." He gestured to Efrain with both hands. The ghost stared back at him blankly. "He tried to suck my life force out." Rolling up his sleeves, he showed her the fading constriction marks around his arms.

"Again, why am I not surprised?" Gale murmured. "If it's not trying to kill you, you can't be friends with it."

"_This is an accurate assumption,"_ Efrain added, earning a_ look_ from his trainer. _"I now have skewed perceptions of trainers. Mine appears to be a high functioning lunatic. Do all of them deliberately prod aggressive Rhydons with a stick while saying, 'want to see something cool'?"_

"No, NO. _Definitely_ not. Your trainer's just messed up in the head." Gale giggled, addressing said scowling trainer. "I like him, even if he's a ghost, is scary, and also a pair of really sharp swords. He has a nice sense of humor. That goes a long way."

Riven rolled his eyes. "Glad to hear it. I'll make sure not to have him out too much so both of you don't rip on me constantly. I mean, how much abuse can a man take before it becomes too much?" He placed a hand on his face dramatically, raising his voice an octave.

"Asshat," the girl snickered. "So, he's…" She took out a red device from her pocket. A ray of blue light emerged from it, scanning Efrain as it did so. A digitalized holographic projection of him appeared in front of Gale as the pokedex gave out the details of his species, as well as a rundown of his particular moveset."Doublade, huh? Powerful pokemon. How did you catch him without pokemon of your own?"

Efrain and Riven looked at each other, then back at Gale. Nothing else had to be said.

"Well then," Gale sighed. She held out four pokeballs in her hands. "How you two tried to kill each other aside, I think we've been stalling long enough. You should see them now. Are you ready?"

Swallowing stiffly, Riven nodded.

"Okay then. You'll need this."

Handing him the translator, he put it over his ears, asking her to continue with a glance.

"Wait here," she said, exiting through the front door. Her Mightyena followed her outside, tail waggling behind her.

Riven waited in nervous anticipation for the next few minutes, thinking of a thousand things to say at once. When he heard the familiar sound of a pokeball opening outside, he closed his eyes and made himself breathe.

_Calm down. She said they understand, there's no need to be-_

The door opened, revealing a Gallade, an Absol, a Castform, and a Blaziken. Surprise colored their faces, the realization visibly sinking into each of them as they recognized who it was.

_-Nervous._

Riven throat locked up, forgetting whatever it was he was going to say when he saw them.

At first, they simply stood there, having almost the same reaction as Gale, minus the bizarre ice water dunk and breathing exercises.

Haona was the first to move, trotting to him slowly as he bent down to face her. They remained still, until she thrust her head into his stomach. Riven smiled, ruffling the white fur on her head.

"Hey, White Queen. Careful with the horn, don't want to kill me so soon, do you?"

The Absol stepped back. "_Maybe I should. You took forever to get back. I'll have to ice beam you as punishment."_

Riven chuckled, glancing up as Baron approached.

The Gallade held a sincere little smirk. _"About time. I need someone new to punch."_

"Oh, don't worry. We're going to have quite the training session now that I'm back," Riven said, matching his grin. "Heard you got thrown through a window screen."

"_Shhhhhhh… no one has to know,"_ Baron replied, holding a green finger up to his mouth. _"Glad you're back, trainer."_

Before Riven could nod in response, he saw Boagrius take a deep breath and held his hands out, yelling, "Wait!"

The Castform went silent, dipping to the side in the air. It was hard to tell if a cloud with a face was tilting its head for obvious reasons.

"Boagrius. I know you have your dramatic tendencies, but I was kind of hoping you wouldn't shout the house down. So, can you keep the auditory destruction down a little?" Riven pleaded nicely.

"_IMPOSSIBLE! THIS IS A JOYOUS OCCASION!"_ The Castform boomed, shaking the walls. _"I CANNOT CONTAIN MY HAPPINESS! WE HAVE MISSED YOU, TRAINER."_

_Yup, completely ignored._

The amorphous cloud of dramatic energy and all things obnoxious raced around the room, spinning in circles as he did so, summoning small clouds near the ceiling which released tiny amounts of snow into the air.

"Mhmm," Riven nodded painfully, wondering how long his eardrums would last at this rate. He saw the Castform about to take another deep breath and braced. Gale had already preemptively covered her own ears while giving the Castform a glare about the usage of weather manipulation inside her home.

Boagrius opened his mouth and Riven cringed. _Oh, here it comes._

"_Welcome back_," the cloud pokemon beamed, in a shockingly normal voice.

"Thanks," Riven said, surprised by the normalcy of the voice. "That was a surprisingly-"

_"NORMAL VOICE! DID YOU LIKE IT?"_

"Yes," the young man answered, twitching. "Yes, I did."

"_EXCELLENT!"_ Boagrius exclaimed before floating outside and starting a rain of snow flurries in his apparent joy.

Riven slumped his shoulders, mouthing his apologies to Gale for saddling her with that for upwards of three years. It came as no surprise she kept him in his ball most of the time. A puff of flame got his attention afterwards, and he finally focused on Aine, who now stood over six feet as a powerful Blaziken.

A mane of golden feathers reached down the length of her back, coming out front to cover her chest and the upper ridge of her stomach. Red feathers covered the rest of her body, except for the arms and feet, which were protected by extremely strong fibers, allowing Blaziken to minimize the impact of blows and kicks that could blast through a fortified concrete pillar easily.

Bright blue eyes proudly looked into Riven's. _"I evolved!"_ Aine said, still that happy fire type he remembered.

"So you did," Riven smiled.

_I'm sorry_.

Aine came over to him and gave a crushing Ursaring hug. She was stronger than she envisioned, as Riven felt the air leave his lungs and his back crack enough times to compose a symphony with. While the pent up stress leaving him felt particularly amazing, turning blue in the face from oxygen deprivation did not. He patted her on the back, struggling for air. Aine released him, panicking as he doubled over.

She panicked over him like she'd broken a plastic toy, not sure what to do.

"You hugged him too hard," Gale laughed, finding a Blaziken fretting over him fairly hilarious. "He's not too durable, for all his bravado. Hehe."

Riven glared at her, to which she laughed a fair bit harder. He stood up to full height, disappointed when he saw Aine standing taller than him. "Now, that's not fair," he complained. "I remember when you were a tiny thing, then a not so tiny thing with very loud battle cries. And now look at you, a big girl. That can throw certain scrubs through windows," he smirked, sending a not so subtle jab at Baron.

The Gallade punched him in the shoulder lightly. "_I didn't use my psychic powers_," he retorted.

"You mean you didn't use your bullshit," Riven sang. "That's good. Looks like you followed that all this time. Did it help?"

"_I use my technique more than my psychic abilities,"_ Baron shrugged. _"It helped me teach Gale how to fight."_

"He taught you what?" Riven asked, eyes wide.

Gale whistled innocently. "Baron taught me how to fight like you. Just like you taught him. I'm not an expert or anything, but I can defend myself fairly well now. Just ask some of the guys that thought I was defenseless without pokemon. Grope me? I don't think so. They don't have balls anymore."

"Good. Everyone should learn how to defend themselves." Riven still found it strange though. "I've heard of people teaching pokemon, but not pokemon teaching people. Good job Baron, the disciple becomes the teacher."

The psychic fighter gave a curt bow. _"Maybe you should teach her now."_

"Not happening," Riven refused. "She's your student. Take responsibility, at least to make up for getting thrown through a window for fucks sake."

Baron groaned.

The Absol grunted at Gale, who responded with a blink. Held out a hand, then went off into the backroom again.

_Wonder what other surprise she's going to throw out,_ Riven wondered idly, giving Haona a neck scratching.

An egg being the surprise was like a sucker punch in the stomach, though. Riven eyed the baby pokemon to be with a high degree of suspicion. "You're not going to make me take care of this, are you?" He asked. "Because I can't."

Baron fidgeted. Riven _noticed_.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Gale looked down at the egg, then gestured to Baron with a smile. "_Someone_ played a game of Gardevoir adventures in Mossdeep."

Gears turned in Riven's head as he slowly spun on his heel, glaring _burning holes_ into Baron, who peered off to the side, noticeably embarrassed.

"You _dog_."

Evie wrinkled her nose at that comment. Riven huffed, eyelid still twitching. "Any other _pleasant_ surprises I should be aware of, Gale?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Excellent. Now, before I apply copious amount of bleach to my brain, I want you all to meet Efrain, your new teammate." The Doublade hovered in the air from behind Riven, curling a sash as a sign of greetings.

His team seemed perplexed that a pair of floating swords could be considered a pokemon. That much was understandable, seeing as how they'd never left Hoenn. The ones with hands waved, while Haona raised a paw. Boagrius was still off… doing things.

Finishing introductions, Gale handed Riven back his things, including Charles and his trainer bag. The belt felt nostalgic, even though he had a newer one now. Rummaging through the bag, it was apparent that Gale hadn't touched anything non perishable in there. The extra dawn stone he picked up continued to glow inside, not losing its luster whatsoever throughout the time he'd been gone.

He returned his team, ceremoniously clipping their pokeballs back onto his belt. Felt strangely complete once he did, even if he wasn't a trainer anymore. At least not in the _Hoenn_ database.

Heh.

"Hey, Gale."

"Yeah?"

"Can I get a ride to Mauville?"

"Going to visit Amy?"

Riven shook his head, tone slackening. "Not exactly, although I wouldn't mind. Irene might just tear my head off though. Just felt like seeing the remnants of an old place long since used. You know, curiosity and all that. I've picked up some odd habits. I blame Steven."

Gale sure did find it odd, but dismissed it nonetheless. She figured whatever he was interested in would surface eventually. Things usually went that way with him. Trying to get him to talk beforehand was an exercise in futility. It was infuriating to no end when he talked in circles to avoid giving you a straight answer.

"Sure. We can travel like we used to!" She said raising a fist. "I think you'll be surprised with how much has changed."

"Oh?" Riven remarked. "I doubt that. I've been to Lumiose. I've seen some impressive things already."

"Just wait and see," she hummed. "I'll need a few things before we had out. One of them being a shower, I'm sticky from all the sweat and humidity. Wait here, stop digging through my food, and try not to touch any kitchen appliances. Toasters and ovens already shoot sparks around you."

* * *

The trip to Mauville took two days with the rests in between. In the interim, Gale had shown Riven how much Vizi had grown. When she emerged from the pokeball, the now evolved Fletchinder furiously pecked Riven on the head, chattering indignantly at him for everything he did. She wasn't thrilled to see him again after she got hit in the head with a pokeball while eating one day, then suddenly ending up in a different continent entirely. She'd grown accustomed and eventually liked the change, though.

The firebird was large for her size, indicating she was about ready to evolve soon. Emile had taken her under his wing like a daughter, teaching her how to fight in the air. Kyne had helped also, showing her how to maneuver, being a smaller, more streamlined bird than the former.

Emile's tutelage would help far more when she was a grown Talonflame than as she was now. Still, it was equally as difficult to believe as Aine had been, seeing that annoying little Fletchling as a confident Fletchinder. She flew alongside them as they went towards Mauville, spinning wheels of flame in the air and occasionally diving with the speed her species was known for.

Talonflame were highly revered pokemon in Kalos, and many a League challenger carried them, valuing their speed and strength above all else. Being birds of prey, however, meant that they were quite a bit more difficult to control and trainers that had no prior knowledge of dealing with birds often gave up when they were Fletchinders, due to their unruly nature.

Gale, however, was a flyer and _did_ have experience. She could handle it, and handle it she did. Vizi's newfound predatory instincts and aggressions were much more muted in the presence of older and stronger birds, particularly Emile, who boasted fairly large talons and a much larger wingspan than her. Explained why she was so mellow, instead of the hyper aggressive, thrill-seeking behavior the falcons usually displayed in Kalos.

Flannery probably gave her tips on how to control the fire side of her though. The gym leader had been doubtful of her ability a few years ago when she first started out, but now she was known as one of the best fire specialists in Hoenn. She wasn't quite as known as Kalos' Malva, or Johto's Blaine, but she was formidable. Her league team was ferocious, with flames hot enough to turn hydro pumps into boiling clouds of steam the moment they touched.

Gale had told him that Flannery had been reasonably jealous and practically made her promise that should Vizi breed, she'd entrust her with an egg—which was the least she could do for all the useful training and advice the gym leader had given her in return.

Riven also found out that Gale had five badges to her name, having had no trouble with Emile and Kyne at the forefront of her team. She did lose to Winona though, which was more than could be said for him, seeing as how he never even got the chance to face her.

Now, he said Mauville wasn't anything surprising compared to Lumiose. A statement that was completely true about _four fucking years ago_.

As of right now, it was a gigantic city that covered about four times its original size and the surrounding land mass. The interesting part was that it was less like an open city and more like a huge shopping mall—an indoor city whose lights lit up the cloudy sky above, just like Lumiose.

Well, it wasn't nearly as bright as the city of light, but it was close enough.

Riven didn't quite gawk, but he was astonished to see such a radical difference in the landscape. Gale shrugged with an air of "I told you so" as she returned Emile and Kyne. Vizi settled on her shoulder where Gale wore a falconry shoulder pad.

_I'm not going to lie that looks pretty awesome._

Gale snapped her fingers to break him out of his daze, taking the lead to go through the city gate. Once inside, heads turned as they saw Gale walk with a Fletchinder on her shoulder, more so because it was a foreign pokemon, and such a sought after one. Fletchlings and their evolutions fetched unbelievably high prices in other regions because of their battle prowess, keeping in check the powerhouses and walls that were fighting and steel pokemon.

"We should find a place to stay," Riven mentioned, still peering at all the shops and indoor streets.

"I can check us both into a pokemon center, that way you don't have to pay the fee. The nurses might think it very suspicious though. Older trainers of the opposite sex traveling together… They don't want certain things to happen," Gale said, reddening.

"No need," Riven replied. "I'm a registered trainer too. Kalos league though, so technically I'm a foreigner."

"Wait, huh? I thought you-"

"Got a new one," he said, waving a dismissive hand through the air. "Took _quite_ a bit of favors to get a legit one, but I have one now," he said casually. Pointed to the sign that had directions to the center and walked ahead, stopping in front of it.

Gale watched him go up to the sign, scan it, nod once, and continue on his way. He came back, poking his head out the corner after a moment. "Hey, crazy girl. You're not going to just stand there, are you?"

She shook her head in disbelief, gripping the bridge of her nose. Vizi made a sound that was the bird equivalent of a snort. Gale scratched her chest feathers, cooing at her. "Hold on, it's not like there's anyone trying to kill you."

Riven's face was complete deadpan.

"Nevermind…"

They made their way into the central plaza of Mauville, which rivaled the size of Centrico, only it was overshadowed by the multitude of shops and was practically a huge park, with a two story replica of Prism in the center; the actual thing dwarfed it in comparison, but you had to give them points for trying. Besides, when he'd last seen Prism, it kind of had a huge hole in it and the rest of Centrico was totally wrecked.

_Wonder if it's fixed now._

Checking into a shared double, they set their travel bags down. Like Gale said, the nurse at the front pulled Gale aside and murmured something into her ear. Riven pretended not to notice the unsubtle warning of no-sex-in-the-room policy that'd he'd _clearly_ seen violated during his first visit to Petalburg.

Man those days were rough.

Dumping their belongings in the room, Gale sat on the bed across from Riven's. They both stared at each other.

"It's night time." Riven mentioned idly. "Don't think we'll be able to go where I planned to go. I'd go alone but I wouldn't be able to get rid of you if I tried." Gale smiled smugly. He scoffed. "So I won't. Having backup is always nice too. Boned and shit out of luck is something I'd like not to repeat."

"I sense that's a recurring issue with you also?"

"Pretty much. So, what now?"

Gale pursed her lips, staring off into a random corner of the room in thought. An idea came to her as a mischievous little smirk appeared. "Bar."

"Excuse me?" Riven asked. "I heard you say, 'bar'. Just to clarify. You said bar, right?"

"Mhmm."

"You want to go to a place full of sexually starved males and females that serves alcoholic beverages to engage in irresponsible and very disoriented behavior usually involving the pelvis area with said males and females?"

"Not quite like that!" Gale clarified, waving her hands. "I'm not looking for those kinds of things." She sighed heavily. The exhaustion she'd been hiding came flooding back out in her voice. "I've been waiting years with bated breath for you to come back and relieve me of your pokemon's worries. I've shed too many hairs and spent too many days frustrated and exhausted beyond belief. Some days I even screamed at the top of my lungs because of it."

She went silent before continuing, blowing a breath upwards. It lifted a bang of brown hair, which fell back in place as she shrugged. "I even kept the letter, you know."

"I had a feeling you would," Riven said, understanding.

"Anyway, I think I deserve getting a little drunk after that entire ordeal. I'm twenty one now, so I can. I was saving it up for something like this. Now that you're back, I don't have to worry about some creep taking advantage of me."

"Fair enough, even though I'm sure Baron taught you well enough to beat some ass even when you're drunk," Riven accepted. It was her choice, after all. "I'm just going to let you know right now. Hangovers suck. They're practically the antithesis of pleasant. You wake up sensitive to sunlight, your head feels like a Machoke focus punched it, and your body feels like shit and a half. Not fun at all."

"I… didn't peg you for an alcohol guy," Gale said, surprised. "Learned something new today."

"Slow down there. I'm definitely, _really_ not." Riven wrinkled his nose at the memories. "Beer tastes like Rhyhorn piss, hard liquors might as well be corrosive acid down your throat and wine is a Kalos thing. And I've had enough of Kalosian culture for _quite_ some time. The only things I somewhat like are the drinks that taste more like juice than alcohol. Informants and other information brokers love bars and fancy restaurants. Getting drunk was inevitable. My first hangover made me want to die."

Still, despite the warnings of doom and peril, Gale wanted to go to the local bar anyway; the Leaping Mawile. Riven obliged her, but already told her that it wasn't as great as trainers and Slateport college students made it out to be. Not even _close_.

_Thing should be renamed to liquid self abuse_. _Liquid courage my ass._

The bar was noisy, of course, and as one could probably guess, full of single girls and guys trying to find someone to take home. Or to a hotel. What was interesting was that bars also had a prominent battle scene, attracting trainers looking for more… elevated stakes than normal. Some offered pokemon in wagers or larger sums of battle money. The highest gamblers wagered rare stones and even TMs. Most people just came to drink though.

The two sat down at a table in a corner of the room. Riven ordered a mix rum drink with pecha, magost, sitrus, and mago berries mixed in. It was called the Clefairy Paw and was really expensive in Kalos, mostly because some of the ingredients used had to be imported from other regions. Not here though. The alcohol really was muted from the sweetness, and got people really drunk if they didn't watch themselves.

Gale ordered a more traditional drink, cringing at the bitterness of the taste. "Gah! This tastes terrible."

Riven bobbed his head and lazily drank from his own beverage, moving a hand to say that he told her so. Set it down on the table, licking his lips. "That's why I get these. They taste great and you get drunk quickly. Skips the disgusting aftertaste phase."

Following his advice, Gale ordered a similar drink, but with a berry and fruit mix. It was a little more sour but she seemed to like it much better.

"So, what did you want to come to Mauville for?"

Riven swirled his drink, taking a steady breath. "What do you know of New Mauville?"

"Not much? Only that it closed like thirty or so years ago. It's abandoned now. I heard it has dozens of underground levels, but only the first two have been able to be opened by thrill seekers that trespass occasionally. Oh and it's home to a bunch of electric pokemon. Still runs on the old city power grid or something."

"Yeah, that's what people usually know. I don't think it shut down for no apparent reason though. The terms behind its closing were… strange. They don't quite make sense if you really dig. An old power plant like that suddenly closing out of the blue? Bullshit. Something must have happened in there."

"Something tells me that you're planning to do something illegal again," Gale guessed. "You have that glint in your eye."

"Which one?"

"The pretty one. Mostly because your brown eye is too dark to tell."

"Ah. Well, I was planning to-"

Their conversation was cut off as a glass slammed down on the table in front of Gale, startling her. At the foot of the table was a tall man with short, dirty blonde hair and a trainer jacket. On his belt were four pokeballs. He didn't appear to be drunk like most of the guys around.

"Hey. What's your name, beautiful?" He asked, smiling wide.

Gale held back a tiny sigh, not quite rolling her eyes but nearly there. _Another one. Sometimes I wish I was a guy. _"Gale, and you are?" Riven was internally grinning as he saw the evident annoyance in her facial muscles. This guy was quite the confident trainer apparently.

"Ace trainer Malcolm," he said, placing emphasis on the ace. He bowed to her, completely ignoring Riven who was sitting right across from her. Riven didn't mind it though, he found it quite amusing. These guys were everywhere and he'd dealt with more than he'd like to ever again. This time they weren't giving him shit, though—a small blessing. Gale was the one getting hit on. It was kind of like watching those nature documentaries on two wild pokemon and seeing what they'd do. Television was interesting at times.

So were humans. Courtship was even more so, mostly when the attraction was one sided, like it was here. Top quality entertainment. Popcorn worthy, at that.

"What brings a beautiful woman like you to Mauville? Where are you from?" Malcolm inquired. "I'm from Lilycove myself. You a trainer too? I see pokeballs."

A friend of his with an equally potent aura of douche came over to the table, eyes peeling open upon seeing Gale. "That's the girl with the Fletchinder! She had it on her shoulder and was walking around with it! Holy shit, she's hot. I mean the Fletchinder too but damn."

Gale went still and a slight slump of her chest signaled a silent curse in her head.

"Oh?" Malcolm said, licking his lips. "A Kalos pokemon? My, my those are rare. Especially with someone with a body like…" He looked her up and down. "-that. A true Hoenn gem. Stunning, above average in height, trainer, and has rare pokemon. Did I mention you're gorgeous?"

Gale was trying so hard to control herself she was turning red in the face. Riven almost choked on his drink when Malcolm turned on his charm further and proceeded to compliment her over and over. It was when Malcolm sat down next to her and put an arm around her neck did Riven really start giggling.

The fit finally drew his attention to him, but a hostile kind of attention.

"Something funny, friend?" The ace trainer bit out, eyes narrowed.

"No, no," Riven chuckled, holding up a hand while he tried to unsuccessfully compose himself. "Please continue… aha-hah."

"Oh, I get it. You were trying to get her first, huh? That's why you're laughing?" He ground out, tone shifting into a typical alpha male's. His little comfort zone was in danger, after all. Had to protect his dignity. "Got no game, do you?"

Riven channeled his inner cocky asshole and gave the biggest shit eating grin he could muster. A single finger jabbed in his direction. "I see. This is where you start showing off your bravado to impress the girl into thinking you're a big, strong man who can protect them. Right? You also brought your douche friend here to look for girls for you to pick up. The alpha and the beta. How fitting. Do you suck each other's dicks too?"

Nostrils flared, and Malcolm rose in his seat. "What was that? Can you repeat it, punk?" He growled, coming over to where Riven sat.

"I can but I don't think you'd have the intelligence to understand it," Riven said, twisting the stake further.

Malcolm knocked over Riven's drink, spilling it across the table. Riven looked crestfallen at the sight. "Such a waste. Is that it though? Just going to spill my drink? Disappointing." Crossing his legs, Riven rested his face on his fist.

About to reach for a pokeball, the bartender called out from behind the counter, "hey, fucking idiots, take this shit outside. You break anything, you buy it!"

Conceding, the ace trainer set the pokeball back into his belt. His jaw clenched as he locked eyes with Riven, still smiling widely. He lifted his chin, facing Gale once again. "Screw this guy, come with me. I'll rock your world."

Gale gave Riven a quick glance before smiling coyly. She got up to leave with him, probably about to wait until they were outside so she could beat him into the dust.

As soon as she stood up, the ace trainer's hand slid behind her back and firmly latched onto her behind, which he felt up. Gale's expression completely changed, turning into silent anger. Grey eyes were ferocious like storms. Even the bartender saw it.

The douche friend of his had even had the common sense to back away as well.

And it was at that moment, Malcolm knew, that he _fucked up_.

Gale wrenched his hand away from her bottom, twisted it over herself, elbowed him in the kidney, then smashed his nose into the nearest table; followed by shattering her glass over his head. He tried getting up but got a right hook to the jaw so hard he passed out.

"Pervert," she hissed, brushing herself off. "I was going to wait until I was outside to kick his ass, Bartender, but he groped me inappropriately. Put it on my tab, please." Gesturing to Riven, she moved her head towards the exit, giving the okay to leave.

She stormed out of the bar, furious. Riven followed stoically, who then lost it completely as he exited the doors. Gale raised her hands in the air, yelling, "I just want to drink in peace and these asses follow me everywhere! God!"

Riven caught up to her, still crying from laughter. He clapped like a drunken Sealeo. "That was golden."

"Can I be a boy?" She heaved. "Life would be so much easier."

"Sorry, but no. I have a feeling this happens almost as regularly as I tend to nearly get myself killed. Am I even half right?"

Gale blew out an exasperated breath, all but confirming that."When I'm alone? Yeah. A lot. Most guys aren't that brave though."

Riven sucked his teeth. "Those people are pretty desperate. Pseudo confidence that translates to arrogance often results. For girls it's obvious seduction attempts."

"Well it's annoying," Gale spat, gritting her teeth. She was still miffed about it for the next few minutes as they walked around the city but mellowed out quickly. They sat down on a nearby bench. She released Evie, ordering her to ice fang the next douchebag that got any ideas. The dog loyally nodded, sending a sudden dip of the head towards Riven, as if asking to do it to him first.

"No, not him. I actually don't mind that one."

Evie looked downright disappointed, grunting before settling in between Gale's legs below the bench. The Mightyena vigilantly focused, growling at every guy that happened to pass by them. She also took disapproving glances at Riven, daring him to try anything.

"Don't think she likes me," Riven mused. "I sense she has some trust issues. Given her story though, I can see why. Does she dislike male humans?"

"Yeah, a bit. You've made a lot more progress than other people though. Evie says you smell different," Gale mentioned absently, rubbing the undersides of the Mightyena's jaw. "She may have trauma though. She's really protective of me and I don't have to keep her in her ball too much. It's nice having a pokemon that doesn't knock everything over. Emile, Kyne, and Vizi drive me up walls sometimes. Yukiko isn't problematic, thankfully."

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen a Snorunt before. Up close at least. Can you show me with she looks like?"

Gale reached for her belt and released Yukiko onto the floor in front of them. The light faded to reveal a small, triangular pokemon with two cyan colored eyes and a wide perpetual smile on its face. It had two tiny fists for hands, looking more like mittens than hands.

Yukiko shook slightly upon realizing where she was. Gale picked her up, holding the ice type in her arms. The pokemon settled, letting out a small "sno" before almost instantly falling asleep.

"I wish I could sleep like that," Riven said. He touched the triangular head of the Snorunt, who snuggled further into Gale's chest. "Must be the 'cushioning'."

Gale gave him a look and huddled together further, embarrassed.

"I was joking," he clarified. "My bad. I know I'm a bastard, you can insult me if you like."

She shook her head, choosing to stare at him for a long minute.

Noticing, Riven raised a brow. "Something on my face?"

"You seem… different," she said, slightly unsure how to phrase it. He seemed far less broody than he used to be, and that jittery paranoia that he used to have wasn't even noticeable. He was relaxed and at ease. It was jarring, but it was a welcome change. "The old you would have broke that guy's knees. Thanks for not stepping in, I really needed that."

Riven gave her a small, assuring smile. "Baron taught you well. Besides, it was one of the most entertaining things I've witnessed in a while. You ruined his beautiful douchebag face and are going to make him piss blood tonight at the same time. Two for one, heh."

Gale laughed, then stood up abruptly. "You said you wanted to go to New Mauville, right?"

"Yeah?"

"I need something to take my mind off things, are you up for a little trespassing?" The flyer suggested, grin growing further.

Riven furrowed a brow suspiciously. "Isn't suggesting stupid things to do my job?"

"Usually. Tonight I'm subbing in for you. So, you want to go? Or not?"

"That a challenge, trainer?"

"Why? You scared?"

"Quaking."

They ran towards the nearest open spot to the sky they could find and flew south, no plan, no preparation. Just them and their pokemon. Abandoned facility exploring, just like cave exploring. This was going to be fun.

* * *

**Sorry for not updating faster than I previously said. Went back home and Thanksgiving stuff and all. Haven't been able to get on the computer for like three days. This was mostly a retouch chapter. Not much action or anything, just as the title said.**

**In case anyone was wondering, New Mauville was apparently a research facility of sorts. It was also a power plant. Now, I always found it weird that it was shut down with no explanation. And with all the events surrounding the gathering of mega evolution energy from pokemon to fuel certain things in the games( the ultimate weapon and the rocket from the delta episode) there seems to be some shady shit going on there. Considering the tower of mastery was built quite a bit ago, mega evolution must have been kept secret for a while and only came to light by some sort of accident. It wouldn't be surprising to assume that someone experimented with this in there. I mean it **_**was**_** a power plant.**

**Also, Gale knows something about him she still can't quite come to terms with.**

**See you in the next chapter and thank you for reading!**

**PSA: Dead week and Finals are going on. Expect the next chapter in two weeks and a half probably. It's half done but the editing takes time and exams are a priority. Christmas break should increased the update frequency.**


	58. Hidden Depths

Haona was unfocused as she prowled ahead for any threats in the darkened underground expanse of New Mauville; the entrance of which was located a few miles away from the city itself. The manmade cavern-which _could_ be called a cavern given its rundown state- was home to electric pokemon, the most common being Magnemite and their evolutions. No humans came around here much, and the ones that did tended to regret it by way of third degree electrical burns, _if_ they emerged at all.

The generators inside provided power due to the electrical discharges and bouts the inhabitants within produced, which fed power to the city itself at virtually no cost and for practically no maintenance or hassle.

Essentially, there was a metric ton of reasons why it was relatively pointless to venture down there. Except, given who her trainer was, it was no surprise she found herself here doing something illogical… like heading into a Magneton nest full of wires and electronics that were _fully_ functional.

Magnemite and Magneton that dwelled near the surface attacked them repeatedly, either to defend their home or for some other unknown reasons. By themselves they were really just pushovers, but in large groups their lethality increased immensely. This lethality and accumulating death count of several unfortunate trainers and their teams were two very large reasons why the rangers had posted a sign to warn everyone not to go in.

Sure, a trainer's pokemon could be strong and do it. But dodging a single lightning bolt was hard enough. Dozens of them from multiple angles was almost impossible, she wasn't a Jolteon.

Even in retreat around the corner as lightning turned a rotting table into splintered fragments of charred wood, Haona's mind was elsewhere, rather than focused on the deadly bolts of electricity being hurled at her. Something troubled her greatly, interfering with her ability to attack. Even her mega horn waned in strength and her razor winds were sloppily and poorly aimed. That only served to make the encounters with the floating metal magnets that much more irritating.

Haona breathed, drawing attention to it.

Specifically, her mind was on her trainer's sudden reappearance. He'd been gone for three years since that letter, when Gale had released them all, happily explaining to them that he'd come back soon. The human girl had been ecstatic, enthusiastically showing them the strange little bird Riven had sent her. A Fletchling from a distant land. But that wasn't important. She and the others only thought about reuniting with their trainer, who'd been wronged by what seemed like circumstances out of his control. They held onto that hope.

The hope that they'd see him again soon.

Soon turned into weeks, then months, and finally, years. Gale's gentle smile slipped, and her mood became somber, according to Baron. The feeling was bitter, and Haona spent even more time hunting and going off on her own. It'd become a habit of hers since; going off on her own to save the others from her worries. They had their own to tend to.

The days were longer than they'd ever felt before. Hours seemed like days as she stalked the rolling hills and grasses of the plains. Every successful hunt was filled with a tiny hope that she'd return to Gale's home and her trainer would be sitting at the table to welcome her back and ruffle her fur like he always did. The gesture used to irritate her until she found missing it longingly more and more as time passed.

But eventually that hope disappeared too. Cynicism began to take root and slowly she would hear a little voice in her head whispering to her that he'd never come back. That he'd left her too. It frightened her, to be left alone again. Solitude was cherished- like her hunts and leisure walks- but that void of loneliness was always there, just out of reach, waiting for her. Gale and the others kept it at bay, but it wasn't completely gone. Not like when he was here.

Her pillar of support. Her savior. Her trainer.

While the others kept telling her that he would never do something like that, she wasn't so sure.

After all, did they really know their trainer? He hardly spoke, and Baron was unable to read his mind. He always wore the same expression, shifting it only when there was something to be concerned about, or when he talked to others. Then there was that feeling of… otherness to him. Something she couldn't describe in any other way other than to compare it to herself. Maybe it was what drew her to the man, and what put Baron on edge.

The black jewel he'd given her on the ship dangled from her neck, secured under the fur of her chest as she walked. In a sense, it kept her sane. She protected it, cherished it, and would often look at it for hours under the shade of a tree.

Now he'd returned. One day he wasn't there and the next he was, as if he'd never left. After all this time he had returned with another teammate and that strange sense of "other" stronger than before. It made her spine tingle and not in a way that made her feel comfortable.

At first, she felt like screaming at him, but despite trying so hard to find a reason to be angry with him, nothing came to her. Truthfully, there was nothing she _could _say. His sudden reappearance caused a flood of emotions to overwhelm her sense and reasoning. She'd never been so uncertain. She didn't know _how_ to react. Instead, she thrust her face into his stomach, yielding to the desire to be with her human trainer again. Was this how trained pokemon felt when they were separated from their trainers? If so, why?

They were just humans. And yet, they demanded a certain respect and admiration she couldn't put her paw on.

Why did feelings have to be so _hard_? Being wild was relatively easy in comparison. Kill or be killed. Eat. Sleep. Survive. Simple and easy to follow. Unfortunately, now that she had a trainer for this whole time, it was impossible to go back. The thought of returning to the wild was enticing, but something inside kept hauling her back, and it wasn't the food. Everything about training and the atmosphere it created felt like a lock and key. They fit. Worries just seemed to fall away in the heat of battle, the pride of winning swelling as their trainer congratulated a job well done. Every meal shared was a celebration of victory and training sessions were met with eagerness and the drive, the burning passion to exceed expectations.

All for shiny little pieces of metal so valued to the humans. It seemed so insignificant in retrospect… but to them it was everything. And so it was everything to the pokemon as well.

While Gale used them to battle trainers with pokemon suitable for their own levels, it wasn't the same as having Riven do it. By no means did Haona consider the human girl a bad trainer, she just didn't feel like _her_ trainer. She loved the girl and gave her respect; things just weren't the same. That's all there was to it.

Now… maybe all she had to do was adjust to his presence now. Maybe it really was that simple. As simple as an attack?

Approaching quickly, a group of Magneton came into view, sparking in the darkness.

A pale green sickle extended outward from her horn, slicing into the metal hide of one as she fluidly weaved between several thunderbolts, felling it in one blow despite the type difference. She looked down at it, amazed at how easy it lost consciousness, for all the work involved to get to that one result.

Red eyes peered into the dark, seeing another swarm appear. Haona backed off and braced as a Blaziken leapt from behind her, followed by the heat of erupting flames. She shook her head, remembering what Riven had told her once in Forina. It hardly made sense then, but now she understood.

_Nothing is ever simple, there's always something more, lying under the surface._

* * *

Aine jumped out from behind Haona, kicking and punching blasts of searing fire down the narrow corridor. The flames were larger and more intense than usual, responding to her emotions as she did. Every kick vented her frustrations and every punch released pent up stress, converting those feelings into heat and light that flowed down the corridors of the subterranean facility, scorching and consuming anything even remotely flammable. Any unlucky Magneton and Magnemite fell easily to the attacks, the steel coating their bodies beginning to melt and loose its shape, glowing red from the heat.

Her strength had grown twofold in short time, as a result of day long training sessions with Baron. At first glance, it only seemed like they trained to keep top form and keep to their fighting nature. Not wrong by any means, but that wasn't the primary reason.

Training kept both Baron and her occupied on something else, allowing them to temporarily shove their preoccupations and grievances aside. During those sessions, only the fight mattered; the impacts of skin and muscle on each other, and the anticipation of the opponent's next move. As with all things done in repetition, however, that seemed to falter eventually too.

Riven had always trained with them, not explicitly involved because he was a fragile human prone to breaking like a twig, but often as a guiding voice. Sending them on runs, drills, hand to hand combat and tactics. He also made them practice their basics over and over to the point of frustration, instructing them that one could learn all the fancy moves in the world, but if no one knew their basics, they'd be lost.

Yeah, a guide.

That's what her trainer appeared to be to her. A beacon at the end of the tunnel, leading her towards the light—towards strength, happiness, and purpose. That's what being under a trainer's lead was all about.

She pushed herself so hard in order to improve for her trainer and for herself. As a Torchic, she'd been the smallest, and often the one most overlooked in Birch's lab. She tried to prove herself constantly, spending hours trying to control her inner flame, constantly berated by the Mudkip next to her tank. Veer was her voice of support, and she thanked him for that.

But she wanted a trainer. One she hoped could lead her to the finals of those fierce battles Birch had always played on the monitors overhead in the lab. When the day finally came, when she saw her trainer- an unfriendly and rather rough looking male with unkempt black hair and unfriendly eyes- she felt a rise of pride swell within her as their eyes locked and with an uneasy finger, chose her.

The following struggle with the Scyther helped to solidify that. And after her first gym battle… the feeling was astounding, liberating even. Not once did he doubt her ability, only putting her through more rigorous training. Her power had grown steadily, and her flames hotter still. This was a human's guidance, allowing pokemon to reach potentials few in the wild could possibly match.

As she felt her body getting ready to evolve into the form her mother had, Riven had left because of complicated human issues. She never understood them, and hardly cared for them, but Gale told them all that it wasn't simple at all, and that he did it to protect them.

She got that. So she trained harder, both to keep her mind off his absence, and to make sure she would be able to show him how strong she'd gotten when he returned. Eagerly waiting for that day, Aine held back her evolution, saving it for the inevitable return.

Evolution got in the way, though. The need to evolve came so often that she couldn't spar for more than an hour before the surging energy moved through her body, working to shift her organs, muscles, and tissues. Her inner fire flared like a star, and every time it was held back, it felt like she'd snuffed out a warm campfire. The thought was saddening, but it wasn't time yet, she used to think.

When she couldn't take the sheer annoyance it caused anymore, she let the evolution run its course. She'd have waited ten more years for her trainer, but her patience was running a little thin. Her legs were far stronger, and her body was more powerful than ever. Kicks and punches could sear through fully grown trees and smash concrete, her feet packing enough force to scale buildings in a meager jump.

Having this power was amazing, but it also made her strangely pensive.

The day she evolved she looked towards the orange light of the horizon, wondering where her trainer was. And if he'd be happy that she'd chosen to evolve without him, or angry that she didn't wait.

When he came back, she was ecstatic, like Gale. She showed off her new form to him, excitement to go back on the journey with him and the others enveloping her like the summer sun. That lowly flame of expectation sparked to life once again. Not once did she lose hope.

He was happy about it too, praising her evolution. But there was something else to it in his eyes, melancholy and guilt. In a way, that felt worse than her trainer being angry about her evolution. She didn't want to see him sad. Baron always said that Riven was hardly ever happy, and beneath that exterior was a lot of pain. They never asked about it, but it was there. And yet still he pushed on for them. Doing so in return was their duty as pokemon, as his team.

_This is my place. This is where I belong._

Reality came to as the sound of teleports could be heard. A green figure appeared in blurred streaks of motion between the dying flames while a warm glow of sunlight flowed into her feathered mane behind her. Psychic energy tore through the air into the horde of Magneton, assaulting them with spiraling pink blades sharper than steel itself. Balls of fire assisted, spreading splashing flames onto the Magneton like liquid fire.

Blue eyes stared at the sight of the flickering embers in front of her as she held out a clawed hand, the faint glow of flames rising from within them.

_I'm glad… But why didn't you come sooner?_

* * *

Baron and Boagrius jumped into the fray, driving back the horde where Aine and Haona had fallen behind, in case there were any threats behind them. The dark and fire types seemed distracted by something, which in turn butted into Baron's focus.

He grit his teeth as he psychokinetically flung a piece of concrete in front of a thunder, causing it to explode in a shower of dust and debris. A fire typed weather ball flew past his head, smashing right across the Magneton's face, melting some of the steel off its face.

Baron thanked the obnoxious Castform as he bellowed down the corridor, his booming voice echoing across the walls as he rained more weather balls in his sun form. Charging up, he spat another fireball into the dispersing crowd of electric types and a large explosion of fire rocked the foundation of the walls.

The wild pokemon flew away in a frenzy, finally deciding it wasn't worth it.

Scanning for any leftover threats, Baron calmed his heart rate, and breathed.

Aine and Haona's conflicted states burrowed under his skin like a splinter, and he found himself thinking about the exact thing. One of the drawbacks of being a psychic, he guessed. Boagrius didn't appear to care, he was too busy taunting the Magneton to give a fifth of a damn. As usual. The other two were far less carefree.

_They're thinking about Riven's return huh?_

He managed to usher out a weary sigh.

Oh sure, he'd thought about it plenty himself. But he'd grown the fastest out of all of them, matured the fastest. And being psychic, well, that made him naturally more connected with humans. He'd spoken to Gale numerous times about the intricacies of human interaction and laws, learning them, studying them, mostly to grasp how deep in the metaphorical swamp his trainer had fallen.

Which was pretty damn deep, from what the human girl recalled.

His teammates didn't really understand that as well. Human laws were unimportant to them, and there was nothing wrong with that. Most trained pokemon just didn't have to deal with things like this. Death of a team member or of a trainer wasn't unheard of, and devastated the ones involved, but what about _this_?

This thing in the middle that was neither loss nor abandonment?

In a way it was worse, because there was no air of finality. What ifs and maybes plagued his thoughts and dreams, causing him to hesitate when he should have stepped sound. Worried he was, but twirling his green thumbs all day wasn't going to necessarily bring Riven back any faster, or magically help them grow stronger.

Boagrius seemed to agree, and they acted as the peptalkers to the others, encouraging them to stay lively and avoid slacking, because that's what Riven would want. He tried to lead, he really did.

Being a leader was tough though. Individuals had different emotions and thoughts, and being psychic, he was aware of _all _of them. They were also impossible to satisfy. At least all of them put together. One problem was fixed and others arose, such was the complicated nature of both people and pokemon. Baron was a fighter, a battler. Not a trainer. Trying to keep everyone together was harder than he'd ever imagined and he praised Gale for keeping it together, no matter how guilty the girl felt about everything. There were no tears of sadness from her either, or from stress, even if her back was as stiff as an oak tree. She was resilient, however tired. She'd even taken up a team of her own after a while.

Because of that, he'd grown slightly resentful of his trainer for putting her in that position, and similarly—himself.

The feeling had all but vanished when Riven came back, but some of it was still there. Not for him-he was relieved, really- but for Gale. The girl had been given an incredible burden for a non-trainer, as well as putting up with their antics for all this time. She'd been there when he hadn't.

He just hoped his trainer would see that, that's all.

* * *

Riven and Gale walked slowly through the underground facility, careful not to disturb some of the damaged walls and objects strewn about. Exposed wires cracked and sparked on the floor, some even submerged in a puddle of murky water. When the Mauville officials and rangers warned people not to come here, they _meant_ it.

One of Efrain's blades hovered in the air, its twin in Riven's right hand in case they got blindsided by any pokemon and didn't have a chance to defend themselves. Evie trotted beside them as well, though it was doubtful she'd enjoy biting into metal.

Ahead, the sounds of battle could be heard as Riven's team secured the way.

Squinting, Riven could see crimson eyes peer back at him briefly, before turning away quickly and returning to the fight. He pursed his lips at his Absol's behavior, and turned to Gale, who attached a flashlight on her pokebelt to see in the dark. Naturally, he didn't need it, but the light was welcome. At least for confirming that those red eyes had belonged to Haona and not some sort of malicious pokemon lurking about.

"Is Haona acting strange?" Riven asked suddenly.

"Why do you ask that?" Gale replied, stepping over a wire with a hop.

"She's been hesitant to look at me since I released her. Aine doesn't seem as focused either," Riven noted. "I know when they're worried about something. Especially Aine. She's hardly ever distracted."

Gale shuffled her feet, ignoring the question to continue walking.

_You too, huh._ Riven grimaced and stopped, the echoing of his footsteps falling silent. Gale turned around and gave him a questioning look, to which he just shook his head and sighed. "I know you said you're fine, but you're not yourself either. And neither are they. You've been trying to cheer me up, and I appreciate that, but I'm not blind nor sensitive."

She regarded that with more than a little discomfort, but conceded. Agreeing somberly, Gale crossed her arms and exhaled slowly. "Riven… I meant what I said, it's just-people, even pokemon, can't just forget three years of no contact. I know I can't. I've been trying to hide it but-"

The young man accepted that silently, raising a finger to get her to stop. "Can you call out to Baron? IF this is how you feel about this, then I don't doubt they feel the same way."

Slightly surprised, Gale did as requested, reaching for that strange connection that psychics established with others, oddly there and not there. The connection was more one-sided than anything, and she just assumed he could hear her. Her assumption was correct when Baron responded moments later, inquiring what the situation was.

Gale didn't speak. She let her emotions speak instead. The psychic reciprocated with the sound of an odd chime in her mind and relayed the message to the others. Within a few minutes, Riven's team returned together through the darkness, fur and feathers singed from the electricity.

They came into view of Gale's flashlight, two feet away from the human trainers.

Baron's locked with Riven's, and the psychic gave him a signal as his horn flashed a dull pink.

His team faced him, partly in confusion and uneasiness. Gale backed away to give them some space, feeling the tension from there.

Riven collected his thoughts and steeled his nerves, not quite knowing where to even start, or how to put anything into words. "Listen to me," he began, tone shaky. "I know… I know it's difficult to accept me being back. And… I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't here for so long." He glanced toward the side, at Gale. "I mean that to everyone. I know you were all just trying to make me feel better about it but… it's bothering you and I get it. Tell me the truth, scream at me, throw fire at me, but don't hold it in. I can take it."

He stood his ground, waiting.

At first there was silence, but then, his Absol slowly stepped up. Riven knelt down to face her. Crimson eyes expressed a longing and a deep loneliness as they looked up at him, sadness coloring her voice as she spoke, "_thought… I thought you left us. I almost gave up. I thought you'd never come back… I didn't know what to do. I just wanted you back again, to save me from that lonely space."_

Riven swallowed, holding it in as Aine stepped forward this time.

She spoke with more conviction, but her tone was of confusion, of something she couldn't comprehend. _"Why?"_ She asked. "_Why didn't you come sooner? I thought you'd get mad at me for evolving… and after a while, I started to think that you left us for not being good enough. So we trained so hard. And I evolved anyway. I'm sorry you didn't get to see me evolve… I-"_

_I just wanted to make you proud._

Riven didn't have to hear Aine say it to understood what she meant, her expression said it all. A proud and fierce Blaziken that once was a lovable and energetic little Torchic looking so miserable felt like someone had lashed at his soul with whips of ice, each word bringing more pain than the last. Still, he waited.

Boagrius floated over, reverting back to his normal, grey form. _"Trainer human. Baron is tired, so I will speak for him,"_ he said, tone uncharacteristically soft. _"Whilst you were gone, we tried to lead everyone else back into shape. But… it was difficult. We tried, we really did. If you had the chance, why didn't you say something, even if it was just to ease our nerves?"_

"I didn't know how," Riven admitted soberly. "To be honest, I've never been a leader in my life. All I did was follow orders and go from task to task. In the beginning, when I started training, when I met all of you- that's all it was. Something to do. I didn't think about all of you as something more, just a means to an end, I guess. But after that letter I wrote in Kalos, and the people I got mixed up with, I couldn't stop thinking about how you were all doing."

He paused, a bitter smile on his face.

"I didn't know how I could face all of you again. A selfish part of me thought it'd be best to just avoid it, to abandon the lifestyle completely. But…" He looked back at Gale. "I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. I wasn't content there. I was miserable, and I knew exactly why. My comrades weren't there, the ones I do care about. There were just enemies, and that's no way to live. It took me a long time to get the courage to come back, and even then, I didn't know if you'd ever forgive me. And for that I'm sorry. That I was an irresponsible asshole."

The male trainer hung his head low, staring down at the floor. There was a long, stretched out silence.

Until a firm hand gripped his shoulder. Baron stood next to him, smiling. _"And I'm the worrywart? It's because of you that we got this strong. It's because of you that I'm a Gallade now, that I have this power. Trainers bring us together, remember? Otherwise we'd still be in the wild fighting to survive, thinking that's all that matters in the world. Aine would still be stuck in that lab, watching battles she'd wish she could be in. You gave us something more to look forward to, even if you get into the craziest situations. We wouldn't ever blame you, we'd follow you anywhere."_

He faced the others, the horn in his chest glowing vividly, confirming the rising positivity in the others.

"_That's what matters, right?"_

Haona, Aine, and Boagrius's faces lifted, revealing warm grins as the words hit home. Even Gale smiled as she witnessed the bond between trainer and pokemon.

"_Oh and leading everyone else is a pain in my ass. I'd rather have someone else do it for me," _Baron added wryly.

"Heh. You little shit," Riven chuckled heartily. Reinvigorated, he stood up and nodded at Baron, who stepped back.

The psychic's expression then turned mischievous before saying, _"and… you still need to get punished for being so irresponsible."_

"Oh really? Coming from the one who left an egg while I was gone? Lecherous bastard."

The psychic sputtered stupidly.

"Although yeah, I guess that's fair," Riven smirked. "Well, I don't usually agree to this, but you have the permission to jump me. Just this once though." His attention turned to his Absol, who looked more than eager to take him up on the offer. "I presume you want the first shot, White Queen?"

"_Promise you won't leave again,"_ she said, returning to her usual self. _"Or _else_."_

"I promise. Come at me."

Two seconds later and he was already on the floor with the rest of his team piled on top of him.

Gale giggled as she watched Riven complain and struggle like a Magikarp out of water against their weight, before finally picking himself into a crouch, surrounded by his pokemon. _The trainer dog pile, classic male trainer move. _

Ruffling Haona's head fur, Riven let out a huge sigh of relief. "Damn, that was hard for me. Feelings are hard to deal with, you know? It's not manly," he said, pointing at the human girl off towards the wall.

Gale snorted something under her breath.

"Still, I'm not leaving again," Riven said, with a tone of finality. "Not now, not ever. I mean that. No one is going to take you away from me, not a group of scumbags, mercenaries, or trainers. I'll tear them apart limb by limb if they try. I don't care if I have to fight the world to do it either."

In the corner of his eye, he saw Gale flinch. Ignoring it for now, he stood up. "Now that this is done with though, you all need to go clear the way again. I can hear the Magneton sparking from here. Feeling time is over! Get back to work!"

His pokemon snorted and went back up ahead in the darkness, their moods much livelier than before. Gale pushed off from the wall she was reclining on, heading back over to Riven's left.

"So, now that we're alone, would you kindly inform me of what you wanted to talk about that couldn't be said in front of them?" He said sharply, glancing to the side.

"Was it that noticeable?" She asked, disappointed.

"Tsk, you flinched. I've been dealing with snakes and scoundrels for a few years now, you're going to have to try a lot better than that to get past me." She grumbled as he scoffed. "Let's keep walking, we don't want to get left behind. Tell me on the way."

Gale gripped the bridge of her nose, falling into synchronous stride with him. "I don't want to talk about it here," she said.

_I hope to hell this isn't what I think it is,_ he thought, not quite trying to roll his eyes."Is it sensitive, by any chance?"

She gave him an incredulous look, but swallowed whatever she was about to say. Straightening out, Gale waved a hand mildly. "Not in the way you're thinking."

"What way am I thinking?"

Her glare was flatter than a two dimensional line. "I'm not going to answer that. We'll talk somewhere that isn't going to get us killed at a moment's notice."

"Understandable," Riven shrugged.

"What do you expect to find here, anyway?"

"This place used to be a research facility for 'power' right? Well, I assume they must have left some files in the deeper levels. It was a while ago so I assume they still used paper copies. Otherwise I wouldn't be here investigating."

"You know Wattson shut this place down because it was threatening wild pokemons' natural habitat, right?"

"Was that in the reports?"

"Yes," Gale confirmed.

"Psh," Riven sneered. "I assume you didn't hear anything about an incident in Kalos three years ago, shortly after you got that letter?"

Gale thought about it, glancing upwards. "There was a report that there'd been some kind of demolition gone awry and part of Lumiose got damaged in the explosion but that was it. Why?"

"Heh, _reports_," Riven sneered again. "They only tell you innocuous things. Never the real good stuff like oh, shit-went-down-ten-degrees-of-completely-fucked and then some."

"Did something happen over there?"

Riven glanced at her, face blank.

"How bad?"

"Pretty bad. Funny part was, the guys behind it were those assholes that caused everything at the Dragon Festival. And they made off with an artifact that has to do with the sphere I found. While destroying most of Centrico. They took advantage of a trainer that just lost his pokemon. Brought a mega evolved Tyranitar into city limits and blew everything to hell. The Elite four had to be called in to quell it."

"And we didn't hear about it?!" Gale stammered.

"Told you, the reports are just there not to cause any panic, or to save face and avoid _most _of it. Wouldn't want it to get out that trainers are responsible for these things, then the Sinnoh paranoia comes back full force. Which, as you know, would be awfully shitty for everyone."

"Is that what you're here about then? The spheres and all? You think they found one here?"

"Not exactly," he corrected. "How do I put this? It's possible mega evolution and what happened to Will may be linked somehow, in a deeper more fundamental way."

"I'd sit down if there wasn't exposed wires everywhere," Gale mentioned blankly. "Assuming it is true, how did you find out?"

Riven scratched his cheek. "Ever hear of the Tower of Mastery?"

"It's that famous tower in Kalos where the first mega evolution was found?" Gale recalled, pointing a finger in the air. "Am I right?"

"Yeah. Well, there was a room underground there that had the same markings and glyphs that I saw when I first touched the azure sphere. Figured the sphere could do something and when used on the door… let's just say these people twenty thousand years ago were up to some fairly frightening things."

Continuing to walk through the darkened passage, Gale swallowed. "Like?"

"Apparently whatever they were doing turned people into giant keystones. Failed experimentation, probably. Not natural ones either. They give off huge amounts of energy, even causing one of the pokemon present to evolve without its trainer."

"They were trying to use mega evolution as a way to evolve humans?" Gale gasped, slightly horrified. "And it backfired."

"Must have been an early test and such. Will is living proof that they succeeded."

Which ultimately was the problem and what concerned him the most. They _had _succeeded, and went through all the trouble of making them into keys in remote locations so no one could access them. He'd only gotten to the azure sphere from a cave in presumably opening a way into the deeper portions of Granite Cave. Still, why weren't there more super powered human pokemon hybrids running around? Apart from himself, which also happened to be a completely different matter he couldn't explain, much less tell Gale.

"I just wonder what the hell happened to them." Riven continued. _Or to me._ "They were stretched across the globe and even with all these archaeological findings, we still have no idea how they vanished. The only clue I have is that Claydol played a role and since then I've been going around looking for answers, investigating things relating to mega evolution. Unfortunately there isn't much to go on as it is. I'm also not an official archaeologist, so I've had to sneak or bullshit my way through. Not fun."

"There has been an emergence of mega stones around here lately," Gale noted. "Coincidence?"

"Doubt it. Mega evolution wasn't made known to the public trainer base until a few years ago, I'm not surprised it took this long, really. You need to either be an elite trainer, be under the tutelage of a professor, be a gym leader, or be one powerful criminal to get a hold of one. They don't issue them out like candy."

"That's true. Wait." She held him back, glaring fiercely at him. "Is that why you came back now? Because of this? No other reason?"

Seeing how she'd interpret it that way, Riven shook his head slowly. "I've known there were rumors of mega evolution here in Kalos. Since I saw a mega Blaziken at the tower, I never doubted it'd have a presence in Hoenn. What I said to my team was true. I'm not here just for interests, Gale. If I'm here, might as well though, right?"

"Argh. Efficiency," she said, rolling her eyes. A moment's pause later, and her tone changed oddly higher in pitch. "Riven."

He stiffened, recognizing that voice instantly. "You want something, don't you?"

She frowned. "I want you to be honest with me when we talk later, okay? It's serious. If you can promise your pokemon something, can you do the same for me?"

Riven straightened, then nodded. "I owe you a lot. Of course. Only one issue though."

"Hmm?"

"You don't want to go to another bar, right?"

"After that jackass? Definite no," she assured, picking up her pace.

Riven fought an overwhelming impulse to praise god and possibly the sun, then followed after her.

"There's a coffee shop near the pokemon center in Mauville," she mentioned, turning around and backpedaling. "They have some really good milkshakes if you're interested." A grin broke out on the girl's face, letting the sweet persuasion of sugar work its magic on a certain sweet-toothed individual.

Riven felt like objecting, but conceded. "How good?"

"Really good."

"Alright, but I'm going to let you know I take my sugary drinks very seriously," he warned sternly, the subject of the conversation making it more ridiculous than severe.

Gale held in her laugh with a fist, muffled giggles being the only thing that could be heard. "Kalos turned you into a foodie!"

"I deny this completely."

"It's true! Haha!"

Turning a little red, Riven sighed and urged them to continue onwards, prompting another laugh from the girl.

They came to a large chasm in the middle of the floor, stretching down for several floors into a dark pit below. Although New Mauville's upper floors remained in generally functional condition, the area around this location was far worse off, with charred impacts of lightning bolts being evident along the walls, as well as blasted debris scattered around. The large hole was abnormal though. The size and dimensions of it suggested it wasn't a regular cave in, but an explosion of sorts.

Now it made sense why most trainers didn't bother to go any deeper. Gale's flying types could cross, but flying in such a confined space with birds extremely susceptible to electric attacks was equivalent to being sitting Psyducks. Or target practice for the Magneton. If they even got touched by a paralyze wave, that meant death for both pokemon and rider. Hence, the lack of skeletons and the presence of several Ghastly and Haunter roaming the area.

Standing at the edge of the pit, Riven leaned forward and wrinkled his nose. If he had an escape rope, he could try to get Baron down there and then have Aine fling the rope so he could tie it to a structural support. Zipline worked, but that was even slower than flying, mainly because they didn't have anything to zipline with.

Efrain's shadow sneak was out of the question too, since neither of them could really see what was down there and appearing unprepared was a rather stupid thing to do. That only left one option.

"We're going to have to fly down there, aren't we?" Gale guessed correctly, groaning. "That's a death trap waiting to happen."

"Agreed, but there aren't any alternatives."

"You don't know that. Baron could teleport us?" She suggested.

"He can't teleport me, remember? You'd have to send Emile up for me and that'd defeat the purpose of teleporting. Efrain can't shadow sneak down there. Doesn't change the fact that it's going to suck going down there no matter what way we take. If the Magneton come back while we're flying... it could be bad."

"Or instead of your insane, death defying plans, Baron could teleport me down there and I can signal you with my flashlight so you know where we are. Then Aine can grab you like a princess and use the wall to angle her jump down here. Easy, and no one has to run the risk of dying." Gale raised an eyebrow as Riven tried to object to that. "Blazikens can jump story high buildings. Her legs can handle it."

"But-"

"I've already seen you scream your lungs out when we met, getting carried by her isn't going to make any difference," Gale mused.

Riven grunted in obvious discomfort. "Fine, I don't like it, but… sure."

Returning Haona, Boagrius, and Evie, they carried out the plan smoothly. Baron took a couple of seconds to teleport down there with Gale in tow, as Riven and Aine waited at the top for the signal. When a light shone at the bottom, Aine picked her trainer up and launched herself towards the wall, kicking off of it with enough force to crack the concrete. She aimed her rebound at the light, flipping in midair to direct herself feet first.

When her clawed feet hit the ground, a loud resounding smash could be heard as she made contact, echoing like a bomb further inward. She landed with so much force the ground beneath her was cracked and broken.

Aine brushed her feet off, the jump being rather easy for her fully evolved form. It was Riven that was broody as she put him down gently. He muttered a mix of curse words and things about feeling stripped of something. Probably his dignity.

Gale smiled cheerily at him. "Was that hard?"

"Quiet," he warned, waving a hand as Baron tensed in turn. Lowering into a crouch to reduce body image, he gestured Gale to turn off the light. It shut off with a click, leaving the trainers and their pokemon rooted in place, not daring to even breathe.

In the darkness ahead, red eyes glowed.

Electricity sparkled in a wave at the soles of their feet, rippling like water around them, bathing the area in a charged electromagnetic field. Electric terrain, capable of increasing the lethality and power of electric type moves by a significant margin, provided the user was standing on the ground. Normally, in an open area, that meant a certain radius along the floor. But down here… everything was a surface. The charges spread along the four corners of the corridors and on uneven surfaces, making everything a potential boost.

Then light flooded their retinas as a line of snarling yellow and blue dog pokemon lit up in a storm of sparks, the electricity from the other pokemon being absorbed and redistributed among each member.

Riven and Gale's stomaches relocated somewhere near the ground as they realized what exactly they were doing.

"Manectric," Gale whispered, eyes wide. "They're in a… formation? Wild pokemon can do that?"

"They've been fighting off invaders for years, probably. In history, what happens to places that get attacked frequently? What do the inhabitants do?"

"They get _really_ good at fighting back."

Riven nodded, pulling Efrain slowly out of his sheathes. "Electric terrain and lightningrod. Their attacks won't just hurt, they'll fry us if not outright murder us."

"Just like what Seab did at the festival, except against us. And we're not dragons..." Gale reminded, reaching for Evie's pokeball while taking Haona and Boagrius' own from Riven's belt. "As soon as we release our pokemon they'll attack won't they?"

"Seems they're used to it," Riven grunted. "We have to break through."

"And then what?"

"Run. Or incapacitate them all. I'm not too confident we can outrun Manectric thought. We might have to fight them down, most likely. At least if they all have lightningrod, none of them have static."

"Baron and Aine can hit them without getting paralyzed," Gale concluded, positioning herself as well. "Not exactly a good trade off for death from one shock."

"Yeah, but it's all we got. Ready?"

With a grunt from the girl, they charged forward, pokeballs and lightning flaring.

Haona jumped out of her ball, analyzing the situation in mere moments before a frigid beam shot out from her mouth, aiming its direction around the corridor. As the ice beam hit the walls, ice began to form and protrude inwards, creating a makeshift wall of ice, which she then reinforced further.

Lightning bolts impacted the wall, with chunks and shards of ice breaking loose with each hit. Gale and Riven released all the pokemon they could, readying themselves. Gale didn't even question it when she saw Efrain's blades in his hands, or that he could even use swords. Who knew what skills he picked up in Kalos?

To Riven's surprise, Gale took control of his pokemon instead. "Haona, good job," she praised. "That'll hold them for a while. Aine, work with her to do flaring wind. Baron, there's a lot of ice that's going to be shook loose soon. Use the debris to your advantage! Bo, get some sunlight in here, that'll help us see better. And Evie, if they come close make sure to fight them back."

"Don't forget to swords dance beforehand," Riven added, going through the movements himself with Efrain. He glanced towards Gale, pleasantly surprised. "Good instructions. I'm impressed."

She scoffed. "You're easily impressed."

"And you're getting fairly cocky there. Trainer attitude is getting to you I see," he chuckled. "Let's see how well you do almost getting killed. It's pretty fun."

"Says you," she grinned, strangely giddy.

"Heh. Here they come."

A powerful blast of electricity blew open a gaping hole in the ice wall, sending spears of dangerously pointed icicles flying their way. The frozen spears stopped in the middle of their trajectory, hoisted up by psychokinetic force, turning and facing in the other direction. Baron's eyes were blue with focus, reverting to their natural crimson as he thrust his hand forward, lancing the suspended icicles back.

A wave of howling cries came from the injured Manectrics, and a synchronized onslaught of arcing thunderbolts raced towards them. At the same time, warm light emerged from a small ball of light at the top of the corridor, acting as a makeshift sun underground.

Aine felt the sunny day feed into her flames and fill her with power as her internal temperature rose, converting that flare into powerful, spinning kicks of fire—mixing with a razor wind from the Absol beside her. The fiery wind blades collided with the electricity, exploding violently in a burst of light and heat. Spare bits of debris and wood incinerated on contact, with the force of the shockwave sending both parties backwards.

"Quick, break their formation!" Riven ordered, flipping a blade in reverse and hurling it like a javelin. A clanging sound could be heard as it hit the wall to the left of the Manectric pack. "Aine. Baron. Get close and personal, Manectric are special attackers, they're not durable. Hit them hard, hit them fast!"

The two fighters nodded, their muscles poised and ready. Aine took off like a rocket, fire trailing behind her in lines where she passed. Baron was gone in an instant, teleporting in front of one of the dogs and aiming a fist into its jaw. Soon enough, their phalanx was broken with flames and psychic blades, devolving into a mad struggle of attacks as they battled. Haona played support, keeping the Manectric off Aine or Baron with razor winds and long ranged ice beams.

Then the electric pokemon did something unexpected. Instead of attacking the Gallade or the Blaziken, three charged forth, their bodies wreathed in electricity—a volt tackle. Aimed _directly_ at the trainers.

"W-what?" Gale stammered, rolling out of the way as one careened at her. Riven followed suit, weaving through the other two.

Riven tsked loudly, before smiling viciously. "Ho, ho, ho. Smart too. They must just be aberrants." Placing both hands on Efrain's hilt, he moved closer to Gale, seeing as how she was unarmed. Evie snarled back at the attackers, frost clinging to her fangs as she did.

"Aberrants?"

"Yeah, wild pokemon with above average intelligence and a level far above the norm. Also incredibly aggressive," he stated. "Usually found in the deep wild."

"We're technically _in_ the deep wild here," Gale pointed out, seeing the contradiction.

"Hah. Yeah."

The Manectric trio changed up their strategy, with two charging forward and one staying behind, hurling lightning bolts.

Evie crashed into one as it tried aiming for Gale, rolling into a nearby wall, tearing and scratching at its hide with fang and claw.

The second came at Riven, who fell into stance once again and waited. Purple shadows condensed around Efrain, forming a jagged aura of shadowy energy around the blade as the attack took hold. Riven swung down and wasn't surprised as the Manectric tapped the floor for a brief moment and darted to the side, impossibly fast for its species.

_Of course that wouldn't work_, Riven scolded himself mentally. _Aberrants aren't stupid_.

It charged once more, biting with electrified fangs. Riven lifted the blade up, holding the dog back as it pounced him down.

Efrain's yellow eye opened up, glaring into the Manectric's own.

_You really should stop_, he warned, disembodied voice deep and menacing. _Your little sparks tickle._

The pokemon's eyes widened as Riven let go of Efrain, the ghost beginning to move on its own accord. He began to spin rapidly at the dog, who figured it was probably not a good idea to try and fight that. Choosing to run, it coated itself in electricity, hopping back with its teammate.

Right next to a shadow casted by the sunny day overhead.

Efrain disappeared into a formless shadow, appearing underneath the Manectric as its own shadow began to shift and move irregularly.

_All your speed won't help you now_, Riven thought viciously, as Efrain's form emerged upwards like a spinning saw. _Gyro ball powers up the slower the user is compared to their opponent. You might be fast, but tactics win the battle._

The Manectric playing support in the back recoiled away from Efrain, horrified as the ghost sliced its packmate into pieces from below, spraying blood and other body parts in different directions.

Crimson blades stained with dripping blood, Efrain cackled demonically. Gale felt a shiver as she heard the ghost cackle in delight, savoring the kill. Riven appeared equally as thrilled, in a gruesome, terrifying way. Although, Evie wasn't too different.

The Mightyena had managed to rip its opponent's throat out with icy fangs after covering the Manectric in frostbitten wounds in its extremities, taking painful shocks along her body. Evie trotted over to Gale, limping but still strong. The skin on the affected regions was blistered and burnt, not life threatening given the power of the attacks, but second degree at most.

If a lowly spark attack could inflict second degree electrical burns, what could a _thunder_ do?

She gasped when the last wild pokemon took advantage of the situation and headed directly at Riven, who didn't have a weapon anymore. There was no shadow near him to allow Efrain to get close enough either. The male trainer seemed to be less worried about dying, hesitating instead. He clenched his fists, bringing up his hands to shield his torso.

But the attack never hit him. Haona crashed sideways into the Aberrant Manectric, knocking it awry. The Absol fiercely pounced and turned it on its back, clawed feet pressuring down on the electric types ribcage. Dominating over it, the dark type made a sound that was a mix of a hiss and a growl, drawing in dark wisps of energy from the surroundings.

The dark pulse formed within a second, low powered but with lethal precision. It came out like a small beam of dark red energy, blasting a hole several inches wide through the Manectric's head and out the other side, staining the floor red. The Manectric quickly ceased its movements.

Gale swallowed, the sight surreal almost. Three years she'd been in the safety of the ranger cleared routes and gyms, in the breezy plains of Lavaridge. Away from the deadly world that was the wild.

But Riven hadn't. He'd spent the last three in the same wild, only the part of it that was human society, where one wrong move meant death. And he thrived. His pokemon resonated with that instantly, the practiced, controlled movements they often displayed turning into brutal bouts of strength and ferocity she'd only heard of between trainers and criminals.

A fight to the death.

She wasn't naïve. After all, she hunted too. She respected life. And when your own should be respected as well. She didn't like it, but she stomached it.

Ahead, Baron and Aine continued to fight against the remaining pack; red, orange, green, and white weaving amongst yellow flashes of electricity. They were strong, beating back the pokemon, but were beginning to tire.

Riven picked himself up, flicking the blood off Efrain with a motion. "Haona, thanks for the save. Help Baron and Aine." The Absol understood, taking off. "Gale, stay here. I'll have Boagrius weather ball support here. Feel free to command him as you like. You know their moveset better than I do right now."

Accepting, Gale nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"Help," he answered curtly.

About to ask how, she saw him vanish in a flash of darkness, leaving behind an after image in place. He appeared in the midst of the fray, right where the twin sword had been embedded.

"Oh, that's how."

Riven fought with his pokemon, dual blades in hand. With three of his team members, aid from Gale and Boagrius in the form of long range attacks, and added shadow sneak shenanigans, the pack had either been rendered unconscious, nearly dead, or deader than dead. Mostly the last one, cut to ribbons or burned being the most common.

Baron and Aine panted in exhaustion as they calmed down, covered in blood and electrical burns. Riven was slightly less out of breath, along with Haona, who'd joined the fight later. Gale caught up to them, opening her bag to reveal several potions inside. They wouldn't entirely suffice, but it'd help the wounds.

Applying the medicine to his pokemon, Riven exhaled deeply, his heart thrumming in his chest. A laugh escaped him, the same feeling as when he fought the Pangoro coming to him, albeit he did have to work substantially more for that particular kill. Granted, he did have magical pokemon swords and his team to smooth things over, as well as another trainer too.

Made things much easier. He wasn't near dead this time either. Miracle in itself.

"That was… gruesome," Gale mentioned, observing the aftermath with a strained expression.

"It's the wild," Riven shrugged, taking a long swig of water from a bottle in his bag. "I expected some wild pokemon but not Aberrants. That explains the death rates. They were less of a problem three years ago, but now rangers are being trained to be wary of them. In Kalos at least. Not sure how it works here."

"Huh." Gale blinked. "So that's what that alert on the pokedex system means."

"They have a system?"

"Yeah, it's meant to warn trainers of threats. They've ramped up precautions since you were last here." She took out her pokedex, which had changed to become incredibly thin holographic displays, no longer the larger but still slim model that Charles was. She read off the screen, "on a system of one through five, Aberrants are level fives, elite trainers and rangers only. Oh wow. You're not kidding, they're serious. Near towns and starter areas they're maximum priority. Enough to contact the Elite Four."

"Which is why we shouldn't ever underestimate them. If there's more of them around, and there probably _is_, we need to get what we came for and get out as fast as possible," Riven warned. "You trained my pokemon to become stronger than ever, but even they can't keep it up against Aberrants, especially on their home field advantage."

Gale nodded wordlessly as they continued on.

They fought groups of Magnezone and even more MAnectric, further exhausting their supplies. When they reached a secluded area in the deeper levels, they found a research lab strangely untouched by all the destruction outside. It was almost as if the wild pokemon didn't dare go near it. Inside they found files and research reports, neatly stacked in file cabinets and records.

Riven and Gale were both shocked to find that all of the paper copies were there, coated with dust from being untouched for decades.

Skimming through them, they became concerned at what they saw.

"They were researching evolutions here and applications for the energy produced from it." Gale squinted, shining her flashlight over the words. "It's called infinity energy. The energy produced from evolution and pokemon. They induced evolution into these pokemon to harness their power, choosing electric types for their output levels. Oh god. All behind the gym leader's back. The project wasn't even League sanctioned…"

"Secretive and illegal. What did I tell you?" His brows furrowed. "Forcing pokemon to evolve though... Made sense why Wattson shut it down, he'd never stand for it. Soon as he got wind of it they were as good as done."

Gale concurred, flipping through more pages as Riven stood guard. "And why there's so much evolved pokemon down here that are scared of this place. Fully evolved Magnezones and Manectrics are uncommon this close to civilization. To have so many in the vicinity… human's written all over it."

"Anything in there about mega evolution?"

Turning more pages and files, Gale shook her head. "Evolution, but not mega evolution. There's nothing in here about it. Must not have heard about it. The stones here have only emerged recently in the past five years. Maybe they were undiscovered here until now?"

Riven cursed, then asked her to look deeper to see if there was anything else they could find.

File upon file showed only research findings and energy readings, proceedings of experiments and such. Growing frustrated and strained from reading, Gale was about to shut it closed when she noticed a logo on the upper right hand corner of a research report on a certain experiment.

One that had caused a massive explosion of energy and killed fifteen researchers and several pokemon.

"Riven, look at this." She held up the paper, his eyes quickly scanning it. "The logo to the top right. Look familiar?"

He scowled deeply, almost growling. "Devon." The logo was outdated, and Devon's current one was different, but similar. Curling a lip, Riven smiled viciously in anticipation. "And there's the dirt. Looks like Steven owes us some answers. Well, more accurately, his father. I don't think even Steven knows what happened here."

"But Wattson does," Gale said, concern coming over her.

"He shut it down, that doesn't necessarily mean he was involved. That old man was a trainer once, and they wouldn't let whitecoats do what they want like this. Trainers are notorious for that. The fact it turned into a natural habitat for electric pokemon was just a coincidence that happened to work out. I'm keeping these documents, it's not like anyone is using them."

"Rustboro then?" Gale asked, tilting her head. She looked fairly disappointed. "You never slow down, do you?"

"The universe doesn't, and it's constantly trying to screw me over, I'm not about to let it catch up any time soon." He paused, remembering what he promised. "Ah, right. That issue you wanted to talk about. Besides, I think Steven won't be in if we went now."

"You know that?" She pounced. "How exactly?"

"I called Devon beforehand in case I needed Steven," Riven said bluntly, a hint of crafty amusement in his eyes.

"Planned this from the start after all," Gale huffed lightly. "Should have known. Amy's right. You are a sly dog. It's rubbing off on Baron, you know."

"Rub-I don't go around sleeping with women and leaving babies around," he said dryly, frowning.

"I don't know that," Gale teased, arching a brow. "Kalos has lots of pretty blondes, and Amy told me the way you looked at her when you first met. Are blondes your type, hmm?"

Riven grinded his teeth, stuffed the documents into his pack, and pointed towards the exit. "Going. _Now_. Stay here if you want to keep trying to get a reaction out of me for your amusement. Then the Magnezone and Manectric can turn you into a very satisfied corpse."

He turned on his heel and started walking back.

"You're deflecting," Gale called in sing-song, snickering. "You do it when you're nervous!"

"Nghh… I wish I had a pokeball for you," he said, rubbing his temples. Then stepped outside the door to see a horde of pokemon waiting outside for him. Freezing in place, he slid a hand behind his back to grab onto Efrain, mentally telling him to prepare.

Gale caught up to him, about to tease him further when he cupped a hand over her mouth, grabbed her, and launched himself into the nearest shadow.

* * *

After many uses of shadow sneak, general skulking around, and distractions with pebbles and strewn bits of rock and metal, they managed to get out in generally one piece, emerging through the back entrance of New Mauville. Sneaking past the pokemon was fairly exciting, and Riven enjoyed it a little _too_ much. While harrowing, Gale admitted the experience instilled a strange sense of adventure within her. An incredibly satisfying feeling she felt eager to repeat.

Outside it was early morning as the sun rose above the horizon in the distance, the dew drops still present on the blades of grass outside. The air was crisp and fresh compared to the somewhat suffocating air inside. Both humans and pokemon took deep breaths, glad to be out.

The entire party was exhausted beyond belief, having been awake for quite some time, not including the battles inside. Overall though, it gave Riven's team plenty of experience, and he managed a glimpse into how his pokemon had improved over the past few years. Aine had grown incredibly strong, developing an intuitive sense for danger and crafty fighting from her sparring sessions with Baron.

The Gallade had become a well-rounded and versatile fighter as well, utilizing his psychic abilities and physical techniques with brutal efficiency. His speed had also significantly improved, being able to keep up with the Manectric without the use of teleports.

Haona had traded in defense for power and speed, preferring faster and stronger attacks, ambushing and cornering her opponents. It seemed that the frequent hunts she went on helped her in that regard, befitting the dark type. Being a physical attacker as well, her improvements were for the best, with ice beam and dark pulse acting like secondary surprise attacks than damage dealers.

Boagrius was the full on support, providing simulated weather effects to help Aine fight or improve his own attacks, the most notable was the combination between solarbeam and sunny day. Instant death rays were useful for uh… reasons.

While he specialized in special attacks, his attacks weren't on par with some of the other special attack based pokemon he'd seen, and that presented an issue.

Most of his pokemon consisted of up close and personal fighters, including Efrain, who held no qualms about slicing people and pokemon equally into itty bitty bits, providing he could get close enough. Ranged attacks were quite limited. They could fire off psycho cuts, night slashes, and blasts of fire well enough, but durable typings resisted their attacks. The Magnezone had tired Baron and Haona out from the sheer amount of blows it took to get them down.

He'd have to work on their endurance and stamina. They could deal damage quickly and efficiently, but in a more drawn out battle they'd wear out.

For now though, it was back to the center. Stumbling into the room after Gale flew them back, both trainers hit their respective beds and slept straight through the entire morning. Riven slept in longer, and Gale had to shove him awake. Their morning was the evening, and they headed out to the coffee shop Gale recommended. It was a twenty minute walk away from the center and had a large neon sign out front, promoting a new coffee brew.

The atmosphere was much nicer inside than in the bar. There were some guys that turned heads, but they eventually minded their own business. Pokemon larger than a hound weren't allowed inside, so Evie and Yukiko were the only ones allowed to be outside. Boagrius was in his pokeball for obvious safety reasons and for the general well-being of every object made of glass in the vicinity.

Apparently there'd been an incident with him once before. An expensive one too.

Gale went up to order, returning with two shakes. Her's was strawberry while Riven's was pecha. She slid it over to him, smiling widely.

He eyed it suspiciously before taking a sip, and waiting. "It's good."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, it's sweet. Tastes good," he said unenthusiastically, taking a longer sip. He was reading through the thick packet of files on the table with focused zeal.

"Why are you investigating this anyway?" Gale inquired suddenly. "Doesn't seem like something you'd do. So why do it, then?"

Riven lifted his gaze from the files, pursing his lips. "Apart from it being something to do, it's interesting. The past holds a lot of secrets we don't know about, and can help us get answers. What answers they are I'm not sure, but answers nonetheless." A vague statement, intentionally left to sound like something anyone would say. He was tired of having to do this, but what choice did he have?

"I guess," Gale frowned, poking at her shake. She seemed off about something, and more than a little conflicted.

"That face your making. Is this about what you wanted to tell me?" He asked. "Or is it about what we found down there?"

"Both… but mostly the first," she answered, glancing at his trainer bag for a second. "I guess they kind of… tie together."

"Huh? I don't follow."

She sighed. "They both have to do with you, and why you're doing all this."

"Gale, what are you-"

Her voice cut him off, snapping toward him like a whip. "If you say that the past can give us answers, then I'll believe it when you tell me everything." Her expression became serious, not an ounce of amusement or playfulness to it. She paused with a moment's hesitation before continuing. "Riven, tell me about the old clans. And the old world. _Your world_."

In his mind, Riven's thoughts came to a crashing halt.

_She knows._

* * *

**This took a hell of a lot longer to come out than I expected. Finals and everything just had my brain fried**.


	59. Demonstration

_Don't panic. Don't react. Calm down._

Riven exerted every ounce of control he had over his facial muscles, retaining his perfectly disinterested face. Taking a leisure sip from the straw in his shake, he looked up at Gale, who seemed to be keenly observing him for any tells.

_Should I tell her? Or play the fool_? He deliberated with uncertainty. Caution and vague statements had been the modus operandi for so long that telling the pure and unfragmented truth felt like stepping on knives. Of course that was all for playing it safe so enemies wouldn't know anything about him. The less they knew the better.

But Gale wasn't an enemy. She wouldn't gut him or report him to the police, or haul him over to the nearest laboratory for dissection. For all intents and purposes, it was safe telling her. The real question was though… should he tell her? Why was she so curious about a world that didn't exist anymore, that didn't matter? Even if he did describe it to her, would she believe him? Or call him mad like everyone else?

"My world?" He questioned with a brow, deciding not to deny nor accept anything.

Gale's face fell, hurt. "I thought you promised you'd tell me the truth?"

"I did, but you'll have to elaborate a little to see what it is you mean by that."

Sighing, the girl went into her travel bag, pulling out a single photograph. Placing it on the table, she waited. It was the Remnant insignia, a grim reminder of the life he'd once led several years ago. By now it was like a distant memory.

"You're not from here," Gale said. "Not from Orre, or Hoenn, or anywhere else. Because you're from the past. I don't know how long, but I know you were a soldier. That explains… everything about you that doesn't make any sense. So please, tell me. I'm a friend, remember?"

Riven grimaced at the picture, blowing out a breath in half exasperation and irritation, "Steven told you, didn't he?"

_Going to break his legs._

"Please don't break his legs," Gale pleaded.

_Shit._

"I was the one that asked what he knew about you. If you want to call me nosy, go right ahead. Blame me." Riven seemed to swallow whatever it was he was going to say. "I was just trying to figure out where you were and then I remembered LaRousse."

Blue and brown narrowed.

"You didn't come back up with Birch and when you and Steven both came back, he was out of it. He looked into your memories and didn't like what he saw. It took me a while to figure it out, but when I did, I had to know. Steven only told me a few things, he said it was better to ask you."

Riven really wanted to break something that belonged to that guy right now. A pinky finger would do. _Testing my trust, Steven? Must be revenge for Lumiose. You smart little-_

He suppressed a hiss and instead picked at the cream in his shake with a straw. "Steven might've told you all that, but do you _believe_ it?"

Gale considered that, finding it difficult herself. "I didn't at first. Thought it was a bunch of crap you probably fed him." He held a hand to his chest, feigning hurt. "But now that I think about you and every peculiar thing you've done since we met, it makes the most sense. Your age and fighting capabilities. The scars on your back. Your handwriting, god your handwriting!"

Riven reddened.

"Oh, and your terrible way with technology and social situations. You _are_ like an old man."

Whatever embarrassment he felt was completely evaporated as he leveled her a glare that could freeze seas. Her seriousness was broken as she fell into a goofy grin, finding it hilarious to tease him about it. Will was right, he was fun to mess with. "I'm just wondering why you didn't tell me, or the rest of us sooner."

"I _did_," Riven reminded. "Back in LaRousse, before I got arrested, remember?"

Thinking, Gale gasped. A scrutinizing look of disapproval followed. "You… asshat! You actually told Lucia the truth with that ridiculous explanation?" An explanation that was so far-fetched and sarcasm filled that it would never hold up in court, or anywhere really. And he did it, _on_ _purpose_. God _damn_ him.

"Heh. Can't say I lied to you. People just _think_ I'm a liar." He held in a grin as Gale fumed. "Anyway, that's the only way I could have told you. If I was trying to be serious, none of you would ever believe me. Mainly because there isn't any tangible evidence for me to show you otherwise, apart from the memories in my skull."

"Memories in your-" Pieces fell into place, locking soundly. "The memory visualizer," Gale concluded. "That's how you got Steven to believe you."

"Yeah. Wait, you didn't use it, did you?" Riven asked, tone severe. "Tell me you didn't use it, Gale. Tell. ME."

"I didn't," she affirmed quickly, prompting a deep sigh of relief from Riven. "Why?"

"That thing does more than just give you memories, it's like it… injects them. Because of what Steven saw in my head, he has trouble sleeping… among other things. The machine was just a prototype but the thing had terrible adverse effects. Memories you really, _really_ don't want is one of them. Especially not mine. I wouldn't be surprised if he got my panic episodes too."

_I hope you never see what I've seen._

Gale looked concerned, swallowing harshly. She opened her mouth to say something but he silenced it with a flick of his straw, throwing cream at her. A bit of it landed on her nose as she cleaned it off, huffing.

"Stop that. They've gotten better. The last major one I had was when I first got to Mauville, Wattson had to sit on me until I came back to my senses." He joked ruefully. "Since then they died down a bit. Must be the atmosphere of this world I guess."

Gale's interest piqued. "And what was the old one like?"

"Shit," he responded instantly, ferociously stabbing his straw back into his drink. "Can't even begin to compare the two. Famine, wars, backstabbing, and death. Lots of death. Pokemon and people alike. A thousand years of it. Half a millennia of suffering for reasons I don't have and nobody would tell me because they're all dead."

He went silent for a moment, swallowing.

"Steven told me that things were a lot worse than we've ever experienced here. At least in your case."

"You weren't born into a war. Not one that was raging on for such a long time at least. Here there's… peace. Tranquility. Over there was just centuries of struggle." He reclined on the backrest, shaking his head slowly. "As a kid I heard about a time where there were huge cities, just like Lumiose and now, Mauville. No fighting, no dying. Always thought they weren't true though, since they didn't seem to exist. Even the ruins were unimpressive. Truth is they were probably sacked so many times for supplies and pillaged that it was just worth watching them crumble after a while. I never saw a city larger than my own, and that was pretty small, honestly. I thought Petalburg was big."

He smiled, laughing at the very thought of his astonishment when he'd first seen Petalburg. His smile leveled out, turning into another sad frown. An honest one.

"I don't know what war was like in this world, but I imagine it wasn't too great either. But where I come from, I wouldn't wish that kind of life on anyone. This place, this world-" He looked at Gale in the eyes. "- Your world, I like it a lot better." He held up his shake. "I mean come on, it has _these_."

Gale laughed in disbelief at him, smiling widely. As their laughter died down, the girl's fingers tapped on the wooden desk. "What happened? You said your parents died in a fire when you were seven. What really happened to them?"

"That part's true. Only it wasn't a fire, more like an infernal explosion. Blast burn," Riven answered, to which Gale gulped. "But it wasn't just them, they were just one of the few. They killed us, Gale. Everyone. The way they did it was so efficient and underhanded it deserves tactical praise because dammit, you just _don't_ attack people after declaring peace. Not even us, and we played dirty, believe me. And then they chased us around the entire continent for years, incinerating forests and poisoning lakes while they did it. Repercussions and death toll be _damned_."

He tapped the picture with a finger. "And so we fought. The remnant of a society. I joined when I was eleven when I managed to escape the initial slaughter. That's where I learned all... this. We weren't going to win obviously, but we didn't care. That's all there was left, the fight. There was no home to go back to. We could have hid in the outer towns as refugees, away from the clans, but that's no way to live. Soon they'd find out, and then we'd die, beaten and trampled like rats hiding in the dark, where we belonged. No, I'd rather die fighting than give up to them."

"Who's them?" Gale asked quietly.

"The Rose, Liran, and Curian clans. Fire, electric, and psychics. The three most powerful clans, who controlled trading routes, major farmland, and held the largest military force. Well, one was a bunch of mercs. They _really_ didn't like us. Except the Lirans, they really didn't give a flying shit."

"So you belonged to a clan? Which one?"

"Cerul," he laughed bitterly as she choked on her drink. "Imagine that. I _used_ to be important. Now I practically don't exist."

"Y-you were a prince?" Gale sputtered, still coughing. "Wow. You don't…"

"Look like one? Yeah. War does that to you. Can't be a prince to ashes anyways. I spent more time covered in dirt and grime than I did being pompous like those rich kids in Kalos. Being important is overrated, just look at that poor bastard Steven. He can't escape the fangirls. I don't think a sea could sate that thirst."

The girl across from him stuttered, trying to wrap her head around everything but the image of Steven getting chased by ravenous teenage girls. "So these were… elemental clans? Like the types in pokemon?"

"Generally, yes. Of course I didn't know that until I came here, though. I just figured they preferred to align themselves with a certain type of pokemon or some stupid reason like that."

Gale went silent, her brain working on overdrive. Her mouth opened and her eyebrows climbed up to her hairline. "OH. That's why you can see in the dark, and why Evie says you smell different! You were the dark clan!"

"Excellent deductive capabilities, detective," he teased.

After that, Gale appeared far too interested, almost excited. "So by that logic, you can also do, you know-" She extended her hand outward, opening her palm and making a whoosh sound.

His face was blank before snickering at the sound effect. "More or less. Think pokemon, but with humans. Dark pulse, night slash, etc. Which I also didn't know I could do until I got _here._ Apparently none of us knew. That's why we got destroyed, hilariously at that. Turns out they weren't even half serious, we were more like annoying pests." A bitter chuckle. "Fight pokemon and people with superpowers with regular weapons and never tell us that we _also_ have superpowers. Yeah, I'm sure that would work out _so _well. Thanks command."

"Can you show me?" Gale asked, peering at him Noctowlishly. "Please?"

Riven frowned. "Aren't you excited. Can't show you. Well not here, obviously." He corrected as she pouted. "We need somewhere secluded. If people found out about this they'd probably brown themselves."

Gale then stood up and hauled him out.

Shake in hand, Riven and Gale left the city, going eastbound to route 118, finding a spot among an enclosed group of trees, away from the main path. They made sure to sweep the area for any people and rangers, just in case. Deciding the coast was clear, he handed Gale his half-eaten drink, and reached into his shirt to pull out a necklace made of small, shimmering stones. They shined with a pleasant radiance, emanating pink light. At least to her it was beautiful. Riven, on the other hand, looked green in the face just holding them, nearly doubling over.

"What are these?" She asked as he looped the necklace around her arm. He looked instantly better, shaking his head out. "Jewelry? _You_?" She giggled mockingly.

"They serve a purpose," he said with a shiver. "Diancie stone fragments. Holding them makes me sick. Uhh… hold on."

Held out a hand, leaned over, and retched onto the grass.

Gale winced and took a step back.

Staggering to his feet, he went out several feet, then looked back at her. "Ngh… Sure you want to see this?"

She nodded, eager with anticipation. It wasn't like it was anything new, she'd already accidentally seen Will shoot fire back in Lavaridge. Seeing a guy shoot fire out of his fingertips would have knocked a regular person on their ass if it was their first time. Actually, that's exactly how she felt when she first saw it herself.

Riven stared at her with another frown, probably a little regretful about it. He shrugged. "Just… stay right there."

Gale listened, eager smile on her face.

"Alright. Make sure no one sees us."

Spreading his feet apart, he focused.

Drawing inward from his own memories, dark energy began to flow into him, channeling through his body like before, rising through his limbs and pooling in the center of his body, before it began distributing it to the point he chose. It wasn't on the level it had been when he'd fought Efrain, since there were no residual feelings here, and he was relatively relaxed at the moment.

Still, his own memories and recollections were enough for this. Not choosing to delve too far into his own troubled thoughts, he gathered the darkness into his finger, pointing it towards the sky. Red and black waves surged and spiraled up and around his arm, condensing into a dense point at the tip of his extended finger, hissing lowly.

When the hissing grew in volume and pitch, he fired the dark pulse, the attack howling into the air in a vortex of destructive red and black energy. The pulse momentarily darkened the sky as it blocked light itself, ripping through the air for a fair distance before dissipating harmlessly. A faint, residual scar was left in the attack's wake, appearing like an ominous fracture against the blue sky.

Gale found it fascinating, watching with awe as Riven had released a dark pulse comparable to one a high level pokemon would. She was about to gush when she saw him stumble and fall to his knees, holding his head with both hands.

Rushing over to him, she asked him if he was alright. When he opened his closed eye, Gale instinctively stepped back, a spike of fear running through her unexplainably. Her body had reacted, not her.

His right eye was a deep, blood red, and he radiated a feeling of dread that seemed to make her want to run away as far as possible, even if she knew he wouldn't hurt her. It gripped her heart, driving thoughts into her brain; her mind was screaming at her to get away from him, but she stayed, rooted in place.

"Give me the stones," he demanded, breathing with considerable difficulty. She listened, shakily placing them in his hand. He put them on quickly, and almost immediately his strained breaths seemed to recede, leveling out. Opening his eyes again, Gale noted that his right had changed back to blue, and that terrible aura was completely gone. As were her instincts to run. The feeling was closer to mind control, as if a veil had been lifted suddenly.

Gale eyed him, lost.

Riven noticed her concern and stood up, taking his shake back. A blast of sugar into his mouth later and he jabbed her arm to see if she was still responsive. "Gale. You all right?"

"R-riven," she stuttered. "Y-your eye, it's… I'm a little lost."

"I can tell," he added dryly, moving his head through the headache. "That's a little side effect of using these… abilities. I get migraines and I start to lose it when I don't let it cut loose. Also, my eye turns red and people get very uncomfortable around me. Psychics go berserk too. Not sure why. The stones help curb it, as long as they don't touch my skin. Diancie's a fairy type."

"Isn't that harmful to you then?"

"Yeah, that's why I threw up. But if it doesn't touch me it acts like a counterbalance. We seem to have the same weaknesses as pokemon do. I don't think you understand how terrible it feels to get dazzling gleamed as a dark type. My insides nearly ruptured and I vomited blood, I think. Then I destroyed a house and beat the shit out of two pokemon with my bare hands. That's what I got told at least. I don't remember anything."

In fact, it felt remotely similar to a hangover. Although, instead of waking up in a different city entirely and trapped between two cars with a Pyroar in your bathroom that isn't yours, you destroy a house and nearly kill your host. Same headache and soul crushing regret though.

Gale blinked, imagining that with a cringe. "So back when we first met…"

"I attacked you? Yeah. This thing's fault. It's also why my hair is turning white. If I didn't dye it I really would look like a Stunky. Endlessly annoying, believe me. If it turns completely white I might think about it leaving it like that."

The flyer blinked, recalling the dark pulse. "Hmmm, that dark pulse _was_ like a pokemon's."

"Yes."

"How did you find out you could do this? Did you grab a dark sphere or something? Like-" She cut herself off abruptly, Riven's words crawling into her mind. Words she glossed over the first time. _Everyone had this. Everyone._

"Finally figured it out, huh?" Riven noted. "Now you know why Steven is interested in this. All of us had these abilities. We were born this way, Gale. And all of you… aren't. You're normal… no, that's not right- incomplete. When this power comes over you, it- it's the best feeling in the world. Everything feels right. It's… liberating. And from what I've been told… it allows a person to connect far better with their element too, as well as other pokemon."

"From what you've been told?"

He smiled again, long and wry. "You didn't think I was the only one, did you?"

Gray eyes once again became wide as saucers as the girl was sent into studders. "There's _more_ of you? What?!"

Riven nodded, peering up at the sky. "If I got sent here, it's not hard to believe others did too. I generally figured I wasn't the only one, I just had no real way to confirm it."

"Wait, how did you get here?" Gale asked, finally drawing attention that she was talking to a time traveler. Checking his wrists for any technological gadgets, she drew a giant blank.

"I asked Steven to look into it." Riven groaned lowly. "Pretty much what he drew from it was that the legendaries were involved."

Gale blinked, then shrugged. "So it's a legendary pokemon thing. Got it."

Riven frowned at how easily she accepted that. Seriously, just about anything could be justified with the "legendaries did it", as long as you couldn't logically explain it… Which was about the same as saying a wizard did it, but in this case, it really _was_ true. The unfortunate reality being that the truth was extremely disappointing and unhelpful. Then again, that was the truth in a nutshell.

"Gale, you know who Sabrina and Lucian are?"

"She's a gym leader in Kanto. Saffron City, right? And Lucian is an Elite Four member in Sinnoh," she said matter-of-factly. "What do they have to do with-"

"How do you think they got their abilities?" Riven interjected. The question was piercing, unleashing all manner of colossal revelations. It hit Gale like a club to the head, for the fifth time today.

"No…" She trailed off. "No way. They're from your…?"

Riven shook his head slowly. "Not exactly." She looked disappointed. He chuckled and opened a palm, staring down at it. "These powers are stronger. I don't know how strong Curians were, but I assume they could rival an Alakazam. After all, I'm not very experienced myself and I can nearly match a latter gym cycle dark type. I wouldn't be surprised if a pure psychic from my time could control others. There was a reason they were feared. Sabrina and Lucian are probably descendants of one that had children with a normal human. Human breeding is a strange process. Pokemon breeding is much more straight forward."

He received a patronizing look.

"What? I got curious. There were… interesting pictures."

Gale decided to completely ignore that. "But if that's the case, then what happened to the originals? Ones like you? Why aren't there more fire users and such? I mean, there's a lot of people with psychic abilities. And a few espers like Sabrina."

"Well, I assume the psychic clan got here first, and more often. That might explain the prevalence of psychics and pretty much nothing else. Maybe they prepared for it since they could see the future? The rest of us got here by pure dumb luck, probably."

"As for what happened to the rest…" He placed a hand on his chin, flashing back to his time in Kalos. "They probably faded into obscurity or into tales. Those myths about people having extraordinary powers? All those urban legends of superhumans each region seems to have? I think they're real," Riven grinned viciously. "Just like the legendaries themselves. People from my time have been coming here for a while now, according to some of the stories I've read while I was gone."

"Oh? Any good ones?"

"Tell you on the way."

Beginning to walk back out onto the main route towards the water, he began telling her with wonder in his eyes. "So, this comes from back in the warring states era of Johto and Kanto, but there's a story of a guy named Bakoto. He was known as "the White Sun". It was said he could control the wind itself and with his blade he could slice through the thickest armor. One rumor even went that his slashes produced shockwaves of air so sharp they could cut a man in two. Immune to arrows of all types, it was rumored that he was the spirit of the wind that had turned human. He was strangely fond of bird pokemon and supposedly died in a lightning storm, that was his only weakness. Ironic isn't it?"

"Where did you see this exactly?"

"Lumiose Central Library," he answered fondly. "Their myths and legends section is enormous, it's like a sixth of the library. It's a huge library, mind you. I think I went in there for three days straight. At least I think it was three days? Someone had to come fetch me to bring me out of seclusion. Had beard stubble and everything."

Gale arched a brow. "And you think all the people in myths are from your time? That's a little far-fetched."

"No, just the ones with 'powers'. Powers that draw uncanny parallels to typings." He scoffed. "I mean, call it ridiculous but my entire life so far has been a never ending fucking _train_ of ridiculous. I'm not glossing over anything, even if it does sound like a bunch of Tauros shit. Besides, those stories had to come from _somewhere_. Legends might not be the most accurate, but they're true to an extent. Even if it's just minor details. You'd be surprised."

"Bakoto huh." Gale eyed a snoozing Taillow on a branch, its chest rising and falling. "Was there even a wind clan? Flying clan? I don't know."

"Honestly, I'm not sure. We only really dealt with the ones I told you about. And the Raksas, the ice clan. Only partially though. Asked for help but naturally they turned us down. Their home was north and cold as shit anyways." Gale looked incredulous, anger rising. Riven cut her off with a wave. "Relax, saying they were selfish is easy because you're here now. Tactically and diplomatically, it was a wise decision. Fighting an opposing enemy type when your city and way of life consists of ice, ice, and more ice? _Bad idea_."

He shrugged as she mulled it over.

"Wind clan might have existed, but we never made contact with them or they were as secluded as Steven on an off day. There's _a lot_ I didn't know about. Also, I _do_ know for sure more came back. They did blackmail me."

"The ones who called the police on you?!" Gale nearly shouted, stopping in her tracks. A group of nearby Zigzagoon that had approached in hopes of sneaking a berry from them backed off slowly. Riven nodded absently, producing a few berries from his trainer bag to give to the poor things. "Why do you make all this sound so normal?"

_Because I'm a bad luck magnet with a preference for disaster? _His eyes shifted, trying to find something else to focus on. Yep, a tree with a claw mark in it would do. "Desensitized. Did I forget to mention their leader is the daughter of the man that ordered my entire people slaughtered? And that she nearly murdered me to make a point and also blasted a hole in my leg while keeping me under her thumb for six months?"

Gale turned around.

"Hey!" Riven called as she walked away. "Where are you going?"

"Finding a rock so I can sit down," she said, rubbing her forehead with one hand and lifting another behind her head. "You make my brain hurt. Everything you get involved in makes my brain hurt."

Coming down to the inlet that separated the two sides of route 118, Gale found the most sizable rock on the beach and plopped down only to stare dimly at the water. She told Riven to go find something to do while she contemplated her position in life and re-evaluated everything she knew.

Meh.

Route 118 was interesting. The western portion was a lengthy ten miles, consisting of thick forests and grassy areas. The eastern part leveled out and became a sandy shore, where the bulk of battles occurred, as well as creating a sort of small beach. A body of water separated both sides of the route, which often made trainers backtrack to get surf from Norman before crossing or swim across Sharpedo and Carvanah inhabited waters. While they were generally harmless, it didn't stop people from imagining getting attacked by them. In fact, the sharks were pretty friendly.

He still didn't want to swim that far though. The first time he came here he had to battle plenty of trainers, mainly because a local Mauville band occasionally played at the shore and attracted all manner of concert-goers. Trainers came in droves too, and there were battles a plenty.

Except no one battled him this time around. Mainly because the group wasn't there and having a pair of swords behind his back was a great repellant. Hardly anyone seemed to notice that Efrain was both sentient and a pokemon, people just assumed he was armed and shied away. Ghosts were misleading things. Their reactions upon seeing an eye stare back at them when he pulled a blade out was amusing to both trainer and pokemon.

He stood idly in the sand, squinting into the distance as he saw blasts of sand getting kicked up. Took a random pokeball out and chucked it lazily. Haona emerged from it, blinking. Her paws sunk into the sand, flexing them as a test.

She stared down at the floor, then up at Riven, whose face was unreadable.

Then he returned her instantly.

Better not to risk White Queen's wrath. She hated sand, he knew that much. Getting it out of her fur was a pain in the ass. He released Aine instead, asking her to come with him to go punch something meanwhile Gale's brain recovered from being turned to mush.

They walked along the bank in search of some victims, finding a group of sparsely dressed trainers enjoying the water. Strolling up to them, they stared back, unsure of what to do. One of the boys, appearing to be in his mid teens with messy brown hair and amber eyes, cocked an eyebrow. He was in the middle of building a little sand castle with his Linoone.

Riven shifted awkwardly. "Hey, you want to-"

"No," the kid responded, almost immediately going back to his sand castle. His Linoone threw a paw of sand at him.

"You didn't let me-"

"That's a Blaziken behind you!" The boy reprimanded. "Go find some more experienced trainers! I'm not going to fight you!"

Riven frowned, then looked towards the other three, another boy and two girls. They generally gave him the same look. Sighing, he found himself on a rock as well, albeit on the other side of the beach. Aine had found a new pastime in volleyball with another female Blaziken on the beach that belonged to an older man who'd visited with his family. He let her have her fun. Poor ball though, the craters it left in the sand after getting spiked made him feel bad for it.

It was then that a skittish looking man in a suit emerged from behind him, babbling incoherent nonsense about Hoenn and travels. He tapped Riven on the shoulder.

Giving the man a sidelong glance, he grunted, which made the man jump back in horror.

"By god, my! Hoennites are so rude!" He shouted. "And now my shoes are covered in sand! Such an alien landscape!" Nodded furiously to himself. "Who are you, armed trainer on a rock?"

Riven squinted at him, not quite sure of what to say. "Nathan. Who are you and why do you look lost?"

The man straightened, raising his head in a dignified manner. He screamed Kalosian. That and his funny accent and mustache was a dead give away. "Duke Dubain! Kalosian royalty. I am on a trip to the other regions on business and I seem to have lost my way. Enlighten me, commoner!"

A look of utter disgust and abhorrence came over Riven and he turned his attention back to the water. He'd have run as far away as possible but the rock was rather comfy. _Of all people I have to run into a fucking Duke, here in Hoenn. Can I kill him?_

"Answer me!" The man demanded. "Where am I?"

"Route 118 you royal idiot. If you want to get to Mauville go back on the main path, walk west, and go direct your pompous ass to someone who cares about what you have to say." The younger man grumbled. "You nobles are all the same, I should throw you to the Sharpedo."

"Are you from Kalos?" The duke asked, interest piqued. "You implied you have dealt with other nobles, yes?"

Riven showed him his trainer license and pointed upwards as Efrain descended from the sky, earning an undignified squeak from the man. "Does that answer your question?"

"A Doublade! Heavens!" The man backed up considerably before straightening out and coughing into a fist. "So you are from my beloved Kalos. And Lumiose City. I like Hoenn, to be honest. It's beautiful, and calm. But there's too much water. 7.8/10."

Riven looked at him, fighting back the urge to order Efrain to bisect him out of concern that his stupidity could spread. "You're a special _kind_ of idiot, aren't you?" he said flatly, rolling his eyes. "How did you even get here?"

"I lost my way trying to find Mauville City! I received false directions from two young girls on my way up from Slateport. They refused to allow me to accompany them to their home for lodging. The barbarity!"

Staring, the seated trainer sighed heavily.

* * *

"You really shouldn't have thrown that man into the water," Gale said as she and Riven walked in the direction of the Devon building in Rustboro.

"Believe me, if you'd listened to him, you'd do it yourself. He gave Hoenn a 7.8/10 for having too much water." He threw his hands up. "What kind of shit is that?"

Gale shook her head, giggling. Yukiko snorted, sitting rather snug in her trainer's pack. She flexed her mittens.

"See?" Riven pointed. "Yukiko agrees with me."

"That's not what she meant by that," Gale grinned. In reality the ice type had mentioned something about throwing him in the water too, simply because she was jealous. Gale had also noticed that since Riven arrived the Snorunt had been extra affectionate, as if he was stealing her attention, somehow. It was rather endearing, actually.

They passed through Rustboro square, where Riven had stopped momentarily to relive some nostalgia of his first gym badge. Gale had suggested visiting the school, but he objected fiercely to that, using the excuse that Roxanne had better things to do than associating with him.

That was when he brought up an infuriating question he'd asked her twice before.

"Of all the people you've been approached by, why did you choose to travel with me?" He asked suddenly, peering down at her from the corner of his eye.

"This again?" She said, dreading the question. "Why are you so infatuated with that question? Is it that much of a surprise? I wanted to travel with you, that's it." Crossing her arms, she took her gaze away from him, looking toward the side.

"I still don't understand it," Riven said with a shrug. "I thought about it quite a lot, but couldn't find the answer. So now it's your turn to tell me. You're always prodding me with questions, now it's my turn. Not fun being pressured, is it?"

Gale exhaled loudly and ran a hand through her hair. Eyed him again, then receded into thought as he tilted his head in question. She never really thought about it much herself, but now that she did, it was rather funny. Laughter came from her and she reddened, drawing a deeper quizzical look from him.

_I never understood women_, Efrain commented off-handedly in Riven's mind. _Even when I was alive. They do this so much it puzzles me. Crossbows were easier to understand._

_Completely agree_, Riven replied mentally. _That's why I'm doing this_. "I assume it's a nonsensical reason?"

"Sort of?" She said. "I guess… it was because of the way you were dressed."

"What."

"It's like you came out of an adventure novel," she clarified nervously when she saw his eye twitch. "Didn't say much, had a backpack that could give me back problems, and had a crazy plan? All for a stupid little stone? It screamed of the start of an adventure. I know you've probably never read anything like that, considering where you come from, but that's how I pictured it. It gets lonely in the plains," Gale said sadly. "My dad read to me a lot."

Riven felt a little bad now, realizing he'd never once asked her about her parents. Being without them for so long he recalled that having parents was something normal people experienced quite a lot. "No mom?"

"I didn't know her, she left after I was born. My dad was all I had. He loved birds. Emile was originally his. That's why he moved to the plains. He used to travel the world, that's why there was nothing but adventure books in the house. My dad finally settled down because of me. Taught me how to fly." She looked downcast. "He died when I was fourteen. Heart failure."

Gale swallowed the lump in her throat.

"A-anyway, you looked like an adventurer. I always thought that I'd go out and adventure myself, be like my dad. It sounded more romantic than being a trainer at least. I never really took the chance any other time, so when you came, I just gathered up my courage and leapt at the call. Even if you were pretty moody then."

She gave Evie a scratch on the underside of her jaw, causing the Mightyena's tail to waggle. "I don't regret it, even if you attract trouble. I met Seab, Amy, Will, and my pokemon because of you."

"Yeah- well, you were pretty insistent." Riven held a small smile. "Speaking of which, where is Will?"

"I haven't really seen him since you left, but what I heard from his sister is that he already earned all eight badges recently but is holding off of Victory Road."

That didn't seem like Will. Riven figured the kid would barrel through Victory Road the moment he could, being who he was. Perhaps he wanted to train first? Logically thinking, that was a sound idea, and by far the best choice, meaning that he'd developed forethought. Probably learned a valuable lesson along the way.

Curiosity got the best of him, so he asked, "Any idea why?"

Gale looked like she'd swallowed a bucket of slime. "Nez… didn't make it."

"Oh…" Riven said, recalling how Sam described losing a pokemon once. "Was he killed or did he die… naturally?"

"Killed," she replied soberly. "There were a group of guys trying to start something on a route in Fortree. They challenged two girls to a battle and their pokemon were way overleveled for them. They got beat and the guys tried to take advantage of them. You know… sexually. Will was nearby, heard the screams, and well… he tried to help. He called the rangers but they didn't arrive there until after everything was over."

"Everything?" Riven questioned, eyes narrowed. "What was the result, apart from Nez?"

"The rangers found all six of the male trainers dead. Two were stabbed fatally and the others were burned to death. Rangers assumed it was Quil who burned the others. Several of their pokemon were also dead or badly burnt. Quil was so cut up he was in the hospital for days. Nez got bisected by an aerial ace, he died instantly. "

Riven winced painfully.

That idiot. No surprise one of Will's pokemon had died. The odds had never been in his favor since the start. If it was six versus one, and they had experienced pokemon, it didn't matter if Will had eight badges and a full team, he couldn't possibly beat them without taking heavy losses. He saw how effective numbers were from that little excursion into New Mauville. Hordes of pokemon may not have had the individual strength to be worrisome, but their attacks added up. Judging from the guys' intentions with the girls… they weren't in a position to play nice.

_He did what I would've done. Take out the trainers first, reduce the enemy's numbers. He was cornered, probably had no choice but to use his fire. The knife could only go so far. Sheer shock kept his enemies confused, gave him enough time to finish them off and clean up stragglers._ _Surprising efficiency…_

"Gale. You know what really happened, right?" She nodded tensely. Riven's glare was severe. "Those girls, did they see Will use his abilities?"

"Don't worry about that. Lucia gave him a pokemon that knew amnesia in case that ever happened. He erased their memory and sent them to the pokemon center. They also forgot about the whole ordeal, thankfully. Can't say the same for him though. The rangers had to send Will in for a psych evaluation and temporarily suspended his trainer license. He's still coping, I think."

"Shit," Riven cursed. He'd heard about the things losing a pokemon did. It drove trainers off the training path, made them stagnate. Some developed severe depression and the ones that didn't lived with traumatic episodes their entire lives. That or they went and joined a cult that went around murdering trainers and gym leaders like in Sinnoh as well as destroying plazas with their mega evolved pokemon. It left trainers a genuine mess.

Children. That's what they were. They never really learned what traumatic death was, and when faced with it all of a sudden like that, they just… broke. Officials didn't take chances anymore either, if a trainer displayed aggressive tendencies, they were sent to evaluation or worse. In Riven's own, worse.

"I need to see him one of these days," Riven said quietly. "See how he's doing. Losing a pokemon like that can't be good for his mental health. And I don't know about you, but a trainer who's not all there in the head wielding fire abilities? Not good."

"Can he go berserk?" Gray eyes held deep concern. "You said it happened to you. Can it?"

Riven shook his head somberly.

"Not sure. It manifests differently in different types. I don't know how it reacts to elementals, but for me it's like a switch of emotions. Turns on and I'm… gone. When I come to- everything is in tatters. I'm semi-aware but things are a haze. Mine has to do with negative emotions, that's the reason for the instability and general maliciousness of it. For user _and_ victim. Some of those thoughts…" He sighed. "Mine might be, no_\- are_, fundamentally different from a pure elemental type like Will. I never really asked Isole about it but the differences are pretty glaring."

"Isole?"

"She was one of the mercenaries that watched me in Kalos. She was an ice type, a Raksa. All I know is that she could use her abilities fairly well. I didn't get to talk much with the Rose or her twin lackeys." He hissed at the mention of them. "They were the fire types. I only really know my own case, and damn if it isn't the biggest double-edged sword I've ever seen. Best to assume that Will descending into a rage is possible though. Does Steven know?"

Gale hesitated, unsure. "I assume Lucia told him? Maybe we should ask him, we are here."

Rounding the corner, the Devon building came into view, its glass panels glistening in the afternoon sun. Convincing the receptionist in the lobby to allow them to see Steven took quite some convincing, with several awkward questions, mostly directed at Riven. Were they involved? How long did they know each other? Had he seen his "wand"?

The whole experience was unpleasantly horrifying.

When both of them finally arrived in Steven's office and study, they found him cleaning tea off his desk and clothes. He welcomed them in with a swipe of the hand, taking a handkerchief to clean his work area.

"Did you just choke on your tea?" Riven asked, finding it bizarre.

"Barbara is evil," Steven shuddered. At their blank looks, he clarified, "the receptionist downstairs. She has a… vivid imagination."

Both Riven and Gale shivered.

"My receptionist aside, I wasn't expecting you. Either of you, actually. Especially not you, Riven. I haven't seen you in years." Steven's warm smile almost fooled Riven. That calm, friendly demeanor masked the utter fox the ex-champion was. Not only did he not mention how many years it had been since they last spoke(less than six months), but also gave him that little knowing look. "I assume you worked out any problems you two might've had?"

"He told me about _that_," Gale said, helping herself to some tea. Yukiko jumped out of her pack and waddled off into the back. Steven eyed the Snorunt but ultimately dismissed it.

"I see. So you know. I assume this visit is in regards to that?" He looked at Riven as well, directing the question to him too.

The two sitting across from him exchanged looks.

"That comes later," Riven said, placing a stack of files on the table.

Steven picked them up, reading quickly through them, flipping through the pages with practiced ease. He went silent after he finished, expression not only angry, but deeply troubled.

"Where did you get these files?" Steven asked.

"New Mauville," Riven replied.

Steven's mouth became a thin line, grimacing. "How deep?"

"Near the bottom, where the research labs were," Gale answered this time. "All of the files were intact, and many of them had the Devon logo on them. We assumed you've seen them since you're the stand in CEO and all."

"No, I haven't." Steven clenched a jaw as he flipped through some of the pages again, shaking his head. "I'm going to have to speak with my father some time. There aren't any electronic records of this. The fact Devon was involved with such a project concerns me greatly. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, New Mauville is a dangerous place. I'd scold you for being reckless, but trying to get that through Riven's skull would be a lost cause."

Riven scoffed. "What I want to know is how much _you _know about infinity energy and how it can be used. And not just what they say in the official reports. New power source it may be, but that's not what that file says."

Steven breathed in deeply, adjusting his tie. "Pokemon bio-energy," he began. "It's the answer to how pokemon do everything they can do and why they ignore the conservation of mass and almost every law of physics known. Infinity energy allows them to create matter out of pure energy, a process that would require something like the core of a star to do normally. I only thought it was discovered until recently when the mega stones emerged but from this it seems that some Devon scientists knew about it already. So did my father. Evolution gives off enormous amounts of this energy, mega evolution even more so. When we found out about its capabilities and properties, we tried to harness it."

"Only that would require live pokemon test subjects," Riven deduced. "I'm guessing the extraction process isn't too kind to them?"

"On the contrary, it's fairly safe for them," Steven assured. "Mega-evolution is only temporary, not like actual evolution. But speeding up the natural evolutionary process like this project did, that was _wrong_." And terribly inefficient. Forcing pokemon to evolve was not only taxing on their bodies, but on their minds, as well as being irreversible. The adverse effects of rare candy usage had been studied extensively, and for that reason they were heavily restricted. Rare candy contraband was a major problem, especially in places like Unova.

"Just like the weapon in Kalos?" Riven pounced. "That used pokemon _and_ human life energy. I did my research."

Gale shifted her gaze between Steven and Riven, bewildered.

"What are you getting at, Riven?" Steven asked, eyes narrowed. "Are you implying-"

"I'm implying that messing with this might not be a good idea," Riven warned ominously. "And not just because of what you found in the Tower of Mastery. I know there was a rocket launched into outer space several months ago. It was powered by this. That drew attention. From people you probably don't want to mess with. Ever."

"We had no choice," Steven said quietly. "If we did nothing, the entire surface world would be destroyed. It never came to fruition though. Someone interfered, Rayquaza became involved and I had to call Brendan for help. They shattered the meteor with Rayquaza's mega evolution. I never mentioned it to anyone but… the parallels between Rayquaza's mega evolution and the sphere induced human evolution are uncanny. To a frightening degree."

"I don't understand," Gale said. "Do you two know something I don't?"

Riven looked down at his hands, fingers locked together. "Gale, three years ago, I told Steven to go see something I'd found in the Tower of Mastery in Kalos. What he found were six foot tall keystone crystals. Crystals that used to be people. An experiment gone wrong. Whatever the civilization who made the spheres was doing, it's related to this. Everything is connected. And this-" He stabbed a finger onto the table. "-is the answer. Or at least part of it."

Slowly sinking in, Gale was speechless. That the two had been in contact and hadn't told her about it seemed infinitesimal in comparison to what they'd just said. She wasn't a genius, but she could follow what they were saying. And what was being said between the lines bordered on horrifying and terrible.

Steven nodded grimly. "Since we last spoke, I've also been conducting my own research on the subject. It seems that the current system of keystone and mega stone is a highly inefficient one. What I hypothesized seems to hold true."

He spread both hands, holding them outward. "You see, pokemon and people are different, both needing each other to perform mega evolution. Pokemon release this 'infinity energy' while humans channel their own verson of it. These two harmonize to reach the mega evolution threshold. Pokemon cannot mega evolve on their own. There is, however, one exception."

"The legendaries," Gale and Riven both answered.

"Yes. However, they undergo a process known as 'primal reversion', a form that doesn't so much as change their current form but gives them untold power in return. When I analyzed the readings from Kyogre and Groudon, then ran them side by side with a merged model of both mega and keystones wavelengths, they appeared identical. Which brings me to a second concern. Evolved humans." Steven stood up, watching Yukiko out of the corner of his eye as he noticed her getting far too close to some of his display cases. "Naturally, we have the life energy needed to use the keystones but lack infinity energy. However, this artificial evolution seems to break that, changing our bodies into something like a pokemon's, while retaining our human traits_. Including_ our residual human life energy. The benefits of two become one."

"So these ancient humans... They tried to undergo primal reversion?" Gale guessed.

"A legendary pokemon has a much sturdier body than ours," Steven admitted unhappily. "But I don't think that was what they were going for. The woman who interfered with the rocket comes from an ancient group of people that worshipped Rayquaza and dragons, they were the ones who first discovered mega evolution. It's a split off of primal reversion, one step down if you will." Glanced at the pin on his lapel. "What if they weren't the first to find out about it? Twenty thousand years ago, someone else did. I don't know how far you came into time, Riven, but if the Rose's did know about this as well, then that would mean mega evolution goes back farther than we thought. Farther than the Draconids."

_So why is it always being _re-discovered_? Who wipes its existence away? And why? Every society who has found out has faded into obscurity, first Riven's and now the sphere's creators. What is going on here?_

Riven and Gale were silent, allowing him to continue.

"Those stones I found under the Tower, they evolved Korrina's Lucario just by being in the general vicinity. I tested it by exposing my Metagross to just one in an isolated chamber. Mega evolution still occurred, and rather instantly too. I'm guessing these people were trying to mega evolve pokemon using their own bodies as the keystones and mega stones. But for those that couldn't control it…"

"Painful crystallization," Riven nodded, expression grim. "So we can mega evolve pokemon without keystones and mega stones is what you're saying?"

"We?" Steven repeated, focused instantly on Riven. "Did you-"

"Steven, I was the first to touch the sphere, and it didn't do anything to me. It gave me a vision. You ever wonder why that is?"

The ex-champion's mind raced, recalling little facts here and there that had been spread over the past few years. Petalburg. His unnatural recovery. Eyesight. "You said you fought with normal, _human _weapons. I assumed not everyone had-" He made himself calm down, taking a steady breath. "What type are you?"

Riven sighed, then held out a palm. Closing his eyes to focus, darkness rose out of his fingers. "I never told you because I didn't even know and there were more pressing matters at the time. Point is, everyone who came from my time were born like this. We can all do things, things I don't think you can imagine until you've felt it yourself. And people are already getting way to close to this. I've tussled with them in Kalos a fair bit of times. It didn't have anything to do with the spheres, just general business. But we _know_ who they are."

"Singularity," Steven finished. He turned to Gale. "They're the ones behind a lot of the past events. They seem to have some kind of hidden agenda, but they're incredibly subtle and only reveal what they want to the authorities. Riven, what do you know about them?"

"Just that they're more well-connected than we thought." Riven frowned. "I ran around Kalos trying to get more information on them and what I found is that they hired a mercenary group known as Charaph. Their actual intentions and inner hierarchy is completely unknown. Even the mercs they employ are secretive. Especially this Charaph group. Though its members are composed of some really dangerous individuals. Or so I gathered from people who went catatonic just _hearing _the name. The guy that paralyzed me and tried to execute me is one of them."

"You got paralyzed and _almost_ executed?" Gale sputtered out, gaping like a fish.

"Mmm. It was kind of annoying."

She stared.

"Adventure isn't all cave crawling," Riven said through a toothy grin. "Sometimes you need to almost die."

"Not when it's a regular occurrence! You can't say that after the twelfth time!"

Riven shrugged, letting out a small giggle. "Actually sixteenth."

Gale slammed her palm against her forehead. Instead of thinking too hard and frying her brain even further, she went to go look at the pretty stones Steven had in his cases and watch Yukiko. While she really enjoyed Riven's presence and glad he was back, the guy was a major pain in the ass.

Steven chuckled, then turning serious as he leaned in. "Do you have names?"

"Some. Tesla, obviously. But the ones I did get from certain, uh, _sources_—were Loberia, Aliac, and Silphos. No last names. Since they're mercs I don't expect them to have any either. I didn't. As for the rest I couldn't seem to get any information out of any of the sources I tried."

Steven looked at him dubiously at the mention of the word, "sources". He probably thought by sources Riven meant, "people I've broken in several places and cut repeatedly". Which was… not too far from the truth, actually. He _did_ use a scalpel once.

"I'll warn the League."

The ex-merc crossed his arms, unhappy with the decision. "I'd rather you wouldn't. But- ugh. How are things in Hoenn right now?"

"Anti-trainer sentiment has been increasing alarmingly due to alleged 'trainer caused rampages'." Steven scowled at mere mention. "The Sayre cult has been gaining more traction lately. Aberrant sightings have also increased mysteriously. Criminal activity regarding mega stone and keystone market has doubled."

"So to put it simply, shitstorm in the making," Riven concluded sourly. "Think this is all a coincidence?"

"We thought the Dragon Festival was a coincidence too," Steven reminded. "After the Magmas and the Aquas, I know better than that. It'd be safe to assume these men are at fault and whatever it is they're going for, it has to do with spreading turmoil. Then they'll enact their real plan."

Considering that carefully, Riven shook his head. "Inform the gym leaders and the Elite Four then, but tell them _not_ to act. They should carry their elite teams with them at all times and for god's sake, tell them to arm themselves, even if it's a kitchen knife. If a single gym leader dies as things are now, Hoenn could spiral straight into a perpetual circle of fucked and will become the next Sinnoh. Be prepared for anything, but otherwise act like everything is fine. "

"For once I agree with you." About to open his mouth again, Steven gawked, shooting to his feet. "What is that Snorunt _doing_?" He turned pale as milk. "No! Don't let her touch that!"

"Huh?" Riven turned around and saw Yukiko perched on one of the display desks, completely entranced by a small green stone sitting unprotected. Gale was equally as puzzled and for what seemed like an eternity, the Snorunt's tiny mitten extended outward.

Then tapped the stone.

Bloody Skitty curiosity.

A strangled noise came from the stone collector as a brilliant white light enveloped the Snorunt. Gale's eyes swelled with pride, feeling tingles at watching her pokemon evolve, completely glossing over the fact that she'd just used up one of Steven's stones without permission. She was ecstatic until the temperature in the room dropped about thirty degrees in a manner of _seconds_.

A white ghost came into view as the light dissipated. A red sash tied around Yukiko's stomach and her mittens were gone, replaced by longer, robe-like appendages that flared out at the wrists. Her eyes were a dead, icy blue behind yellow sclera. On top of her head were two ice blocks. It reminded Riven of Kai's kimono.

_Lass?_ Yukiko whispered, surprising herself at her new form. Much like Efrain, her voice was disembodied, coming from anywhere and everywhere than from actual windpipes. Her breaths frosted the very air in the room, forming icy crystals along the glass displays. Looking for comfort to Gale, the ghost began to float over to her and Steven _moved._

He unclipped a pokeball from Gale's belt and returned the ghost, letting out a huge sigh of relief, as well as defeat. He'd _just_ recovered that stone from a dig.

"Why did you return her?" Gale said, excitement effectively killed.

"Froslass' breath is so cold it can give someone frostbite instantly," Steven stated. "Hugging one would have sent you to the hospital for severe cold burns. I forgot I didn't place that dawn stone in a display yet. I shouldn't have let her wander off…"

"I'm so sorry!" Gale apologized quickly, attacking her travel bag for her wallet. "I'll pay for it!"

Steven put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's all right, Gale. It's just a dawn stone. What you have to worry about is how you're going to deal with her now. Froslass can be very dangerous to their trainers, but are tricky opponents in a battle. If you can control her, she can be a valuable asset to your team. Just keep her away from your birds and maintain a safe distance."

Gale nodded furiously, still apologizing for her pokemon. "She's really clingy though. That might be a bit hard."

"Shouldn't have spoiled her," Riven chided with a raised finger from behind the couch.

The female trainer scoffed at him. "I don't want to hear this from you, you've been gone for three years!"

"Point. I think I'll shut up now."

Steven smiled at their banter. The two stayed for another hour, talking to him about what had been happening in their lives lately. Mostly Gale's. He didn't even _want_ to know what Riven's activities consisted of. He specifically instructed the younger man to give him general synopses since the details were unkind to someone that just ate lunch. How did Riven sleep at night?

_Oh, right. He doesn't._

Before they left, Riven pulled him to the side, asking for Will.

"I heard," Steven said softly. "It's an inevitability of training. Either you have to give one up, or they die in battle. Sometimes it's the other way around and the trainer dies. Those who never experience it should be glad they never do in their lifetime."

"Did you lose one? Before you were all this?" Riven gestured to all of him. Especially the suit.

"Once," Steven smiled, inklings of his trainer days coming back to him. "I nearly quit myself from the grief. We all have something painful in our hearts. Still, I'm sure he's doing better. He's a strong boy. Well, he isn't just a boy anymore. He's seventeen now, you know."

"I bet he's still a runt," Riven smirked. "We should be going now though. I'll keep you updated if I find anything. Be careful in Devon, Steven. You never know who might be working with Singularity. They're more connected than we thought."

"Agreed." He gripped Riven's arm firmly. "Are you okay, though? With- the powers? You won't-"

Riven cut him off first. "Don't worry, I won't try to mega evolve pokemon any time soon. Turning into a crystal isn't exactly enticing. If I see Will, I'll make sure to warn him too."

Nodding, the ex-champion let go. "Well alright. Where are you headed next?"

Come to think of it, Riven had never even seen the latter half of Hoenn. He'd been all over Kalos, but not once had he seen Fortree City or the rest. He decided to do some sight-seeing.

"Fortree. Then Lilycove and Sootopolis. I've heard good things about them and I can take on the gyms for old time's sake. They probably won't take losing to a Frenchie very well."

"_Supposed_ Frenchie. Am I wrong, _Nathan_?" Steven corrected, matching Riven's grin. This was what? Name number seven? Eight?"Good luck. And be careful, although I'd say that's a lost cause with you too."

"Heh."

Leaving the building, Riven descended into his thoughts. Could he really mega evolve a pokemon by himself? Naturally, he could have just swiped one back from Sycamore if he really wanted to. But none of his pokemon were there, and none of the stones corresponded to any of them, so there really was no point in doing so. Also, stealing those would kind of make him a dick.

This method though… while being immensely beneficial, was costly as shit. If he didn't know how to channel the energy correctly, he was as good as dead. Gathering power to use his own abilities already required strenuous mental effort and a trip down memory lane, and even then it took a dent out of his energy, not even including the internal struggles he had with his Nightmare. There was also no doubt there were other rules to the process, rules he didn't know about quite yet.

_Should I call Isole? They might know._

No, couldn't risk it. Mercs were known for not being stupid. She'd poke and prod for any reason as to how he'd come upon this revelation and instantly connect it to the spheres. An ally she was, a friend she was not.

Decisions.

"Fuck it," he growled, taking out his holo caster and bringing up the holographic display. Gale turned to face him.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a risk," he answered, and dialed the button.

The call came through and Isole's voice filtered back in, pleasantly surprised. "Well if it isn't my favorite dark boy. What do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

Riven wasted no time.

"Natural mega evolution. We can do it. Tell me _how_."

The line fell into silence, all presence of light-hearted banter eliminated.

"Pick a place. I'll be there," Isole responded curtly. "Just. Me."

"Fortree then. Two month's time. Don't tell Nera. I'd like you to meet someone. I'll tell you whatever it is you want to know."

"Got it. Don't leave me hanging or I'll freeze your balls off."

Ending the call, Gale went over to him, inquiring who he called. Riven didn't answer, swallowing tensely. "Gale?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to find Will within a month. Got any leads?"

She shook her head, chipper. "Not one."

"Fantastic," he grumbled. "I was counting on you to magically have a lead for us to follow."

"Nope. Look at it this way, it's_…an adventure_," she said, tracing an arc in the air with her hands. Giggling uncontrollably at his expression, Gale summoned Emile and Kyne.

Getting up on Emile's back, Riven gave her a flat look.

"I'm really going to regret asking that question now, am I?"

She smiled as he frowned. Gave Kyne a pat and pointed upward, ascending into the sky.

"It's an _adventure_," Riven mimicked under his breath as Emile spread his wings and followed.

* * *

**Been running so many errands it's annoying. Haven't had much time to write. I'm a gigantic hypocrite and hang my head in shame. Happy new years to everyone!**


	60. Frostfire

The finding and or locating of Will Ethne had proven to be as big of a pain in the ass as he was.

While finding someone off the grid was irritating enough, finding a trainer who was off the grid was downright _maddening_.

Granted, Riven fully expected that finding that human lighter would take strenuous effort and immense mental fortitude to _not_ claw his eyes out. Which didn't even get into the mental strength it would take to do the same from just hearing the crap that came out of Will's mouth. He teased even more than Gale did, and that was already bad enough.

The problem with finding a trainer that had gone off in seclusion or into the wild to train was that trainers didn't really have any records, per se. Nor did they have any permanent lodgings or real need for them. The only time they actually checked in for things and left some sort of traceable waypoint was in the city or even towns with inns on occasion. All payments were made with cash too. Otherwise trainers could head into the wild for months and not be heard of or seen.

Honestly, you could pick a town or a city randomly and have about the same chance of finding them there as you did if you picked anywhere else.

Some disappeared permanently like that. Either they got killed somehow, kidnapped or something else entirely. Missing reports of trainers could fill a hundred billboards. If they _wanted_ to drop off the map, they very much could.

There was also the fact that trainers were so commonplace along routes and crowded city areas that people hardly noticed them individually, interacting and then hardly ever seeing their faces again. They came and went like the wind. As such, it was almost impossible to get anyone to identify Will, even if they _had _seen him. Lucia had given Gale his trainer ID number to see if he'd checked into a center recently but the last record of that was a little less than half a year ago. He also had eight badges so guessing his training path along the traditional gym circuit was shot too.

And so the part Riven dreaded began: running around like fucking Combuskens with their heads cut off.

Going around asking for him yielded about as much results as throwing a pencil at a charging Tauros. Even Lucia hadn't had much luck finding him. Well, obviously not. She was in Unova at the moment training to be a Unovan Field Operative. Didn't answer his phone either. Since that incident he'd apparently grown a little more distant. While understandable, it was a fair bit worrying seeing as how that cult of batshit insane trainer's was growing again.

People could do very stupid things. Teenagers even more so.

_I would know_.

Like the thing he was about to do now.

Gale and Riven stood outside a dilapidated house in the less than impressive southeast side of Lilycove City. While the city was large and beautiful, Riven wasn't completely shocked by it. Probably as a result of being in Lumiose but even the most beautiful cities had ugly sides. Lumiose definitely did.

"So, this is the guy that'll help us find Will?" Gale asked, wrinkling her nose at the sorry state of the house. "We've been going around for three weeks with nothing to show for it."

"I believe this is the guy. He's rumored to have psychometric abilities. Give him a person's things or some kind of picture and he can sort of figure out where they are. He uses an Alakazam to bolster his senses_. Supposedly_," Riven stated, mimicking quotations with his two front fingers on each hand. "Before you ask, I learned about him when we were asking around in Slateport. Not from some underhanded source."

"Oh, good. See, you don't always have to break peoples' legs to get information."

Riven shrugged, sizing the place up. "I'll go in, you stay out here. And watch yourself, this side of Lilycove looks suspicious."

"Okay then, my knight of shining armor." She giggled as he gave her a sour look. "Everything looks suspicious to you." Perched on her shoulder, Vizi chattered at him as well.

"You, shut it." Vizi snorted fire from her nostrils. "Having one girl reprimanding me is enough. Tsk. Just because you're not an annoying Fletchling anymore doesn't mean you can take everything by yourself," he frowned. "If a water type sneezes on you, that's it."

Vizi puffed up and shot some embers at him.

"I'll be fine," Gale said, before grinning. "Wait… Are you _actually_ worried about me?"

Riven rolled his eyes, instead attempting to open the door. And it did, only the knob broke off and the door wasn't locked. Going inside, Riven muttered something about shoddy worksmanship and Pinsir shit.

With nothing to do, Gale peered at the streets around the house, noting the lack of income and funds in the area. The concrete was cracked and broken, with Skitty and all manner of pokemon rummaging around through the trash bins in search of food.

_They don't show this in the Lilycove brochures…_

She stroked Vizi's soft feathers with a hand. She wondered how long he'd take in there, there were already some people leering at her with hungry eyes. She shook the feeling and guessed the screaming would be an indication of progress. This was Riven. True to word, no more than two minutes later she heard a gasp followed by shouting and fear filled shrieks.

_And there it-_

A table blew right through the second floor window of the house and most of the wall with Riven along with it, spraying shards of glass and wood over the concrete below.

Gale lay on the floor, eyes wide as saucers as she saw her traveling companion turn in place and drop under the table, shifting his knees to land and roll on the ground, glass shards shaking loose out of his hair as he growled coming up. Taking out a pokeball, he summoned Haona, to which he hissed out a command, pointing towards the door. Hands reaching behind his back for Efrain, both trainer and pokemon disappeared back into the house.

Bewildered, the female trainer who'd just witnessed Riven get flung through a window at a height that would break a normal person's legs, ordered Vizi to fly up and prepare for anything. Placing her ear to the door, she heard a deluge of expletives, sword slashing, hissing, and an odd humming sound.

"AH! ALAKAZA-"

"NOT AGAIN, DARK PULSE!"

Gale flinched as a serrated shockwave of ghostly energy cleaved through what little remained of the wall, while a blackish purple beam of darkness simultaneously punted the Alakazam out of the building and into a truck… _two_ streets away.

What followed were more shrieks and very feminine yelps.

"GET AWAY FROM ME DEMON!"

"Shut. Up."

"SPAWN OF EVIL! YOU AND YOUR ABSOL!"

"I said-" Riven kicked the door open, sending it flying out into the street past Gale before dumping the psychometric in front of the porch. "-Shut the _fuck_ up. All I wanted to do was ask for a favor, but no, you had to send me through a fucking window first. Do you know how much that hurts?"

Gale turned her attention to the man on the ground. He was middle-aged and looked out of the ordinary for the area, dressing rather formally, with slicked back hair that was beginning to grey at the sides. Living here seemed to be a choice, possibly to hide from someone.

The tip of the Doublade's sword rested near the man's throat, cold steel against skin.

_Yeah, people like Mr. Soldier here._

Gale gripped Riven's forearm and pushed down, lowering the blade. "I know you don't like getting launched through windows but… Just look at him, he's terrified. Put it down. We'll get nowhere like this." The man was shaking uncontrollably, an utter look of terror on his face. He was entirely focused on Riven, frozen in place.

The male trainer conceded and sheathed the blade, eyeing the psychic with scrutiny and an incendiary glare. He flinched at the sight, forgetting to breath. Then relaxed as Gale pushed Riven out of the way and tried coercing him instead. "G-g-get him away. That demon. So much negativity… hatred… What _is_ he?" The psychic muttered, shuddering again. "What do you want from me? Leave me alone! You already destroyed my house!"

_It was about to fall down at any moment really…_ "We were told you had psychometric abilities," Gale said, holding out a photo of Will. "We want you to find him for us, we've been looking pretty desperately."

"I can't!" the man refused. "I need my Alakazam, and you!" A finger jabbed in Riven's direction. "You sent him into a truck! I'll never help you!"

Riven almost gave him a toothy grin before Gale shot him a _look_. No limbs were to be disfigured in her presence if she could help it.

"Argh, fine. I'll go get the Alakazam, you get mystic here to talk. My chest still hurts from getting hit with the table."

He returned several minutes later with Aine, who carried the unconscious pokemon over a shoulder with a fighter's ease. By that time the man had calmed considerably but grew nervous as Riven approached again, whispering something to Gale. She nodded.

"Riven, you mind staying outside while I talk to him? He says he doesn't want you to be around him."

He responded with a grunt and a wave of the hand, preferring to wait and get this over with. Gale was better with people regardless. Aine brought the Alakazam inside, also serving as a watchful eye in case the guy tried anything funny. Gale sat down in a rather odd smelling couch in the partially destroyed living room, looking up at the ceiling, which had been littered with slash marks—Riven's work, most likely.

Sitting down across from her, the man breathed out and blew on his tea. "Sorry. For this. I'm sure this is unappealing to a woman such as you. I don't live like this by choice and—no offense—but your brute of a travel companion ruined any semblance of comfort I had."

"None taken," Gale smiled. "He's… umm, _forward_."

She didn't want to specifically say violent, mostly because the guy in front of her looked like a Pidgey in a snowstorm. That Riven was somewhat aggressive in his methods was a huge understatement from what she'd heard. Never had the words, "I'm a licensed dentist," frightened her that badly before. The vicious smile he had on his face when he said it didn't make it _any_ better.

Snapping his gaze up, the man swallowed a gulp of tea. "He… is not of this world. Just like all of the dark type. All of us are creatures of god. Arceus, the creator. Man. Pokemon. All of us. But not them. Those of the dark, they do not come from the father, but from elsewhere. We know… all psychics do. We are close to him, and he's close to us. That man… all I see from him is death, a world forsaken. And our Father's tears. Great sorrow and guilt. I know not what relationship you have with that demon, but be wary, he and all others like him upset the balance. Even more than it already has been. Father is troubled."

Gale nodded weakly, not quite sure what he meant by all that. Maybe this was why Riven disliked psychics in general. They always seemed to talk in half answered riddles. She'd ponder it later. "I will but my friend, I'm trying to find him. Can you help me?"

"Yes, yes, I am sorry."

He took the card and stood up, heading over to where his Alakazam lay. Gale had given him a revive and a few potions to speed up the recovery. It was the least she could do to apologize for Haona dark pulsing the psychic into a truck.

The man, Hugo, sat cross-legged beside the Alakazam, falling deep into a meditation. Placing the picture in front of them, both human and pokemon touched the picture with a finger. Eyes glowing a faint blue, the Alakazam's spoons rose into the air, spinning in an ellipse around the pair. An aura of psychic energy wrapped around them both and remained steady for a few seconds. Hugo then opened his eyes abruptly, disrupting the flow and ending the ritual.

"What have you done?" He asked her, eyes wide and fearful. "No… that boy. That demon! Uncovered treachery! If the Father finds out it will happen again. Oh no…"

Gale gripped the man by the shoulders, shaking him. "Do you know where he is then?"

Hugo nodded. "Yes, but please." He held Gale's hands in his own, holding on hard with fear. "Be careful, Gale Serna. Forces are moving, ancient and modern shadows. The beasts have returned, and we will all be caught in the clash. _He_ is… indecisive. The others urge him to act, but he will wait."

Riven stared at the flowing white clouds in the sky as he noticed Gale coming out from inside, followed by Aine. The Blaziken was as chipper as always, but Gale looked like her brain had gone to pot. He should've known, psychics had a tendency to screw with peoples' minds, whether it was in the literal sense or in the confusing-as-shit sense. From how utterly lost she looked, he was pretty sure it was the latter option.

He pushed off the wall. "How bad were the riddles?"

"Just like you told me," Gale said, rubbing her forehead with a palm. "The guy is… I don't know. He kept talking about Arceus and he knew my name even though I didn't tell him anything. Then he went on about you and Will uncovering some kind of treachery."

A black brow arced upwards.

"I don't know what it means either," Gale admitted, feeling like her brain was getting squeezed.

"Told you, probably more of their exaggerated prophecies and warnings of doom and peril. I definitely lucked out with Baron. Did you at least get Will's whereabouts?" Riven winced. "_Please_ tell me it isn't Victory Road."

Gale shook her head in response, bringing up her pokedex's holographic display of Hoenn. The device centered on them, zooming in on their current location then comparing it to the rest of the region. Riven's model wasn't quite as sophisticated and he'd grown a little attached to Charles, refusing to buy an updated version even if Gale's had a cool three dimensional map built in. Even the cities were interactive on it, showing descriptions and several points of interest. She rolled her eyes at his appreciation of the detail and tapped a location not too far away from them.

A view of a mountain range appeared on the display, surrounded by water along the southern edge.

"That's Mt. Pyre," Riven noted soberly. He glanced at Gale who gave him a uneasy smile.

Will was in mourning. Couldn't blame him either, many trainers did the same, not only living through their grief but training in the wild section of mountain. Ghosts and psychics were abundant there, which made Riven a little anxious about going there. If all of them reacted like Hugo, then they were bound to run into problems.

"Yeah," Gale said, dreading the trip. "It's a fairly large mountain and has naturally occurring fog just about everywhere. Finding Will from the air is going to be close to impossible. Flying in dense fog is dangerous. We'll have to search on foot."

"Should probably stock up on potions," Riven sighed, figuring mentally just how many trainers went there to battle out their grief; a coping mechanism that helped little for the pain but worked effectively to strengthen their teams. It was the only way they knew how to vent their feelings. As a result, many strong trainers gathered there, all recently having lost their pokemon on the Victory Road or in another trainer battle.

"Lots of trainers in that mountain. We should head downtown, Lilycove does have a large mall for trainers. Also, how did you get launched through the window back there? I couldn't really ask with all the craziness but I thought psychic doesn't affect you?"

"Dark types resist psychic attacks, not objects _moved _by them," he said simply. A fact he thoroughly experienced in Kalos after seeing a Scrafty get hit by a telekinetically thrown signpost. He thought it would conveniently and magically stop the moment it touched the dark type. It ending up face first in an adjacent wall because of said signpost proved that theory just a _little_ incorrect. "That force doesn't go anywhere as soon as psychic influence is gone. Keeps going. _Into you_. First law of motion."

Gale crossed her arms, looking at him like she'd just discovered something new. "You? Physics? What?"

Riven caught the jab and scowled. "Books exist."

"And I thought all you knew how to do was insert bladed objects into peoples' limbs and _brood_," Gale snickered. "It's okay though, you do it pretty well."

He didn't even attempt to refute that. "Look, you can't blame me for not knowing modern science, I _only_ traveled forward in time who-the-fuck-knows how many millennia and happened to grow up stabbing people. When I got here _television_ was fascinating to me. Least now that you know I'm not from around here I don't have to listen to anymore 'did-you-grow-up-under-a-geodude' questions."

She grinned mischievously. "Did you grow up under a-"

"STOP." He groaned loudly, turning around to run his hands down his face. "And I'm going to have to deal with the male, less attractive version of you? Fantastic."

"You think I'm attractive?" She pounced, tilting her head.

Riven paled.

_Oh shit._

Rather than answering, he bolted, leaving Gale laughing all the way to the mall.

* * *

Loaded up on potions and all manner of restorative items and supplies, the two trainers flew over route 122, glancing below at all the swimmers battling it out near the water. Even from a fair distance away the mountain was easily visible, surrounded by a dense fog that reduced visibility further and further as they approached. Even partially hidden by the clouds, the mountain was massive, stretching for miles in every direction.

Nearing the mountain, Gale signaled Emile and Kyne to slow down and fly cautiously through the fog. Some canoes could be seen in the water below them, a scary sight for trainers that were just visiting the area. The mystical fog was sometimes seen as a gateway to the other side, to the realm of the dead. In many ways, Mt. Pyre was exactly that.

They landed off the main route up the mountain, on the far eastern side. It would have been ideal to have arrived at the pier, but they had no way of knowing where that was in all the fog. They'd have to make due somehow, even if it meant hiking a considerable distance. Ghosts often roamed the woods of the mountain, with reports of Dusclops, Dusknoirs and the occasional Cofagrigus. Sableye were also common and curiously peered at them from behind trees and shrubs. Groups of Chimecho hung idly from tree branches, turning to face both trainers as they passed through.

Gale heard stories of the creepiness of Mt. Pyre, but didn't believe them until now. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and a cold shiver traveled down her spine. Glancing at Riven, he appeared relatively undisturbed by it all. He'd seen far worse from what she'd gathered. And well, having his pokemon out at the same time was a nice safety blanket too. The ghosts seemed to think messing with an Absol wasn't worth it, leaving them alone.

Definitely a relief.

It been midday out when they started walking and yet the forest remained at the same level of darkness, seemingly indistinguishable from noon to dusk on the inside. The rays of the sun were continuously blocked out by the thick fog. The temperature had dropped significantly, though it technically _shouldn't_ have. Not at the current time anyway. It'd grow colder as night settled in, probably cold enough to form frost.

"Boagrius, try using sunny day to get rid of this fog," Riven commanded, squinting forward.

A ray of light came from the Castform's mouth, temporarily dissipating the fog within twenty feet but was quickly overcome by it once more.

_Huh, that's odd. Sunny day doesn't work here? Must be the low levels of natural light, it's a glorified flashlight right now._

He waited for Gale, who approached out of the fog with Evie and Vizi behind her.

"Was that sunny day?" She asked, seeing the fog roll in again. "I saw a light but then it was gone. Guessing it didn't work."

"Yeah…" Riven replied, eyes narrowed. "I don't like this place. Efrain, keep a lookout. Overwatch blade. You can sense your own kind if they approach, right?"

_That's not how it works_, the ghost said flatly. _I'm not Mewtwo._

"Fair enough, no need to give me sass. Just keep a look out. Can't see shit but it's best to try."

Bobbing in the air and waving with his sash, the Doublade split off, with one blade floating upwards. Riven held the other in his hand, motioning with his free hand to tell the group to keep moving.

"Should I release Yukiko?" Gale mentioned, hesitating. Her pokeball was being cradled between the female trainer's palms. "I'm not quite sure how she'll affect the fog here."

"She'd probably freeze it _and_ us. If she tries to hug you again, I don't think I could get you to a hospital fast enough. Using fire on frostbitten flesh works rather poorly too. She's clingier than most pokemon I've seen and you didn't exactly anticipate her evolving in Steven's office. Knocking out that habit is going to be tough. Sucks for you."

Gale sighed softly. "Thanks for the tips, master Cerul."

He snorted. "And we have no rawst berries. They hardly even work on humans as it is. Who even buys ice heals in Hoenn?"

"Ice heals…" That gave Gale an idea. She tapped him on the shoulder. "Wait. If you're part pokemon, then shouldn't pokemon items work on you too? I mean, theoretically, hypothetically."

"Theoretically, hypothetically they-" Riven came to a halt, mouth hanging a little open. "Huh." His eyes lit up. "Only one way to test it, right?"

"Wait! No! Riven stop!"

Twirling Efrain's blade and completely ignoring Gale, he casually slashed into his forearm, not once wincing in pain. Blood seeped from the wound onto the floor as the girl behind him stared in shock. He peered at her, oblivious to the fact he'd just inflicted a cut on himself that would require numerous stitches and a strong-willed medical professional to close normally.

"Can you pass me a potion? It appears I'm bleeding," he said absently, pointing at the blood flowing downwards. It was starting to hurt.

"Pass you a-" Gale went through her pack like lightning, grabbed a hyper potion, ripped off the cap and dumped its entire contents all over his arm, then threw the empty canister at him. He grunted loudly at the sting, reactionary swears and curses coming out of his mouth. His eyes widened in pleasant surprise a few seconds afterwards as the wound mended completely, leaving healthy skin behind.

"Interesting," he chuckled darkly. Then he locked eyes with Gale, his lips curving upward in an enormous, shit-eating grin. "Gale. Do you know what this means?"

_What have I done?_ She went milk white. Giving Riven an idea he actually liked never meant something good. Or sane, for that matter. "Oh, no."

"I can cheat like a _fucking_ _bastard_," he cackled, thinking of all the bullshit strategies he could employ with this. Instantaneous healing items! Genius. "Next time an electric type paralyzes me, I'm going to take a paralyze heal then kick it in the balls. This is good. Very good. Thanks for the insight, Gale."

Her mouth hung open, not sure whether to be more horrified at his casual self-mutilation for the sake of testing things or that he intended to get paralyzed _again_. Possibly also that he seemed happy at the thought of fighting pokemon by himself. Given his newly revealed history… old habits did die hard. Regardless, he still made about as much sense as a Spinda, and that was pushing it vastly.

Gale smacked a palm against her forehead, almost unaware of it herself.

"What?" He cocked his head. "I thought you've gotten used to this already."

"NO ONE can get used to-" She waved her hands, gesturing madly at his entirety. "-_THIS_. You're the real lunatic here."

"Eh, I've acknowledged this already. I rather like myself with all the screws loose, and here you are following me. Ironic, isn't it," he pointed out chidingly. "So, where are we now? Bring out your fancy map."

She huffed in exasperation but did so, opening it with a tap and a ping.

Mt. Pyre's map wasn't quite as detailed due to the fog and strange electromagnetic field surrounding the area, so most of it was distorted, skipping over details that would have been otherwise crystal clear anywhere else. While rough, maps never needed to be that detailed anyway. At least not in Riven's time. Things were shit compared to the ones now, but they worked fantastically. You didn't always need complex, simple worked just as well.

Currently, there were several miles of terrain left to reach the main path; more than what they could cover in a day without developing god forsaken blisters. The sun hadn't gone down yet by looking at the time but the sky was darkening and the temperature had begun to drop, that much they could tell. Once it was sundown, the forests would likely be far more active. After spending the last two hours of sunlight gathering wood and other materials for a fire, they set their sleeping bags down, huddling close to the flames.

Gale lay on her back, head reclined against a curled up Evie, looking up at the star-filled sky as the fog cleared. Riven was in a similar position, using Haona as a headrest instead. She didn't seem to mind. Aine and Baron were perched up in the trees, along with Vizi, scouting for any threats.

Riven's expression was filled with pensive concern, mind no doubt occupied with Will.

"Worried about him?" Gale asked suddenly.

"Yes," he answered quickly.

"Mind if I ask why?"

"A lot of things. He lost a pokemon and came here. And those incinerated trainers…" Paused, then breathed. "His fire is getting stronger. Before, he couldn't even fire off a few embers before getting winded. Now he can char bodies?"

"That's not all is it?" Gale surmised. "You think he's going to do something drastic?"

"A lot of trainers in his position have been turning to that cult that originated in Sinnoh. It's gaining traction again and that's definitely not good. If he got mixed up with them…" He shook his head and held a finger up in the air. "One Victory Road tested trainer brought an entire region to its knees. And no one could stop him. What if it was a Victory Road tested trainer that also had the powers of a pokemon? The training world and the criminal one wouldn't survive it. Complete and utter shitstorm. League's walking on thin ice as it is."

"That is true, sadly. You think Will would really do that?"

"Can't afford ifs, Gale. I need to be sure he won't or knock some sense into him if he does."

"And if he doesn't then?"

The silence hung in the air, only broken by the crackling of the fire.

"His powers then," she redirected. "They're stronger than yours?"

He lifted a hand into the air, staring at it intently. "Probably. I wager they don't have the same drawbacks at least. The boost I get is amazing, but what comes afterwards… not good. Has a lot to do with typings and their patterns I guess. Go back further than training even. I can only handle this for a short amount of time, but it's enough to get in there and tear things to shreds. I'm assuming elemental types can battle out longer but can't quite achieve the strength types like mine can. They also don't have to deal with crazy bastards living in your head. Gets hard to live with. He's a serious asshole."

"Dark types are fragile but hit hard," Gale recited, drawing back from what Flannery told her. "Efficiency is king. Eliminate the enemy whichever way you can."

"Something like that," he agreed, adjusting his head in the midst of white fur. Haona opened an eye to look down at him, then went back to dozing off. "I neglect my powers because of their drawbacks, Will could practice it in secret without anyone knowing." He hmped. "I mean, he could just blame Quil for any forest f-"

And froze.

"Riven?"

"Forest fires!" Riven said, sitting upright instantly.

She blinked.

"We can track where he's been based off reports of fires in the area and pinpoint a general location. If he's been practicing his abilities in seclusion along with Quil and his pyromania, it shouldn't be difficult to find him, even here."

"I mean, that's a good idea but…" Gale exhaled in exhaustion, not looking forward to this at all. "We'd have to ask the rangers located near the top of the mountain. They got placed there after the Magma's and the Aqua's stole two important relics of some kind. They should have all the reports up there. Talking to the proprietress isn't a bad choice either."

"We leave at first light then."

They arose some time before dawn and headed out, fully rested and ready to go up the mountain. Several hours of hiking took them up to the main road, which would have been a good thing were it not for all the trainers now in the way. They got challenged left and right, with the majority of the challenges aimed at Gale, either because she was a girl or the challenging trainer was one of those people with mild psychic prowess.

Male trainers often fought female trainers for a chance to discuss "training tips". Riven had overheard the strategies for picking up female trainers in pokemon center lobbies multiple times. Heh, if they were as good at battling as they were at daydreaming perhaps they'd actually get somewhere. They didn't seem to get the message that beating girls then immediately hitting on them while offering tips was like punching someone in the face, giving them a massage and telling them not how to suck next time. Nobody wanted that crap.

They all gave Riven a damn wide berth though(thankfully), so he spent most of the time watching Gale. He hadn't seen her battle a trainer yet but she was a very intelligent battler, picking out the weaknesses in the opponent fairly easily. He also had to commend Vizi, he'd never expected that little food guzzling bird to be this ferocious in a fight. Yukiko finally saw some action and because of the mist surrounding the area, Gale used the ghost's body and color to hide amongst it, throwing sneak attacks from multiple angles. Although, Gale had to return Yukiko before her congratulatory praise triggered the over affectionate nature of the Froslass.

All in all, impressive. After getting awkwardly asked out by a psychic trainer and politely rejecting him, Gale returned to Riven's side, smiling widely at her battle money.

"Quite a lot of money." Riven noted. "That's what? Battle number nine? Ten? Twelve?"

"Thirteen," Gale grinned. "I'm practically out of potions. I used my hyper potion on your arm, ass. Give me one of yours."

He handed her one with a hesitant frown.

"What about you?" She asked, inverting her tone completely. "How many people challenged you?"

"Two. Well, they were twins so I guess that makes it one. Said I looked like their brother."

"Aww, that's sweet."

"He died five years ago," Riven deadpanned.

"…Oh."

"I'm used to it, I attract these people like flies. Anyway," Riven continued, "the espers avoided me like I was a disease. If _you_ get to deal with them though, I'm fine with that. They're… odd_-er_ than most of the people here," he said, drawing out the word.

Gale agreed to that with a nod. "Only two? There must have been dozens of trainers. Psychics really dislike you that much?"

"The stronger my abilities get, the worse off it is," Riven explained, not at all perturbed. Haona and Efrain could crush them fairly easily if they did muster the courage to battle him. "Only natural they would shy away from their natural predators, huh?"

"Calm down, Arcanine. Don't start thinking like a wild pokemon now."

Riven let a small smile crawl up his face before he stopped it in its tracks. "There's the ranger station there at the top. The proprietress should be up there somewhere too."

* * *

Arriving in the ranger station, Riven and Gale asked around for any strange or unexplained recurring fires that happened along the mountain recently. At first, the rangers figured they were just Vulpix and Ninetales setting things on fire on occasion, because the flames usually died out before they became a problem—the pokemon were known to control their fires so there were never any real problems. They did point out an oddity though. When inspecting the sites of the reported fires, tree trunks and grass were seared to the point of ash and the ground was cracked and morphed in a way that didn't seem at all consistent with Ninetales and its pre-evolution. In fact, one of the rangers drew up a comparison to a Camerupt.

_Lava plume. Has to be Will. _

Typhlosion were known to learn the move and he very much doubted it had been a Camerupt, it would have left identifiable prints for the rangers to track—especially that deep in the mountain. A wild Camerupt that was misusing its abilities could cause plenty of destruction to the natural habitat if left alone.

Most of the fires occurred near the western edge of the mountain, in a range of deep forests and secluded areas that were frequented by Ninetales and the like. The pokemon there seldom made contact with humans, and trainers never bothered to go to those parts despite a generous population of the pseudo-psychic foxes.

In essence, an Ideal place to train in perfect seclusion and peace.

Riven worried that his- well, _self_ would rile up the Ninetales, using his past experiences with psychics as an indicator about how shit things went just getting near one that wasn't Baron. They weren't technically psychics, but they were pretty damn close. So close they actually were counted as psychics, even if the pokedex didn't agree.

It took another day to get even near the reported area and when they did, the fog intensified, impairing sight so much that they could barely see two feet in front of them.

Will-o-wisps weaved through the trees—faint colored balls of fire that acted as sentries and inflicted mystical burns on enemies if they tried to touch them. They shifted and darkened as Riven got near, expanding and minimizing rhythmically. Gale turned her head and squinted at one, figuring that the Ninetales likely used the fires as an early warning and messaging system, a code perhaps? Came as no surprise, really. Ninetales were incredibly intelligent.

Further in, they encountered large groups of Vulpix prancing around the misty forest. The fox pokemon got close to them, inspecting both of them with a curiosity that could rival a Skitty's. A smaller kit with ruffled fur came up to Riven, tugging on a shoe lace with its teeth, then sniffed his pants, pawing at them as tests. Gale smiled as she saw Riven's stone-faced demeanor struggling to hold together. He fed the fox a berry and sent it off with a pat on the head after spotting its golden-furred mother in the mist, keen red eyes watching him in turn.

Gale smiled as the baby pokemon eagerly returned to its mother with a pecha berry in its mouth. "Trying not to piss off its mother?"

Riven nodded. "That's one big reason. Ninetales are pretty vengeful, will-o-wisp burns hurt far more than normal ones. Seriously do not want." He looked around, pursing his lips. "Hmm. This is the place with the largest concentration of accidental fires, right?"

Gale brought up the map, where one of the rangers set up a marked display on the projected area. They were standing in the vicinity, but there were nothing but Vulpix kits and Ninetales here. That is until the wild pokemon began to leave with a flick of nine golden tails from the supervising fox. Soon the forest was empty, save for the mist and the two trainers. Eerily quiet, Riven and Gale searched for clues, finding scorch marks and several signs of fire pokemon among the perimeter, but nothing drastically different.

It wasn't until they headed further into the mist to find a section of the forest that had been partially turned into a clearing via incineration. The ground was uprooted and broken, with ashen remains of grass, trees, and ferns lying beside the scar in the earth. Inspecting it closely, Riven called Gale over.

"See this?" He said as she approached. "Lava Plume. We're close."

"Can't believe we're tracking Will." Gale shook her head. "I suddenly feel bad for the rangers who handle missing persons reports."

"Being a ranger isn't all the glamor-"

Efrain's disembodied voice reached both trainers simultaneously, a hushed whisper of warning. _Prince, Ms. Gale, there is movement in the trees. I cannot see what it is, but it is moving quickly._

Riven and Gale exchanged looks of concern instantly, spreading out.

"Think he'll attack us?" She asked, swallowing.

"I'm not counting on him not to," Riven replied. "I'll try reasoning with him, stay back and cover me, he might use his pokemon too."

She listened, backing up to summon Emile and ordering him skyward. Riven shifted in place, holding Efrain's blade with both hands, rotating to try and anticipate any surprise attacks. All he could see was mist, the forest remaining as silent as the grave save for the crunching of grass and an occasional snapping of twigs from Gale.

_Efrain,_ he called out mentally. _Anything else?_

_No, the movement stopped._

Riven eased slightly, not quite lowering his guard. Eyes narrowed, he huffed. _Couldn't have been a Vulpix… would have heard thumping. Which means- _He looked up at the trees. They all had branches thick and strong enough to uphold a healthy human male, definitely strong enough for a teenager.

_He's using the trees to move. It's what I would have done. But this is Will, he's one of the most unpredictable battlers I've ever seen. Who knows what he's going to do. Need to get ready._

A piercing cry then erupted from within the mist, breaking Riven's thoughts completely. The form of a winged creature flew up through the mist from inside the forest behind Gale, startling her. Riven turned quickly on a heel, only just making out the form of the pokemon. From the general outline and cry, he was able to discern that it was a Flygon. No doubt about it. That was Rika.

About to call out to Gale, Efrain rattled in his hands, yellow eye narrowing into a thin slit. Hostile, ready.

_Prince! Behind you!_

Fire roared at him from beyond the mist, clearing the fog as it passed. The flames spiraled towards him like the head of a dragon. Thinking quickly, Riven moved his right foot in an arc, turning his body in a sideways stance, right arm raising the sword high into the air. Purple energy flowed into a single crimson blade, then cleaved downwards in an overhead slash. A jagged shadow claw clashed with the stream of fire, splitting it into two smaller streams, each less powerful than the initial but still strong enough to kill or maim. They continued along the clearing, rendering what healthy grass was left into nothing but cinders as well as annihilating any trees unfortunate enough to be caught in the exchange.

_Damn, that fire's hot. _Riven grimaced, settling back into his one-handed stance. _How am I supposed to fight fire types with Efrain? If I used him to block, he'd get destroyed. Got no water or rock types either._ _Not good. But it must be even worse for Emile._

He could hear the cries of a dragon and Emile fighting in the air from above, aerial aces and dragonbreaths illuminating the fog in flashes of white and blue. On the ground, Gale worriedly tried to make out anything, growing impatient on the ground. Riven made eye contact with her, nodding slowly, then directing his gaze upwards to the sky. She wasted no time in getting up there herself, summoning Kyne to take her up.

Once Gale was gone, Riven steadied himself, breathing in deep. He wasn't entirely certain why Will was attacking them but he couldn't just ignore it. Teenagers were a nice little messed up bundle of emotions, and when something traumatic happened… well, things went to pot _fast_."Will!" He called out into the forest. "I know it's you! That's Rika up there! Keep attacking us and I won't hesitate to kick your ass! It's me, Riven!"

The response came in the form of two flamethrowers from opposite directions. Riven grit his teeth and jumped backward to dodge before both fire blasts incinerated him. They intersected against one another, briefly halting in place then pushing past to form a parallel divide of fire, burning everything along their path. The heat was so strong that Riven could see steam instead of mist from the evaporated water in the air.

Already sweating from the heat, Riven had to rethink his approach to this. Efrain and most of his team were physical fighters. They needed to get close to do the most damage, and that presented a number of difficulties against opponents that could zone them out from a distance. It felt like the war all over again. You couldn't fight fireblasts the size of a house with a sword, you'd die uselessly and hilariously to end up a very _stupid_ pile of ash. Shockwaves from psycho cut and other slash based attacks could work, but they took far more energy to execute, something that was taxing for pokemon. Wars of attrition were never really his forte anyway.

Will and presumably Quil pressed their attack, constantly changing their position along the clearing as they prodded Riven with more intense blasts of flame. Flipping, jumping, and sprinting, Riven was starting to get annoyed.

_Trying to tire me out?_

Rolling under another flame thrower, Riven sprang to his feet and into the air, spinning clockwise as Efrain prepared for another shadow claw. The following slash cut through the air and sliced into the mist as trees snapped and cracked at being cut to pieces. Riven repeated this pattern in the opposite direction, cleaving through more trees in a rotating slash, sending waves of ghostly energy claws into the thicket.

He'd draw him out, just like the Pangoro did back in Santalune. At least the fog had been evaporated or cleared away.

There was an odd silence, broken when Riven heard and saw an explosion of flames from within, orange light illuminating the thick fog. Fire then propelled outwards in two streams side-by-side, as if coming from two, similarly spaced sources.

Arms.

_Efrain, I need your second blade_, Riven commanded. The single crimson blade hanging in the sky emerged from his shadow, settling by his side. Picking it up, Riven charged up another shadow claw, using both blades instead of one. Combining into each other, the shadow claws formed a wicked scythe of ghostly energy, darkening the brightened atmosphere of the clearing. Crashing together, both attacks distorted each other to the point of instability, ending in an explosive wave of force. Whatever grass was left was completely annihilated with scars and fissures opening ominously up along the floor.

Riven's eyes widened in realization, scrambling.

Lava erupted out of the cracks in the ground, spraying upwards as they advanced towards him. The ground shook, throwing Riven off-balance and leaving him unable to gain his footing to dodge. In a split second decision, he crossed Efrain's blades together, setting steel on steel to create a guard. A protective shield of dark purple light extended in a crescent over and across both trainer and pokemon, holding back the searing lava as it pushed violently up from beneath. The force of the eruption launched them both into the air, high enough to break legs and other important parts of the human body coming down.

As he fell, Riven threw one of Efrain's blades down at the floor before gravity worked its magic, ordering the Doublade to use pursuit at the apex of his fall. He was back on the ground safely, avoiding the danger of teleporting while falling. Dislodging the sword from the ground, he hardly had time to react as a human figure emerged from the fog, fire flaring in his hands and behind his feet.

A fire punch slammed into the ground where Riven had just been, the shockwave of its strength igniting the oxygen in the air and turning whatever water existed in the area into hot gas. Will stood up, red eyes glowing orange as he sized Riven up. His hair had gotten longer and wasn't hidden behind a hat, spiking downwards towards his neck.

_And he got taller_, Riven thought, turning his body to evade a kick of flame. "Will, stop!"

Will didn't so much as bother replying by way of speech, punching and kicking fire at him in controlled, testing bursts. Riven dodged them, hesitating to retaliate. Obviously he didn't want to kill the guy, or cut off something he needed, like say… his legs.

Will's ability to fight had definitely improved though. Riven assumed that for the past few years, Will had been training himself and his abilities along with his pokemon. Back when he still knew him, the kid could hardly throw a punch, and now he was pushing him back. Granted it was with fire and not exactly his fists, but still.

Sometimes he really wished he had a water type or a rock type. It was like the Roses all over again. Riven grunted in irritation, swinging in retaliation at Will. _Why do I always fight at disadvantages?_

_You're a sadomasochist_, Efrain answered gruffly. _And you're insane._

_Rhetorical question, Efrain. _

_Sorry._

Shadow claws and crescents of energy leapt at Will, blocked by equally powerful bouts of fire. The guy almost didn't appear to be human; with spins, leaps, and spontaneous movements shaping the direction of his fire punches and blaze kicks, some arcing low with others coming in like a hammer of heat and light—flowing like a dance.

A sword's dance.

Riven changed up his tactics, doing something most would consider insane—he charged straight at Will, blade edge first. The younger trainer held a brief expression of surprise as he adjusted as well, attempting to back up. The sword's dance style had a glaring weakness—it was all about the attack. The style employed constant barrages of explosive energy and frenetic movements to confuse and disorient the enemy, leaving very little focus on defense.

He knew this down to his very bones, drilled into him after hours upon hours of getting shoved into the dirt by his instructor, each mistake critically pointed out in the form of another mouthful of mud. A more defensive style could match it, but sometimes something spontaneous was all you needed—breaking through the gaps, as it were.

And he did exactly that, using Will's own footing and position against him.

"Phantom blade!" Riven ordered.

Efrain's left sword split off, attacking in tandem as Riven delivered quick slashes with both hands on the other blade, pushing Will back. Phantom blade was what he'd named the style, and to be frank, it was quite unfair. Seeing how horribly outclassed he'd been in his fight against the Doublade, Riven figured that if he adapted a similar form by having the second sword attack from impossible angles, he could reap its benefits.

And reap he did.

The flurry of blinding slashes kept Will from attacking, where his lack of defense really showed itself. A diagonal cross slash aimed for the head and a second aimed low, forcing Will to duck and evade the second slash, giving Riven just enough time to sweep his legs out from under him with a forceful kick. On the floor and vulnerable, red eyes didn't look up at Riven, but into the thicket.

Riven spotted a flash of light and instantly ordered Efrain to dive into his shadow. He reappeared behind a tree a good distance away, watching as a five-pointed blast of fire incinerated where he'd just been standing.

Quil emerged at last, fire bristling from his back, steaming as he waded in from the mist. He was a Typhlosion now, with a fierce disposition and bulky yet agile body. Heat radiated off the pokemon, spreading cinders on the ground as he walked. The fire type helped Will up, who dusted himself off. Will then turned to where Riven was hiding, as if knowing he was there.

Then smiled viciously.

A will-o-wisp harmlessly passed near Riven's head, pulsing. Lips curling into a snarl, he cut it apart with a weak use of shadow claw.

_Cheeky bastard, _he cursed. _He's using the Ninetale's will-o-wisps to spy on me. Learned a few new tricks and playing dirty? All right then._

Riven unclipped a pokeball, maximizing it with a click. It opened to reveal Aine, who looked momentarily stunned to see Will and Quil. Her trainer gave her a sideways glance, eyes still fiercely focused on Will, who matched that look.

"Aine. Will isn't seeing correctly right now and kind of wants to melt my face off. I need you to take his pyromaniac of a Typhlosion while I beat him into submission. He's a few years to early to defeat _me_ in a fight. Bring Quil down."

Nodding once, the Blaziken's wrists and ankles flared to life as blue eyes narrowed in preparation. Riven spun Efrain's blades in his hands, grating steel against steel as he set the two swords against each other.

The two trainers and fire pokemon charged at each other, exchanging slashes and blows. Human and pokemon seemed to blend together as they fought, alternating opponents in the fluidity of combat. Aine and Riven stuck close, covering each other. The Blaziken used a style of fighting that preferred calculated strikes while reducing energy expenditure—effective and efficient. She'd mirrored the style after what Riven had taught her and perfected it after hours and hours of training with Baron, mixing in her own moves. Flannery called it, "Pointed Flame". Fancy name. Kind of nice.

In contrast, Quil was like a raging volcano, relentlessly trying to burn his opponents down. His fire was like the sun, turning the field around them into a burning, scorching mess.

Dripping sweat, Riven still kept pace with the fire types even with Efrain starting to heat up and grunt in protest.

Seeing they were getting nowhere, Will took things up a notch. A white light enveloped his legs and arms as he disappeared in a flash, appearing near Riven's side. Fire tore through cloth and burned skin as it hit, the force of the punch sending a wave of pain into Riven's ribs.

He hissed, just barely able to block the next fire punch with Efrain's blades. The ghost cried out in pain from the fire, metal turning red hot from contact. The handles were even getting hot. Riven hissed and charged up a stronger shadow claw in both swords, cleaving downwards as a shockwave of sharp, purple energy forced Will back.

Getting just another breath in, Emile and Rika came barreling down from the sky, with Emile crashing into several trees on his way down. Gale came down too, fearlessly riding Kyne as he fired air cutters at the dragon.

Riven took a moment to glance at Aine, paling when Will said something for the first time since he appeared.

"Casca, hydro pump."

A jet of highly-pressurized water blasted out from inside the forest, heading directly towards Aine, who was currently in the air, about to pummel Quil into the floor. She could only pull her body inwards as the attack sent her through several trees and tree trunks, where she ended up under a fallen log, barely able to pick herself up. She did manage to get up, albeit severely weakened and limping.

The attacker came into view, a fierce blue pokemon covered in armor like shells, displaying a wickedly sharp horn and what appeared to be long whiskers on its face.

_Samurott?_! Riven cursed under his breath. _When the hell did he get a Samurott? Aine can't beat that._

Unclipping more pokeballs and returning Aine, Riven wasn't going to hold back anymore. Baron, Boagrius, and Haona came out, displaying the same level of confusion as Aine. One look from their trainer and the wound near his ribs told them all they needed to know.

"Take them _down_," Riven ground out.

Baron was the first to leave, teleporting in front of the Samurott, dropping into a stance—twin green elbow blades extended. The water type regarded him with a fierce glare, standing on its hind legs. It pulled its seamitar, which began to glow a pale blue.

Haona met Quil, standing her ground firmly. Typhlosion or not, no one attacked her trainer and walked away without a maiming. Darkness coated her horn as Quil flared again, setting the ground ablaze.

Boagrius found himself near Gale, where his trainer ordered him to support her. He stressed the dire importance of grounding the dragon, and the best chance to do that was with the female trainer's Froslass. Hail would work perfectly with the ghost's ability, even if it severely affected the flight maneuverability of her birds. But it would also do the same for the dragon.

Riven and Will faced each other as pokemon clashed and fought. Seamitars and blades scraped and screeched, fire and darkness roared, and hail fell from the sky, pelting the damaged landscape with ice.

"Assault blade," Riven said levelly. He reached into his shirt, gripping the Diancie stones.

Yellow eyes peered up at him, twin swords rattling. _Prince, are you going to release _that_? Is that a wi-_

_Doesn't matter._ _No choice_, he replied. _I can't beat his quick attack with just this. You wouldn't be able to protect me and attack him effectively at once._

The ghost agreed with apprehension, leaving his trainer's hands to float freely in the air.

Riven pocketed the stone necklace, reaching inward and outward to find that negativity from which to draw from. A flooding of emotions came to him; guilt, shame, sadness, grief, resentment. The feelings of loss and pain were feeble, hardly worth tapping into. That made sense. They were the beginnings of the rest. The primary building blocks of anger and hatred. Grief turned to resentment, resentment turned to anger, and then, when it simmered and boiled ever so slowly… became hatred.

He found that hatred in the hearts of trainers who'd come here before, seeing the flourishing of light streams above his head like he'd seen in the Blade Graveyard—a rainbow of negative emotions and horrible memories, blaming the world and their own inadequacies as the result of their pokemons' deaths.

Will's brows narrowed as he saw Riven stop briefly, eyes closing. But when he reopened them, a heavy aura of dread made the air feel like it was coated in lead. His chest felt heavy and his skin crawled. Then he saw Riven's eye—a deep, blood red shining in the darkness and the hail.

But the most terrifying part of it all was the vicious, toothy smile the older trainer held.

Haona felt the wave and instantly grew angrier and stronger, feeling power swelling into her. In the forest, Gale looked towards the clearing, eyes wide. Baron focused on his fight, using his ki to keep the dark influence at bay.

Will subconsciously took a step back and was taken off guard when Riven easily closed the distance, forming out of dark afterimage behind him. Black blades of darkness extended outward from the tip of two knives, slicing into the dirt as Will narrowly dodged, even with his quick attack enhanced speed. The slashes didn't just cut into the ground, they continued to split into it, leaving a huge scar meters deep along the battered ground as they did.

Then the Doublade pressed its attack, complimenting its trainer's own. White swirls of energy weaved between the darkness revolving around Riven's legs, reaching up further into his arms. Quick attack enhancing. Recognizing the move, Will breathed, drawing more power from within.

Fire and darkness danced among trainer and pokemon, destroying the clearing further from the battle. Somewhere along the frenzy, Rika fell frozen in the air and taken down, crashing into the forest from iced over wings, unable to fly.

The Samurott and the Gallade weren't even remotely matched. The psychic fighter was just too practiced, easily blocking and countering the water type's moves with predicted attacks and reads, no doubt reading the Samurott's mind as well. Even Quil struggled against the Absol, weakened from his fight with Aine.

Riven and Efrain assaulted Will with combined attacks, tiring him out from dodging four simultaneous strikes with every passing second.

Managing to get away with a downwards blast of traveling fire that left Riven in the smoldering remains of a tree, Will brought both hands together and breathed deeply, taking in as much oxygen as he could. His core temperature began to rise, the flame within growing hotter and more pronounced to the point where his skin began to glow orange.

Limping lightly from the attack, Riven prepared, raising both swords.

A blinding vortex of flame exploded from Will's fists as he thrust them both outward, flames coiling around his arms and legs to feed the attack. Hail and water burned away instantly along its path, not even deterring it.

Darkness pooled into Riven's swords much like Will's flames did, feeding into their power. Their shape distorted, becoming unstable with energy. Letting out a predatory shout, Riven unleashed the night slash, robbing the Overheat of some of its light.

Riven didn't stop there, forming weaker slashes to add to the night slashes' power. However, instead of of forming a massive explosion, the two attacks slid past each other—the gigantic cut of darkness and stream of fire heading into the forest in opposed directions. Gale could only watch in horrified amazement at the level of power and destruction they displayed.

Humans, decimating the landscape. Not pokemon. _Humans_.

Will's fire waned from the effects of overheat and exhaustion began to take him over. Riven ran straight at him again, breathing strained with gritted teeth. Trapped between the Doublade and Riven, Will let himself fall to avoid being cut into eighths, unable to respond.

A single red eye pierced through him, freezing him with fear. Riven flipped a dark sword in reverse, aiming it down. His teeth were bared and a guttural growl came from him, low and feral.

"I yield!" Will said suddenly, raising his hands. The dark blade stopped an inch from his throat, sword wavering as its wielder's hand shook. Riven's expression settled into defensive wariness after a moment, a stark contrast from the absolute hostility he'd displayed a moment prior. He watched him closely, then gestured for the younger trainer to sit up.

Moving his body felt like lead, but Will listened, sitting up.

"So you yield?" Riven asked, voice gravelly. His right eye was shut closed and he looked as weary if not worse than Will.

A nod.

"That's good," Riven said with a pained wince, before turning around and hitting the floor face first.

Will followed soon after, giving in to exhaustion.

* * *

When both boys awoke, Gale examined them both, gray eyes wide and worried. There was a fire going and it was nighttime. Will and Riven blinked the sleep out of their eyes, watching as all their pokemon were eating together rather than tearing each other apart. Luckily, their brains were still on startup.

A forceful slap of a backhand could be heard as Gale's hand made contact with both boys' faces.

They startled awake, cheeks stinging.

"You idiots!" She reprimanded. "You nearly killed each other _and_ me! And you!" She jabbed Will in the chest, who looked scared out of his wits. "I thought your Flygon was going to murder Emile! Why did you attack us?!"

Will sputtered but Gale didn't let him speak.

"And then both of you had to pass out, your pokemon had to explain everything before Riven's tore their throats out and _I_ had to set up camp all by myself! The rangers also came to inspect just what the hell happened because they could see the fire and smoke from the top of the mountain. I had to get everyone away from the scene so we wouldn't get sent to jail for unnecessary collateral damage to a protected pokemon habitat!"

She huffed, fuming.

The younger male meekly apologized, to which she shook her head and declared she was going to bed. Settling in her sleeping bag with a stormy glare, she shifted away from them with a _hmph_.

"Does she always do that?" Will asked, shivering. "I feel like my mom just scolded me. That was kind of scary."

"Only if you piss her off. And she did make camp by herself." Riven groaned, holding his head. "To be honest, I should be burying my fist into your skull right now. Using the will-o-wisps, though. Nice trick. Still, if that was your idea of a prank, it was a poor one. I _would_ have killed you."

"Sorry, I fucked up. Yeah, testing you probably wasn't the best idea." Will let out a self-depreciating chuckle. "You got really ferocious at the end. You fought like you did in Lavaridge, did you think I was going to kill you?"

"Those blasts of fire were _very_ convincing," Riven said dryly. "That would have killed _anyone_."

"But it's you."

"Just because I don't take dying well doesn't mean you should try and accelerate the process," Riven shot back, tone even drier than the last.

"And you're like me!" Will piped up. "I really didn't expect that. Did you pick up a sphere and evolve too? Dark type I guess?"

"Mmm," Riven nodded. He eyed Will's Samurott making peace with Aine by offering her some meat. Strange alliance given it blasted her through several trees. "But I didn't need a sphere. I was born like this."

Will's eyebrows apparently decided to say hello to the clouds. "B-born?"

"Remember that story I told your sister in LaRousse?"

"Heh, the one that sounded like complete bullshit with some added Rhyhorn feces on top?"

Riven gave him a dirty glare. "Yeah, that one."

Will put a hand on his chin, making out what Riven was implying. "That was true then?"

"Yeah. Everyone from my time was like this. They all had powers, awakened or not, they were there. Mine just took a while to come out."

"I'd be mindfucked normally but I figured," Will mused, complete with a shrug of acceptance.

"You _figured_? Why's that?"

Red eyes stared blankly into the fire, entranced by it. Then a light grin climbed up Will's face. "Because it doesn't make sense. And whenever you're involved, things that don't make sense suddenly become perfectly reasonable. Shit's weird."

Riven scrunched his face and wrinkled his nose at that. "Gale told me the same thing."

"See?" Will raised a finger. "She knows it too. Only my sister doesn't, but she's a skeptic. She doesn't believe shit unless you show her."

"Hmmm." Riven gestured to the water type standing proudly by the fire. "Samurott is a Unovan starter. He's her doing?"

"Casca's a girl," Will corrected with a laugh. "Lucia gave me her as a present for my birthday the year after you left. She already evolved into a Dewott and my sister didn't want to raise another pokemon in her team, so she gave her to me. Casca puts out Quil's fires, so it works out. She also puts mine out, heh."

"Explains how the fires got under control before the rangers could deem them dangerous. You've gotten pretty adept at using fire," Riven pointed out. "Had me sweating back there. Sword's Dance style too. Powerful stuff."

"Not as strong as yours though."

"I technically cheated with my Doublade. You can handle your powers much better than I can. I haven't even tried using them fully. I really try not to. Why'd you suddenly start training yourself in them?"

Will's expression grew somber. His fist tightened, snuffing flames of anger in his palm. Steam hissed out of his mouth as he breathed. "I have to protect my pokemon too. Pokemon protect us, but who protects _them_? I can't swing swords like you, but I have this now."

Fire danced between his fingers.

Riven looked away, acknowledging the sensitivity of the topic. "It's because of Nez, right?"

Red eyes fell, filled with grief; they held the same reflection of pain as so many other trainers that frequented this mountain. "Yeah," he said softly. "I had all that potential and badges, that I was an experienced trainer. What crap. I couldn't do anything to stop it. All I could do was watch. After… I lost it."

"You let your flames go," Riven concluded gravely.

Will said nothing for a minute, staring into the crackling fire. "I didn't use my fire at first. Not for him."

Riven watched as Will reached into his bag, pulling out his knife—Yanine's knife. It was impeccably clean and polished, sharpened to perfection. In fact, the steel had been in better condition than before. Will handed it over to Riven, placing it on his lap.

"I stabbed him with it first and then moved to the other one." Will swallowed roughly, throat snagging in disgust. "The first one though… I just brought it down on him over and over until his blood stained the grass red. I was so angry he killed Nez. I-"

He stopped and forced himself to breathe, holding back tears.

"I burned the rest. It just… came out. And I didn't feel like making it stop."

Riven placed a reassuring hand on Will's shoulder. "So then how did it feel? Your first kill?"

"Like shit," Will replied honestly. "I've never experienced something so - I don't know. I can't really describe it. It's not like hunting at all. You respect pokemon when you eat them but him… I wanted him dead. And it felt horrible, but just… it makes me sick. I'm sorry but I'm not, it's like it's pulling you in two. Is that how it feels for you?"

Blue and brown held a melancholic dullness in them as they focused on the stars above. "At first, yeah. It means you're human." _But it also means you have everything to lose_. His jaw clenched and his fist turned white. "The more it happens… the emptier it gets. Life is there and then it's gone. Soon it becomes so easy to do it's scary and at that point…" He paused, deliberating. "Taking a life is hard. Taking many does things to you. No one in this world should have to go through that. But it's necessary. Cruel irony, isn't it?"

"Is that why your eyes are always like that?"

Riven didn't turn his attention away from the shining points of light in the sky, exhaling softly. His gaze came back down. "I know what it's like to lose someone important to you. I can understand that anger, that hate. I'm not going to tell you to discard it, because hell knows I never could. All you can do is just keep moving on." He tapped the hilt of the knife, then took Will's hand and wrapped it over the weapon. "Hold onto it."

"Why?"

"Because that's what Yanine would want me to do. And so should you."

"Yanine?"

"She was important to me when I was younger." Riven smiled, nodding. "I lost her too."

Will swallowed, taking the knife and storing it. "Think we can talk about something else now?"

"Fine with me. Pick the subject," Riven said. He began to rethink that decision greatly when a mischievous smirk crawled up the younger trainer's face.

"When are you and Gale going to get it on already? You know…" Will made obscene gestures, letting out a villainous chuckle while making sure the brunette was safely dead to the world in her sleeping bag. "She's really _pretty_ now. Has bigger bo-"

Riven stared in complete and utter stoicism, effectively a living statue. An aura of death surrounded him. The muscles in his face were so restrained that he could probably subdue a Machamp with the control he was displaying. The only show of change visible in the older male was a raised hand, an order from him for Efrain not to lop Will's head off. Upon further observation, his wrist was shaking.

"I'm going to pretend you did not just ask that, then I will _calmly_ and easily change the subject and you will never again repeat this question in my presence. If this is disobeyed, I will personally stick a sharp piece of metal up your rectum. Is this clear?"

"Uh…"

"So, you got taller huh?" Riven asked as if the previous exchange had indeed never happened.

"Yeah…" Will answered, shifting his eyes away. "Are you sure that I shouldn't-"

"Drop it or I'll kill you," Riven emphasized, burning holes into his head.

"I want to-"

"_Kill. You."_

"Okay… fine, jeez. Buzzkill…" Will frowned. "Why'd you come find me?"

"I thought you might've joined that stupid Sinnohan cult and did something idiotic with your abilities," Riven answered. "Losing a pokemon sometimes pushes people to do things that normal, sensible people don't do. Like join trainer cults that idolize a murderer."

"You mean that Sayre cult?"

"That's the one."

A mocking laugh came from Will. "Like I'd ever join that band of fucking idiots. I want to bust them, actually."

A black brow arched up. "Bust them?"

"I got eight badges, man. Can't just battle trainers forever, and beating the Elite Four is overrated. I'm going to be a special assignment ranger. At least I want to be."

"Special assignment ranger? That doesn't exist."

"That's why I'm going to _create_ them." Will said matter-of-factly. "There's a lot of problems in this region, Riven. And no one's doing shit about them. I ain't going to let it slide. That cult is a problem, and so are a bunch of other douchecanoes running around. Rangers can't be everywhere."

"What did I tell you about being a hero?" Riven said with a tch of disapproval. "Chasing criminals is dangerous, believe me."

"You also taught me that doing crazy shit is standard procedure." A cocked eyebrow and a wide smirk destroyed whatever Riven was about to retort with.

"I'm not a good example!"

"Sure you are," Will said, bolting to his feet. "But you've got no _style_." He took off his jacket, revealing robe-like clothing with a cape that draped over his right arm and extended down past his waist. Riven blinked, having disregarded Will's clothing for the majority of the fight.

"Really? A fucking _cape_?" He asked, mouth hanging open. "Why?"

"It looks cool. Capes are cool," Will said seriously.

"Know what? I'm going back to sleep."

* * *

Flying high above in the rainy sky above Fortree, the trio could see the lush forests and treetops surrounding the city. The area was known for having extremely high amount of rainfall, attributing the diverse wildlife of the routes around it to this particular characteristic. The city itself was protected from flooding because of the tree coverage, which also made it very difficult to see from the sky.

Will complained about getting wet, groaning when he heard the mention of Fortree. Riven had explained the significance of the visit and everything that had happened in the interim, which was good. Less work for him. But fuck, why Fortree? Why not somewhere _nice_, like Slateport? Where it was nice and sunny?

_Rain, argh._

They descended, entering the city through the gate fashioned out of the oldest and tallest of trees that could be found in Fortree. Riven was surprised at the homes inside the city. They all looked cozy, but he questioned their safety being built up like twenty feet inside trees. He could even see Spinarak nests in the trees! And there were no windows. No wonder they had a flying type gym, they needed protection and were insane.

"So where's this friend of yours?" Will asked.

"Pub," Riven answered curtly, giving Gale a look. _Quiet you_. She snickered lightly. "I'll meet my contact there first to make sure none of their friend's came. Then I'll call you after I speak to my contact. You can battle Winona, Gale."

"Yay efficiency," Gale said unenthusiastically. "Want to watch my battle, Will? Meanwhile Rivy deals with his criminal friends?"

"Pfft. Rivy, hee."

Riven scowled. "Yes, yes. Go now. Shoo."

Seeing them head off to the gym and out of sight, he entered the pub, preparing himself for the smell of drunkard and regret over poorly thought out life choices. He spotted the characteristic ice blue hair instantly. And if that wasn't an indicator, then the sudden drop in temperature near her was. Still didn't stop interested men from crowding all over her.

He sat in a barstool beside her, clearing his throat while telling the bartender to wait. "So you did come by yourself. Although Nera might be sitting outside for all I know."

Isole's icy glare could literally freeze him to that chair. "Quite some faith you have in your friends, don't you."

"Hmph. My definition of friend isn't _that_ loose."

The bartender made a noise but was silenced by Riven again.

"Three years and you don't change. Still a massive dick, even if that haircut makes you look like a decent human being." She reached out to touch, but he moved, mostly to avoid her freezing it. "Spiked it up a little this time, huh?"

"You still look the same. Just like a glacier."

"Don't push it, dark boy." She shifted to fully face him, making sure no one cared enough to listen. "Now tell me-"

"Not yet," he interjected. "I need you to meet someone first. And before you tense up and start freezing every drop of alcohol within twenty feet, he won't harm you."

"Why isn't he here now then?" She asked, not quite taking that for an answer.

"Needed to make sure you were alone. Can't reveal my trump cards this early, you know?"

Isole scoffed and finished her drink. "_Prime_ really doesn't take any chances does he? No wonder everyone hates you in the underworld. 'Demon-Eye.' Cute nickname. If only they knew that sugar is your weakness."

"And they never will," he smirked. "Pick the location, just make it out of city and away from anyone that can see us. This has to be private."

"Hmmm. Route 120 by the waterfall. It's relatively secluded there. Is it raining outside?"

"This is Fortree. What do you think?"

"Fine, asshole. I'll meet you there. Don't be late," she said, leaving the bar.

At last, the bartender spoke up in a tired voice. "Would you like a drink, sir?"

Riven apologetically put a bill on the table and left, dialing Gale's phone.

Will picked up instead, informing him that the line to fight Winona was long as all fuck, so they'd probably be there for quite some time, possibly into the next day. Riven told them to get some rest and meet him on route 120 the next afternoon, where Isole had described. The other two had birds and a dragon, they could cover the distance fairly easily. He figured he should get a headstart and head there before they arrived, mainly to scout the area in case Isole really wasn't as trustworthy as she claimed to be.

Also didn't hurt to account for any possible onlookers.

Using Aine as a method of quick transportation via jumps, Riven reached the section of route 120 Isole described, seeing the Waterfall from the air and hearing the crashing of water as Aine put him down. She wasn't happy at getting drenched, but a thanks and a pokeblock made of condensed berries was all she needed to forget about it.

He scouted the area, moving in the darkness to avoid ranger patrols. They'd have to have a lookout in case any rangers were in the area later. There was an overpass above the waterfall, with about four stories of height from the proposed meeting point and the main trainer route. The location Isole chose was relatively concealed though. Unless someone was in a certain position from the other side, they wouldn't be able to see much.

Then again fire had a tendency to draw attention.

After scouting, he found a suitable spot in between two trees and spent the night on their branches.

Waking up to annoying Taillow chirps, he stretched widely. A pebble hit him in the face.

Isole stood beneath the tree, arms crossed. She wore a low cut shirt and looked like she'd just gotten back from a long jog. Mind still partially asleep, he didn't notice he was staring until another rock brought him to his senses.

As he jumped down and cracked his back, Isole grinned. "Enough eye candy? Most men look away, you know. Staring for more than six seconds, how rude of you."

"Why are you wearing a shirt that open then?"

"Do you _realize_ how hot Hoenn is? This route is humid and hot when it's not raining. I'm sticky everywhere," she pointed out. She actually had color in her face too. Miracle.

"What do you mean? It's fine outside." He stuck a hand out into the sun. "Only in the mid-eighties."

"Well in case you hadn't noticed, dark boy, the heat affects me more than most people. If this wasn't important, I'd have given your lower parts frostbite already." She fanned herself, trying to cooldown. "I'd have taken Sinnoh and Unova gladly, but no. You just had to choose the hottest region."

"And I thought I complained a lot," Riven said dryly. "Why are you here so early?"

"Me? You got here earlier than _I_ did, since you were busy snoozing up there. And your 'friend' isn't here, so I assume you came to check the surroundings."

"That's what you assume?"

"That's what I _know_." Isole chuckled. "You're too prepared. Your aces in the hole are more holes with more aces. I heard you got to a guy that barricaded himself in an apartment complex in Kalos. Some ganglord. How'd you manage that?"

"I used a crane."

Isole accepted that instantly, which still surprised Riven. Lately anything outlandish he did was immediately accepted. Strange. "So," she began. "When is this friend of yours coming?"

"What time is it?"

"Little past noon?"

"Few hours then. You'll know when you see a dragon. Flygon, to be precise. I'm going to go call him and answer mother nature in a shrub. I'll be back. Eat something in the meanwhile."

Hours later, and perched on top of the highest climbable tree, Riven made out the faint forms of a Swellow and a green dragon, both carrying two passengers. Was about time too, Isole was getting ready to strip to stay cool and he wasn't sure what kind of message that would have sent. Or how he'd take it himself. Being an ice type in Hoenn's climate sucked, apparently. Ironic, considering one of the Elite Four was an ice specialist.

Back on the floor, Isole held a frozen pack of ice against her head. "There's two things flying up there. You didn't mention the second one," she said, glaring icicles at Riven.

"You know that girl I wouldn't talk about? That's her. She's practically glue. I couldn't get rid of her if I tried."

_The glue that sticks to you, or the one that's holding your broken shell together?_ "Oh? I'll have to see how special she is if you let her tag along."

"I don't let her tag along. She lets herself tag along."

Isole laughed at him. "I forgot when it comes to women you're a doormat. I guess I can't blame you though. There weren't many women in your army or anywhere."

"Yeah, because the Rose soldiers captured and _experimented_ on most of them," Riven spat, dripping acid. "The ones that didn't died just like the rest of us. And there weren't too many at that point either. They made it a policy of going for the women _first_. Men can't reproduce with each other."

"Far cry from today, isn't it?" Isole nodded. "Although, this world and the old one aren't so different, really. They've only switched horrors in places. It's just harder to see now."

Riven snapped his attention to her, but didn't press the matter when a Flygon's roar pierced the air. Gale and Will landed further away, as directed by Riven in case anything happened. When they got closer, Isole jabbed him in the side.

"Oooh. I can see why you like her. She's a pretty girl… Brown hair, nice figure…" Isole seemed a bit too happy about that. "I whole-heartily approve."

"You're looking at her like a Poochyena eyes a dogtreat. Didn't know you swing both ways," he said teasingly. His teasing was turned on its head when she gave him a knowing look.

"I don't discriminate," she said with a smile, drawing a choking noise from Riven.

Gale and Will blinked as they in turn saw Isole, a tall woman with the same color of ice blue hair and eyes, appearing like the personification of winter. Even her skin was a few shades lighter than most peoples', and the air seemed colder around her than normal. She waved at them, flashing a friendly smile.

Waving nervously back, Gale locked eyes with Riven, asking who she was. Riven gestured back by sliding his right hand slowly in the air. _She's my contact. Relax._ The flyer understood, ordering Kyne to ease up behind her.

Will, on the other hand, was completely entranced. Or dumbstruck, whatever one worked. His mouth wasn't quite hanging open, but Riven figured that if he attempted to dislodge it with a flick of his finger, it probably would come off.

Stepping in between the two parties, Riven introduced them to each other with stiff formality. "This is Gale Serna and William Ethne. Gale, Will, meet Isole Viyan. She's one of the dickweed mercenaries that blackmailed me, but she's an ally now. You don't have to turn her into dragon food, Rika. Maybe later."

The Flygon who'd been eyeing her with scrutiny looked slightly disappointed.

"Excellent introduction," Isole said sarcastically. "Hello to both of you, and friends. I'm not as bad a person as Riven makes me out to be. You know how he exaggerates."

"Hi," Gale waved. "Nice to meet you, I guess?"

"Y-you're gorgeous," Will stammered out suddenly. "I mean, uh, umm… hi." He was so red that he wondered if he was going to burst into flames from sheer embarrassment alone.

Isole reacted with a gasp, before reddening herself. _He called me gorgeous?_ "T-thank you, Will. That's very nice of you."

Riven made a sound that was a mix of a snort and a cough.

Then Will's attention went lower and his eyes widened.

Covering herself up, Isole was further embarrassed by the fact that the veins in Riven's neck were bulging from the amount of laughter he was currently holding in. It got so unbearable he had to excuse himself and laugh like a madman behind a tree for a solid minute.

_I'm going to give you so much shit for this, Will. Just wait._

He returned, considerably more composed.

"Had your fill?" Gale asked.

He fixed Will an evil smile. "Oh, _yes_."

"Okay, okay," Isole huffed. "Now that introductions are over, you can laugh at me later. We need to get down to business." She shot a finger at Will, breaking him out of his stupor. "What's his significance in all- _Wait_."

Her face filled with anger as she remembered just why he'd called her here. She pulled Riven aside with surprising strength, frost beginning to coat the edge of her fingers. "Did you tell them about us? What did we warn you about, idiot? Normal people can't know!"

"Relax," Riven assured, grasping her shoulder firmly. His hidden hand gripped a knife in his jacket. "Let's not turn this into a shitshow, Isole. You'll see exactly why I didn't _need_ to tell them. They found out themselves."

She let him go, understandably angry. "This better be convincing."

They went back over to the other two, bringing with them tension thick enough you could almost cut it. Will and Gale shifted, uneasy. Isole might've been the prettiest girl Will had ever seen, but if Riven was this cautious around her, then it meant she wasn't just capable, she was dangerous.

Riven took a deep breath and nodded. "Will."

Red caught blue and brown in understanding. Taking a few steps back, Will swept an arm behind him, unleashing a trail of bright orange flames that rose upward and out, searing the grass for twenty feet along its path.

Isole held an expression of light surprise. "You found another Rose? I'm surprised you didn't kill him. You hate them with a passion. No red hair though, odd. Maybe a mix?"

Orange light flared again as Will aimed a kick high in the air, spouting a steady stream of fire from the sole of his foot.

_Flamethrower already? He's young but has an impressively strong control of his fire already… Nera would have taken him under her wing if she saw him. Not that Riven would never allow it though._

"Isole."

"What?"

"His name is William Ethne." Riven's tone became severe, words holding a knife's edge. "He was born in Slateport City, seventeen years ago. That's his _real_ name, _nothing_ is fake."

Standing in stunned silence, Isole couldn't move, the reality of those statements shattering the rift between her kind and the others instantly. This boy… this trainer, just exhibited a wall of fire, created from his very fingertips. No tools, no tricks. Just like Nera, like a Rose clan member. Except he wasn't. He was born here—a normal. Humans born here didn't have any abilities. Of all the people with pokemon like abilities, they had all come from the old world. So why did he…?

"The spheres," she mentioned suddenly. "That's what they do, don't they? And this… this is how you found out."

"We got stuck in the desert," Riven stated, calling Will back over. "About to die from heat stroke and not enough water, some Claydol saved us. I had the sphere all of you were looking ever so insanely for in my bag. I honestly thought it was just some pretty orb and had no significance. When we awoke inside the ruins, the Claydols mostly just harassed me and told us to piss off now that we weren't half dead. While we were doing that, we saw a room with a picture of three beasts, with the one in the center probably being god."

He sneered.

"Regardless, the sphere reacted and the temple lit up in blue light. When it was done, a spear holding a red sphere like the one I had came out. Will touched it and well, _this_ happened. He's exactly like Nera and the other fire assholes. Shit, I'd say identical."

Will growled at him.

"Really? Hmmmm. That's… amazing, actually. Human evolution…" Isole mused with extreme interest. _That's why that psychic said it was important, this is-_ "Is she like this too?" She asked, gesturing to Gale. "Just in case you feel like surprising me too."

The brunette held up her hands. "No, no, I can't do any of that. I was just there when Will first showed it to Riven. He was in the hospital for getting impaled by a piece of rock and I was watching over him. Sorry if I witnessed something I shouldn't have."

Isole chuckled at the mention of Riven and hospital. "Fair enough, I won't hold you to being nosy if it was an accident—most people would have plenty of questions if they saw a person shooting fire out of their hands. So, I assume you were investigating this on your own, Riven? Know anything about how this works? Do you have the sphere on you, by any chance? I'd like to inspect it."

"I don't have the faintest idea how it works," he admitted truthfully. "And no, I don't have it on me. It disappeared opening another set of ruins to reveal something fairly disturbing. Which brings me to what I wanted to know in the first place. Can we mega evolve pokemon on our own, without the need of keystones and mega stones? Acting as both conduit and receiver?"

The Raksa considered that for moment, sighing in defeat. "Yes."

"How dangerous is the process, exactly?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?"

"Answer the question."

"I heard stories of terrible things happening if you weren't adep-"

"Is. It. Dangerous?" He interrupted, surprising even her. "Could it overload your body? Kill you?"

Jaw clenched, Isole nodded. "It's not something anyone should just try, but we can do it. It requires precise control of your type and its source, or else the energy inside becomes too much and… bad things happen. They never told us what, but we refrain from doing it unless absolutely necessary. There's also limitations."

"Like?"

"You can only evolve pokemon of your same type, for one. Trying it with another type _will_ kill you. You also can't use your abilities while your pokemon draws from you. If you pass out, their evolution goes too. And lastly-" She caught sight of a group of younger trainers walking along the overpass. "The danger it presents to others. Elemental types are particularly dangerous. Nature doesn't exactly agree with what we're doing. I don't know how it works with the mental types."

Riven, Will, and Gale absorbed the information readily, sending the eldest two into deep thought. Will had a different idea entirely. "Can you show us then?"

Isole blinked then pursed her lips. She hesitated before agreeing. "I can, but the effects of it won't be good. Riven and Gale, you'd need to stand at least thirty feet away from me, just to be safe. And even then, I'm not sure how it'll affect you, I don't do this often."

"What about me?" Will asked, concerned. "Is it dangerous to me?"

"You're a fire type. Your core temperature is enough to counter it."

"What exactly is _it_?" Riven inquired. "An object?"

"No. I told you that to do it you need to draw from your 'source' right? Well, cold isn't a thing, or an object. It's the absence of heat, and to do that I draw energy in and _away_ from the surroundings. Which means things will get very, very cold. If you're not resistant to temperatures below freezing or aren't a fire, rock, or steel type, then you'd freeze and die. You might be hard to kill Riven, but I guarantee you that you wouldn't survive even this for very long."

So basically, Isole was a worse version of Froslass. That was all Riven and Gale needed to know to back off and observe comfortably from fifty feet away.

Once the other two backed off and the other pokemon were returned, Isole summoned her Glalie beside her. "Yuvir, we're going to evolve you, okay? I need to show these people something. Do you trust me?" She stroked the smooth, icy surface of its face.

The Glalie bobbed in the air, leaning into her touch.

"Good. Let's get ready then."

Isole and Yuvir stepped back ten feet, then spread out another five. The Raksa showed that she held absolutely no signs of a keystone, and Yuvir didn't have any megastone fixed to his body. Isole closed her eyes and fell into deep focus, feeling the surrounding heat and energy around her. Visualizing an inward pull, streams of heat visible only to her mind and her body came funneling out in spiraling streams and into her.

Riven and Gale noticed the change in temperature, with the air growing cold enough to frost their breath and make them shiver. Frost bloomed along the grass and trees for thirty feet in every direction, coated in icicles from the now frozen molecules of water in the air. The nearby stream had began to freeze too. Will stood just a few feet from Isole, raising his body temperature from his inner fire to protect himself. Steamy wisps rose from his body as ice formed on hers, seemingly forming hairpins on her head and icy tips on her eyelashes.

She didn't even look alive anymore, resembling an ice sculpture more than a living, breathing person.

Unbeknownst to the others, a surge of energy began to flow through Isole while she redirected it, sending it along and through her body in circuital motion. If she wasn't careful, it would destroy her nerves and organs and who knew what else. When she was a girl, the elders often warned what happened should they try it recklessly. Nera had also been very stern regarding the technique, warning everyone not to try it under any circumstances but the most dire.

She could feel both types of energy, human and pokemon, split off from the original, mixing together inside. Reaching the point of stabilization, she let go.

Pale blue light enveloped both human and pokemon, forming the characteristic link of mega evolution. The process seemed far more archaic, coating the Glalie in a cocoon of ice as energy transferred from Isole and into it, her own light waning as Yuvir's grew.

The cocoon shattered, and Yuvir evolved.

* * *

**Riven has discovered instant healing items a la Skyrim. Oh no.**

**Anyway, made it extra long to make up for the delay. Havent had much time to write. Most of my days consist of going to class at 8am and coming back home at 10pm. Either I forgo sleep or wait until the weekend. Also, I had a midterm on week 3. Makes 0 sense to me but whatever. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Late reply, but in response to the question by the Pokemon Otaku, I didn't pick a novelty mon because I didn't want to give him a a team straight out of OU. I did it because I thought it was hilarious.**


	61. Preparation

A mega Glalie would be an awesome sight to behold if Riven and Gale weren't shivering down to their bones, complete with enough teeth chattering to write a song to.

Combined, Isole and Yuvir had stripped the surrounding area of heat, freezing the stream of water at the surface into a sight rarely seen in Hoenn. Blades of grass were lined with frost and wild Zigzagoons scurried about to avoid the cold. Each breath taken in the frigid temperatures around Isole was marked by frosty puffs of air. The rest of the route seemed relatively fine in comparison, so the effective radius of the glacial death circle was fairly easy to locate. Standing _in_ the death circle? Not easy.

Will beamed after seeing the Glalie evolve, no doubt trying to imagine if he could do that to Quil as well. Whether Typhlosions mega evolved or not, it was highly likely Will didn't give a Rattata's ass. All Riven could see in Will's glazed expression was the image of a Typhlosion turning into something even more fiery, insane, and prone to committing arson. Just the thought of Quil getting worse with his pyromania was enough to brown some pants.

Holy _shit_ it was cold, though. A fire would be fantastic, considering Riven couldn't feel his thumbs or his ears. Gale faired about as well as he was, uselessly trying to breathe on her fingers to try and heat them.

Isole took a step, the motion shaking frost loose from her skin and hair. She held out a hand and curled her fingers inward, pushing out with the flat of her palm. Riven recognized that move as icicle spear, and normally it would fire off a spear of ice larger than a human torso, perfect for turning small pokemon and people into oversized skewers. This time though, nothing came from her palm except for diminutive puffs of frost. She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, as if saying, _see?_

_Huh, guess you really can't use your powers when you do that_, Riven mused. _Either fight yourself, or your pokemon do while you sit uselessly and try not to get killed. _

Of course, that wasn't necessarily a huge drawback. The massive power of mega evolution was nothing to sneer at, but neither was having a pokemon's abilities. No one ever _expects_ dark pulses or icicle spears to come out of human hands. After using the power himself, Riven couldn't think of any form of self defense short of a trainer's own team that could be more effective. Being able to fight alongside pokemon, _your_ _own team_, was something that not many trainers could say they've done. Pokemon battles were one thing, but out in the real world when things went down and hostilities flew, no one was going to sit there and let a trainer shout out commands.

_Best way to disable a command structure? Kill the commander._

Seeing that Riven and Gale's teeth were chattering up a storm in the literally freezing temperatures, Will rushed over and lit a fire in the palm of his hands. The two older trainers huddled around the fire in an instant as Yuvir reverted back into his normal form. Isole briefly lit up in bluish white light as strands of translucent energy rushed back into her body and the chilled pocket of air began to recede. Gradually the heat returned to the area and the frozen portion of the stream began flowing again.

Isole returned Yuvir and met back up with the other three. She groaned and held her head, feeling tingles from all the energy she'd absorbed that was still swimming around in there. The feeling was strangely uncomfortable and made her more jittery than normal. "Well, there it is. Hope you're fine with that, you overgrown male Skitty. The cold was nice, now I'm going to die from Hoenn's weather, thanks. And I feel funny." She looked up at the crossing to see oblivious trainers walking above. "Hope nobody noticed."

"Just the Zigzagoon and the Carvannah in the water," Riven assured. From what his quivering self could see at least, at the time the only thing he could think of during the teeth chattering was how bloody cold it was. "So, uh, I noticed the failed icicle spear. You really can't use your abilities when mega evolving. I assume that's universal?"

"I'm fairly sure?" She said, not completely sure but fairly certain. "At least with elemental types it is. Even Nera can't do much more than sparks when she evolves her Charizard." Riven twitched but she ignored it. "It leaves us fairly open but it saves the trouble of getting a mega stone and a keystone. Also can't be stolen, so that's a plus. Now-" A pale finger pointed at Riven. "Why are _you_ so interested? And don't give me any bullshit after what I just showed you. Hell, it was a secret in _our_ world. Give me Tauros dung for an answer and I'll freeze your prick and yank it off."

The two males fought back a great urge to cringe.

Riven glumly exchanged looks with Will and Gale, both dipping their heads in acceptance, feeling somewhat excluded and therefore assumed they had no right to contest that. Especially not with threats to the manhood. He nodded back at them and turned to face Isole, breathing in deeply before scowling again. How many times did he have to explain himself? Well, guess there was no going around it. Besides, dropping bombshells was fairly fun.

He recounted the story in more or less general terms, and when he told Isole about the human keystone crystals, the look of horror on her face was all he needed to know to figure out that the people who made the spheres had fucked up massively_._

"They were trying to harness the power… Bunch of idiots- Stupid human _children! _Messing with _things_ they don't understand!" Isole growled, almost snarling. Her lips slowly fell into a grim line and her brows furrowed in slight horror. "Just like they are today. It's a small damn miracle they haven't found any of the spheres yet."

"Devon, Silph, and the like, right?" Riven said, sparing a passing glance at Gale, who nervously returned it. _Steven, you better speak with your father quickly before he goes and ends a civilization on accident._

"Yes. They've been going around trying to find things related to mega evolution," she said sourly. "Recently they've gotten more aggressive about it and have interfered with our jobs at times. Dealing with officials is so much more annoying than other mercs. You can at least kill the other mercs. They also started bringing security teams packing some heavy pokemon after getting harassed by looters and another group that have been problematic for us." She bit her lip, just imagining the results. "If they find out about this… about us…"

Ice blue looked back at Riven with concern, then at Will, who swallowed. This boy, this trainer, wasn't just a normal human anymore. Even if he'd been a native born—not born on their dying wreck of a world battered by war and death and suffering—he held the power now. He was one of _them_ now. Rose or not.

"Painful crystallization…" She looked away in disgust. "God, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Do you have any idea what happened to the stupid people who made these spheres? You've known more about what these spheres do than Nera."

He blinked, then laughed nervously. "Ah, about that…"

"No grin or smart ass remark. You really don't know a thing," Isole concluded with a giant frown of her own. Crossed her arms, then blew out a breath of disappointment. "I guess it was to be expected though. They _did _go through some effort to hide them too. I mean, it's like one giant puzzle and we're just following the breadcrumbs."

She wasn't wrong. Not even in the slightest. Since the start, with the visions and the riddles from the Claydol, it had all felt like one twisted game of treasure hunter. Find this, get a key, discover something shitty, accidentally evolve…

Still didn't mean he knew anything concrete though. As for what happened, he could say a Mankey did it and it would be as plausible as anything anyone else could come up with given the amount of evidence they had to support their claims. Which was funnily enough, fucking _nothing_.

"Yeah, I really don't know anything about these spheres apart from the fact that they evolve people. As for the guys who created them… well, they just up and disappeared. Then left the spheres behind in obscure ruins with pictures of god, Claydol, and people burning in fire." He waggled a hand in the air. "You know, _happy_ things. The only reason I even found the blue sphere was because I fell in a ravine caused by a cave in while I was exploring Granite Cave. The sphere might have remained there for a long ass time if I hadn't. _Huge_ accidental finding."

"Accid-"Isole cut herself off after processing his slip. Ice blue could freeze every drop of water in the area as she heard him speak. "_Accidentally._" She threw a hand up. "Fuck's sake, I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Why you're doing this? Why you're going through all this trouble for these spheres that almost got you killed multiple times?" She held out her hands, showing him a minimized pokeball. "Wouldn't you like an easier life after what you've been through? What has you so interested if you don't care?"

"I- Hmmm…" Riven let the words die in his mouth. Why was a question he'd been asking himself since he first realized where he was. Was it because it was something to do? Because man needed to know? Did _he_ want to know? Maybe to know of what happened to that society that was dead and dust because it mirrored his own?

"You think it'll lead you to answers about what happened in the past. To how you got here," Isole said sharply, seeing right through him. "Still chasing after ghosts, I see. Some things don't change, even after three years. Forget about that, Riven. Stop dwelling in the past, it's over with. _Gone_. There's no point. It's useless. You're just wasting your time."

"So you just gave up and accepted things as they are? Just like a Raksa would." He placed both his hands on his cheeks, mimicking a distressing woman. "Let's let _everything_ go to shit, as long as it doesn't affect me! Oh my! That was unfortunate! What a _tragedy_!"

"What I was back then doesn't matter anymore!" Isole shouted, ice blue eyes angry. "Searching for traces of our world is pointless because there's no past to look back to! You'd be looking at something that doesn't physically exist anymore!"

"Physically… what does that mean?" Gale asked instead.

The older woman gave an exasperated sigh, the anger dripping off her like water. Heading over to a nearby tree stump, she sat down, away from the blasted sun and the heat. "Riven… remember that psychic you wanted to know about so badly?"

"Yeah." He wiggled his fingers in the air, drawing up frustrating memories of trying to haggle with a certain Rosan bitch. "The one Nera never disclosed any information about and ran me in circles for six damn months? Fucking _hell_ that was a waste of time. So are you going to actually tell me?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Positive?"

"Yes, Riven."

"Affirmative?"

"_Riven_."

"Are you one hundred percent _sure_?"

She started flexing her fingers, the icicles sending a very clear message.

"Hmmmm." He squinted at her. "Sounds a little too good to be true. My bullshit censors aren't tingling too hard though, so I _half_ believe you."

"God, this is why you're bad with people, Riven." She turned to face Gale. "How do you put up with his crap? I just worked with him, I didn't have to actually _listen_ to him."

The brunette grinned. "I think of it as training for my self control. I heard alcohol works wonders though." She broke into giggles.

Riven made a sound that was a mix of sputter, a whine, and a growl.

"Hah! She has a sense of humor, I like that," Isole sneered. "Anyway, I don't see why I wouldn't tell you now, considering you're not necessarily a major threat to us right now." A smirk spread on her lips. "You're dangerous, sure, but you remind me more of a lost Natu with an attention deficit, always trying to find something to do and can't sit still to save your life. Leave him alone for one hour and he starts inspecting his knives for nicks."

"Blade care is important," Riven stated matter-of-factly, unabashed. He sucked in a large breath, finding psychics to be royal pains in the ass. "Tell me about it then. I hope it's not an Alakazam. Because if so I'm going to try my hardest not to _not_ stab it, I already got blown through a window, an entire wall, and hit with a flying table at the same time because of one. Tables hurt, especially when they get flung into your face."

Isole turned back at Gale, who only smiled back. Will grinned from ear to ear, knowing full well who they were dealing with.

"I'm not even going to ask why you're getting thrown out of buildings, I'll just assume it's another one of your masochistic hobbies."

Riven shot her a dirty look.

Isole shook her head, straightening her posture as she steeled her expression. "It's not an Alakazam. It's a _Celebi._"

Shocked realization spread among Gale and Will, while Riven looked like he'd just won a bet.

"Psychic _legendary,_" he bit out. "The best of both worlds."

"Yes, well- it's a very old one too, one that's been here since before the Kalosian war three thousand years ago, so it's fucking ancient, basically," Isole said, eyeing a blade of grass with the intensity of a star. "Nera found it in a forest in Johto a year before we discovered dark boy here. It _reacted_ to her and _talked_ to her. Not English or French or any language of this world, Riven. _Rosan." _She placed extra emphasis on the word, drawing it out. All of the past clans' languages should be dead except for the few that came back through time. That a Celebi of all things knew it was a bit perturbing. "It also knew who and _what_ she and all of us were and it started crying. For _us_. Not at us."

"Crying," he repeated in disbelief. An index finger scratched the side of his head._ "_What_._ That isn't supposed to happen. No-that… that doesn't even make sense."

"I thought the legendaries didn't care about humans?" Will asked, raising a brow. Gale nodded, drawing the same conclusion.

"That's what we assumed too. We didn't know why a pokemon like Celebi would do that, or even reveal itself willingly. Even now I'm not quite sure what it has to gain by helping us."

"Celebi are rumored to travel back in time," Gale chimed in, shrugging as Riven looked at her, rather impressed despite himself. "Maybe it got curious and wanted to show you the way back?"

"Yeah, Celebi can time travel. But go back? Hah, that's a good joke," Isole snorted, laughing at the irony. "Even if we could go back, even if we could try and find anything relating to our past in history, we'd never stop searching. Silly little humans, endless wanderers of time, delving into the past to look for answers they cannot find."

"Let me guess. Another psychic riddle?" Riven almost gagged.

"Obviously," Isole said, nails digging into her skin. She cleared her throat, forcing waves of annoyance down with a restrained growl. "You remember the roar, don't you?"

Riven was silent for a short moment. He could hear it in his dreams and on long walks of reflection, having heard it thousands of times already, viewing it as a blessing and a curse. Yes, he remembered the roar that tore the heavens apart. Anyone who'd ever heard it probably could.

"I couldn't possibly forget it." He glanced up at the sky, scowling. "The Legendaries," he began grimly, knowing that somehow Arceus and his merry little flock of pseudo gods were to blame. The drawings and etchings found in the ruins and sphere locations only served to heighten that feeling. Pictures of mankind burning in flames simply _emanated_ positivity and hopes for the future. The future being particularly fluid at the current moment.

"Yes, the Legendaries," she repeated solemnly. "God- how do I say this?" A moment of pause and she collected her thoughts. "Celebi took us back. To our time, briefly."

Her words cut like a knife as utter, genuine shock spread across Riven's face, his eyes wide. "What did you see?" He demanded, getting closer to her. "Was there-"

"_Nothing_," Isole said, a hollowness in her voice. "There was nothing there but pokemon and forests. Riven, the grand Noltan forest was alive. I actually _saw_ it."

The grand Noltan forest—a rainforest that covered nearly a quarter of the lands to the west, not too far from Riven's home. The size of it completely dwarfed Fortree and its own, kind of like comparing Lumiose to something like Petalburg. Once home to hundreds if not thousands of species of pokemon, along with the Grass Clan, it was destroyed by the Roses even before Riven was born. The forest being intact was something of an impossibility.

"Did the Celebi get the date right? And did you get the location right?" Riven asked skeptically. "That forest was ashes before _both _us were born. Technically I should be older than you, and I've been to where it was supposed to be, I'd know."

"Age doesn't matter when it comes to time travel, Riven. Missing a huge fucking forest is hard when it covers everything for miles," she huffed. "We went everywhere. North, east, west... Even where Altea was supposed to be, dammit. And we found nothing. Nothing but plains, snow, and forests. It's like humans never stepped foot in the world—everything felt so… lonely."

"That doesn't make any sense…" Riven said, running a hand through his hair and starting to pace. "How far back?"

Isole paused and saddened, as if it depressed her also. "Six hundred thousand. Roughly."

Not only was Riven struggling to hold his jaw in place, but Gale and Will were too, only managing strangled noises and babbles.

"Then we went back further, and then forward ten thousand more. Nothing. When we did see people, they were… primitive. And not like us. The Celebi told us it was one hundred thousand years after that point in time and not a year before."

"_Our_ ancestors," Gale gasped. "But not yours."

Riven fell on the floor like a brick, a bomb of realization assaulting his mind as his he sat down as hard as he could. The other two followed suit, equally as confounded. "More than half a million years…? But… I-_how_? How did this happen? What happened to us, our people? The clans- the everything?"

"I don't know," Isole admitted dejectedly. She bit her lip, sighing. "It's as if someone erased us from every moment in history, literally. Then decided to plant us back in. Hah, it's almost hilarious. Just like those science fiction novels about time travel, only this time it's real. And we're the ass of the cosmic joke."

Riven swallowed tensely, running his hands through his hair repeatedly. He stood up, blinking furiously. Gale tried to stop him as he turned to leave but Isole held her back with a squeeze of the hand.

"Let him get some air and think about it. Goodness knows I needed it when I found out. And I _saw_ it too."

"Didn't he get over it already though?" Will asked, watching Riven stumble his way into part of the forest. "He's been here for years."

"The thought of going back was always on his mind, though. Forgetting might be easy for some people, like those that came here young, but not for him. He witnessed a lot of terrible things when he was young, and he became a soldier at an age most people would find horrifying here. War does things to child soldiers. Some snap, others can never live life outside of battle. Riven isn't any different, but for the Remnants it was even worse."

She formed a tiny sculpture of ice on the tree stump, showing them the insignia.

"Fighting the war was all they lived for. And I guess he always felt conflicted about that, he just didn't know it for sure until now."

"Why?"

"Because it was all for nothing. One thing is getting sent forward in time and have everything you were aspiring to do in the past be worth nothing, but another is finding out that it really didn't make a difference at all. All that suffering just to get wiped clean like that? Means the war didn't matter. The people he lost didn't matter, and there's nothing he or anyone can do about it. That's… hard to swallow. We were all from that place, and we all lost something we cared about. Nera still has trouble accepting it. And so do I. I can still remember what my parents looked like. I miss it sometimes, you know?"

A forced smile.

"Anyway, just let him get it out of his system. He's far better off than I thought someone of his upbringing would be. Must be the twisted sense of humor, his way of coping. Hides his pain well, but it's there. He lost his purpose, but-" She looked at both of them with a wide grin. "-I think he's starting to find it again, partly thanks to you two. If he'd stayed with us, it'd have gotten worse, I know that for sure. I'm glad we let him go. His kind weren't exactly the most… stable."

She thought back to the utter _mess_ he left of Kai's house.

"Dark types are dangerous aren't they?" Will figured, swallowing. Gale gave him a pointed look but it fell apart quickly.

"We all are," Isole replied. "Mental and supernatural types like him are extremely powerful, but are prone to instability. As for us, we have to hold back or people die, as you saw. Below freezing temperatures and air hot enough to burn the insides of your lungs when you breathe is nothing to laugh at. And there's the thing you three came here to tell me about. Too much energy at once will kill you. Crystallization is what awaits for idiots who take too much I guess. Terrible way to die."

She sat up and stretched, groaning from the heat. Twisting her body to crack her aching spine, she gestured upward with her right hand. "Enough with this though, since you're Riven's companions and he's out dealing with his own thoughts, I want to know more about you two. It'll be a while before he comes back, I assume, so we have some time to kill before that."

Will shot to his feet at once while Gale raised a hand meekly, getting an idea for a problem that had been rather difficult for her to try and figure out as of late.

"Yes, Gale?"

"Um, since you're an ice specialist, can you help me with something? If it's not too much to ask?"

Isole smiled again, knowing that if Cormac saw her so cheery he'd have a fit. Not that it mattered, since these kids weren't involved at all in their affairs, she could afford to be friendlier, which was refreshing for a change. "Sure. What is it?"

"It's about my Froslass. She's a bit clingy. And well- you know, I can't stand the cold as well as you can. She really liked snuggling up to me." Gale motioned to her chest with a tinge of embarrassment on her cheeks.

Isole nodded as she looked at the area. "I can see why she liked it. Spoiled her as a Snorunt, huh?" She snorted with a step in her voice. "This'll be fun."

* * *

Riven wandered through the woods, his mind a blaring mess of information and what it entailed for the future. To say he expected to ever be able go back would be untrue. Time travel was usually reserved for legendary pokemon or human based shenanigans, both of which were out of his reach. He prepared for one of life's dick punches and instead got kicked in the mouth then thrown in a pit of icy water; he didn't expect something like _this_ to happen. There was no point in suspecting Isole of lying either. No one could fake the expressions on their face that well, even for a mercenary like her.

He clapped a hand to his forehead as he walked among the trees. There seemed to be a pit in his stomach, making him uneasy. A multitude of questions regarding time travel gave him a migraine. If what Isole was saying was true, and humans somehow got wiped clean, then how was he here now? How were _any_ of the old humans here? From what he understood, his birth should have never happened at all.

No Riven, no Isole, no redheaded fire bitch and the douche twins. Time travel and screwing with time and events in the past always had a variety of "what ifs" attached to them. What-ifs that sounded like a bunch of kids sitting on a porch pondering the intricacies of life because they had nothing better to do. And now here he was thinking about them in a forest full of pokemon.

"Am I real?_" _He muttered, stupidly pinching himself. Spotting a Furret that was busy stuffing its cheeks with berries, he crouched down in front of it. Shooting an accusatory finger at it, it dropped the berry in its paws."Am I real?"

It gave the berries in its cheeks another slow munch.

"Speak, furry creature."

The ferret decided that it was best to be away from crazy humans and slowly backed away, scooping up its berries with a bushy tail and scurrying into a nearby bush.

Riven raised his arms in incredulousness. _Tsk._ _Of course I am_, _I have to be._ After all, the heat of the sun on his skin and the sweat running down his back was real and uncomfortable enough—and that Furret running away from him. _Fucking time shenanigans_, _always with the metaphysical. Why can't something ever be simple? No, it has to be more convoluted than a psychic's idea of a fortune cookie. I need to ask Isole, the questions are killing me._

He glanced up and around in every direction, not realizing he'd been walking through the forest and tall grass for a considerable amount of time. _Huh. But where did I come from?_ Turning his head, every part of the forest looked the same. Nothing but trees, grass, and Seedot. _Well no shit, it's a bloody forest, what else would there be?_ Somehow, he'd gotten so absorbed in his thoughts about how time travel was utter Tauros shit that he'd gone and made himself thoroughly lost.

_Having a ranger conveniently show up would be great right now. _When none came, he switched to plan B._ Maybe I walked here in a straight line? Fuck._

He then proceeded to track _himself_.

When he finally got back to the location near the river and much after nightfall, he was treated to a _horrifying_ sight.

That sight being a mercenary known for freezing people solid having fun with an equally infuriating girl whose idea of a joke meant giving people trauma.

Isole was laughing happily alongside Gale and Yukiko, playing with powdered snow the two ice types had made. The Froslass nuzzled Isole, who hardly flinched at the cold. The fact that she was genuinely laughing made his skin crawl. The scene might as well have been a nightmare created solely for testing his mental health.

At least Will reclined against the sleeping form of Quil, quietly snoring the hours away, was enough to calm his nerves down. He sat down and watched them continue to play and practice with their ice types, admitting that Isole's habit of sculpture making was quite impressive when she and Yuvir helped Gale and Yukiko make a life size model of a Swellow. It didn't take long for it to start melting with the humidity of the route, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Riven waited at the foot of the tree stump adjacent to Will, nearly dozing off himself. He cracked open a sleepy eye when Isole sat down next to him, looking far livelier than she usually ever did.

She held out a Pecha berry. "All better?"

He groggily stared at it for a moment before graciously taking it and biting a chunk out of it, sweet juices filling his mouth as the sweetness brought him out of his sleep drunken state.

"Gale told me you like them. She tired herself out and went to rest. Said goodnight too. Nice girl. Her Froslass is so sweet! I kinda want to steal her. That spoiled little ghost likes chests far too much to be healthy."

"Nothing wrong with that…" Riven muttered through bites. "I mean, uh, that's _terrible. _Bad ghost."

Isole held in a grin while she rolled her eyes. "So, now that your mind isn't scrambled egg-" She noticed him staring blankly into the distance, chewing like a Miltank. "-isn't _as_ scrambled, I guess you have some questions?"

"Why are we still alive?" He ushered out instantly. "Erasing someone's ancestor means they'll never be born right? So technically neither of us should be alive. And I'm wondering why the hell I'm still sitting here, eating this berry."

"Hit it right on the head, huh? Sorry to disappoint you, but time is-"

"Confusing? Nonsensical? _Bullshit_?" He finished, yanking a blade of grass off the ground and chucking it into the air uselessly.

"Strange," she said, not sure if there was a word to properly describe the dilemmas of time travel and screwing with timelines. "Whatever happened, whatever those Legendaries did… I don't know. The Celebi told us that the strain of opening time simultaneously at every point in time before that moment was too great, even for Him. I'm guessing not even the Legendaries who govern over time and space could control that all at once. Somehow, we ended up in the future we shouldn't exist in. Technically, our futures don't coincide with time as the psychics see it. Something along those lines. All I can figure is that it'd give scientists aneurysms."

Which explained why future sight didn't work on any of the people from the old world. There was no future for them. In theory. In other words, they were an utter impossibility. How about that, it was almost sweet on the Universes' part.

"Looks like physics can go screw itself after all. Plus one for space magic. That's a recurring theme, isn't it? Laughing at science?" Riven chuckled at the irony. "So even gods make mistakes? That's refreshing. If they make mistakes, then why are they gods? We're walking mistakes, what took them so long?"

"We might be mistakes, sure, but-"She took a bite out of a berry herself. "This is our world now, and I'm not one for getting erased again. Which is why it's important we find those spheres. To prevent humanity from pissing off the legendaries again. Damn it, I want to _live_."

A large, dispassionate groan.

"Celebi fed you some senseless warnings of doom and peril, didn't it? The-world-is-going-to-end-because-of-this variety? Did it stress the importance of it before it's too late too?"

"They're quite predictable, aren't they?"

"What else would psychics do to pass the time? Reading peoples' minds eliminates part of the mystery, must be boring. Wonder if that's why they defecate themselves whenever we get near them."

They both snorted.

Riven gave her a sidelong glance. "By the way, Isole, Will seems to have taken a liking to you."

She glared daggers at him, but even in the dim light his eyes could see she was flustered. "He's too young for me, idiot. I'm almost double his age, I can't date him. And our lifestyles clash. Don't tell me you're getting ideas about it. I didn't realize you were one for petty things like this."

"I'm not, it just gives me material to give him and you shit for," he chuckled darkly. "Little shit will get his comeuppance, just you wait."

"Should have known," she muttered.

"Still, age isn't a problem with us, right? Nera still looks like she's in her twenties. You don't look much older either. We live a lot longer, don't we? When war isn't cutting our years down at least. Ten years is nothing if what you told me in Kalos is true."

Isole grimaced and joined Riven in staring off into space. "I mean… yeah but- He's barely grown," she said, fixing her gaze on Will's face. "It feels wrong."

"Wait a few years. You also don't want to date normal people either," Riven mentioned idly. "Because you're afraid you'll outlive them and it'll hurt watching them die of old age. Poor thing. So cold yet so fr—god damn_ fuck_!"

She hmphed snidely as he ripped her hand away from his forearm, where she nearly gave him frostbite. He grumbled, rubbing some heat into the abused skin."Will's like us though, so it's not much of a problem. Fire and ice. Have to admit, that's a strange combination." He promptly backed away to make sure she couldn't grab him again.

"There is no combination, dick. You're just trying to get a reaction out of me. It's not going to work." He chuckled and let the conversation die as they sat in silence. "So what will you do now?" Isole inquired, nudging him so he could open his eyes. "Plan hasn't changed?"

He let out a heavy breath. "Don't see what else I'd be doing. Gym circuit seems pointless with all these extra things popping up. Besides, there are some people who've pissed me off in the past that are looking for the exact same things, and they aren't your little group. I'm not going to let them get a hold of these spheres. They're brewing up something big, I can feel it. Tracking them has gotten absolutely nowhere either, they hide well and cover their tracks."

A pale blue brow furrowed with concern. "We are talking about the same group right?"

"If it's a band of mercs with a nasty reputation for brutal efficiency and methods, then yes, _them_. _Criminals _are afraid of them."

"They're also afraid of Prime coming to cut their limbs off, Riven." He scoffed as she slid a knifed hand across her forearm. "We've tussled with them. They're much better funded and have way more people than we do, unfortunately. Beat us to some artifacts and such, even bounties. Thinking about them pisses me off. If those guys are involved in this, there's going to be a bit of a problem."

"How many times?"

"At least on six different occasions. Know who they are?"

Riven debated whether to tell her how much he knew about Singularity and the merc group that was working for it. Even in Kalos three years back during the Lumiose incident, he'd kept the information under wraps, chalking it up to the perpetrators being random terrorist dickbags. Nera wasn't breathing down his spine though, so he could do it, but doing so would just lead Isole to ask more questions than answers, and he really wasn't looking for more questions. Giving them the miniscule amount of information he had on them-mostly names and reputations- wouldn't help them much.

_So tell the truth then, just not all of it._

He rubbed his chin with his hand, feigning ignorance. "Don't know anything specific, I just know about as much as you do, given their assets from when they've screwed me over. What about you? Can you tell me what their tactics are, from what you've seen? For research purposes, obviously."

_That guy who paralyzed me in Kalos hinted that something would happen soon. It's been three years and nothing's happened—and I don't think he was messing with me. I want to be prepared, not like last time._

"Always prepared for conflict, classic Riven," she teased harmlessly. "One of these days you're not going to escape unscathed, you know."

"When have I not?" He answered with a cockiness he didn't feel. _You've seen my back_. "Knowing the enemy is half the battle, and I hate how I don't know much at all about these people or who they work for, all I know is that they're going to strike soon, and it won't be pleasant."

"Riven, just be careful," she warned.

"Nice for you to care, but I'm good."

"Not for you," Isole said, gesturing to Will and Gale, "them. You need to let them know what kind of danger they'd be in if they followed you. I've taken a liking to them both, they're good kids."

"Will's the kid. Older kid now, but still a kid to me. Gale's like a year younger than me though. And that's the problem, Isole. They _want_ to come with me."

"And you're not going to stop them?"

He faltered, his mouth becoming a thin line.

"You haven't told them what you're planning to do. Riven," she said again, this time gravely serious. "This isn't a game. They can die, and these guys… they will kill those in their way. These aren't the teams the regions are used to. You and I have both seen how they operate. You need to make them understand that."

"I've tried. And they're not incompetent."

"So then leave them behind."

"I can't. I did that for three years, I can't do it again. I promised them." Jaw clenched, he remembered Yanine and Nemos. " Just like I promised the others I'd keep going, even if it broke me inside. If I broke that, what would be the point of staying alive, I've already lost everything."

"Not everything. You care for them," she said. "That's enough."

"Of course I do, they're my comrades," he said, glancing away. "How could I not?"

Isole balled her hands into fists as her blood seemed to heat up in her veins. "Don't do that to them. They're not soldiers, Riven. Not like the others. They're not used to death and killing. They don't belong where we do. Even if they can fight, they won't survive against these people. They're your friends. You have to make them stop, for their own good."

"Try to tell them that. They won't _listen_." His expression saddened, and Isole could see the pain of loss. "Still, if these assholes dare touch them, they'll wish they didn't give me a reason to come after them. And if they kill them, I will make it my life's mission to murder whoever is responsible. Maybe that'll give me a purpose again. I'm barely holding on as it is."

Isole looked away, offering him another berry. He took it without hesitation. "You're not the only one." She sighed in defeat, glancing one last time at the sleeping forms of Riven's companions. "Since there's no other way around it… take care of that girl, okay?"

"She can take care of herself just fine now, I think. And don't worry, I'll look after your future husband too. He has a dangerous habit of destroying things wherever he goes."

"I wonder who he learned that from?" She remarked wryly. "And he's not my future anything." She clarified with a very cold punch. He shrieked and she chuckled, wondering if in a perfect world, every worry could just melt away.

But this was reality.

And reality was just _depressing_.

* * *

"This is Hoenn channel 7 breaking news reporting the scene in Mossdeep City, where another trainer protest has begun as a result of last month's explosions, explosions allegedly started by visiting trainers in the area. A young trainer's Dragonair reportedly missed a fire blast which ignited a fuel tank and caused a massive-"

_Another one?_

Riven turned his attention away from the television, shoveling more cereal into his mouth. The other trainers and his traveling companions did the same, grimacing at all the supposedly trainer related incidents lately. Nurse Joy frowned, shaking her head. There was a report of property damage caused by battles every week, and they were occurring with increasing frequency. Some cities were already growing hostile towards trainers.

Thankfully Slateport didn't harbor the same feelings. After Isole told Riven everything she knew about Tesla and the rest of the mercenaries, Will insisted that they travel back to Slateport for a mix of leisure and training on the beach. Riven was reluctant, but there were no leads to follow and he needed to unwind, even if it was training so hard he couldn't move the next day.

Actually staying in the port city for more than a few days was refreshing and Gale was glad she didn't have to push Emile and Kyne so hard to fly everywhere. Riven even got the chance to fly on Rika, which he then regret deeply when she nosedived at top speed close enough to the water that he could practically kiss a Sharpedo.

Not quite as bad as Gale scaring him shitless, but still pretty frightening.

Finishing breakfast, Riven was about to start walking north to the next route when Will nudged him in the side, directing him south instead, to the beach. Blinking, Riven scowled.

"Don't tell me," he said, burning holes into Will's eyes. The look seemed to bounce right off as red eyes danced with glee.

"Nope. We're going to train at the beach today."

"No, I don't like it."

"Come on, it'll be fun. Besides-" Will waggled his eyebrows. "-Gale bought a swimsuit."

"I'll definitely pass," Riven deadpanned, starting back north. His victory over the human lighter was short lived when he commanded Rika to pick Riven up and haul him over to the beach, laughing maniacally all the while. He was unceremoniously dumped face first into the sand.

He gave Will some choice words that prompted nearby mothers to cover their children's ears, but nonetheless went along with the change of location. Gale touched down soon after, not wearing a swimsuit, just as Riven had expected she wouldn't. They were here to train, not get a sun tan.

Choosing a relatively isolated part of the beach, away from the hordes of people next to the lemonade refreshment house, they brought out their pokemon.

Riven was about to suggest training with Will's team until he finally saw Seren emerge out of his pokeball, ceasing all movement to simply _stare_.

"Will."

"Yeah?"

Riven brought out Charles, pulling up an image of Jolteon. He alternated his gaze between Seren and the image on screen, his eyelids narrowing further with each passing glance. Yellow. Blue. Yellow. Blue. Yellow. Blue. Craning his neck towards the side, he pointed at the electric fox, his upper lip twitching vigorously.

"That Jolteon is blue_, _Will. _Blue_."

Seren sparked happily, panting in the heat. He cocked his head and let out a tiny whine.

Will glared at Riven, and with utter seriousness and a severity of voice that could grate steel, said, "he goes fast."

Riven was silent.

"Gale it is."

She was more than happy to practice with him instead, having a practice bout with Baron and Aine to let them get used to fighting flying types. Haona worked with Yukiko to help refine the ghost's ice beam, forming long stretches of iced over sand and turning the water at the shore into slosh.

Some distance away, Will sat in meditation with Quil beside him, taking in steady breaths while Seren used Rika as an electric punching bag behind him, the sparks uselessly fizzling out as soon as they touched the dragon. Casca seemed content to practice with Boagrius, his rain dance boosting the power of her surf's. Will in particular had gained far more muscle tone than he had previously, no doubt from the training he was doing at Mt. Pyre, as well as taking Riven's approach with practicing with his pokemon.

Something he was doing now. Riven practiced his blade work with Efrain, going over basic stances and such over and over, mixing several of Efrain's moves and how they functioned with the different blade strategies he'd created over the past three years.

Even with sweat pouring down his face, progression just wasn't there. He'd already mastered the forms, mastered the techniques. He needed to try something new. Gale had a creative mind, having already combined Baron, Aine, Haona, and Boagrius' techniques to form combination attacks—impressive martial displays and flurries of fiery winds and cuts.

What could he do? With Efrain's power? Hands gripping the handles of the swords, he whispered in his mind, _Efrain, let's try _that _again_.

Slits looked up at him, as if asking if he was sure. A firm squeeze of the handles gave him the signal.

_I will try, prince. _

"That's all I ask."

Yellow eyes closed and Efrain reached into the world.

Being a ghost was strange. The sense of living was gone from Efrain's body, which was nothing more than a metal vessel that acted like a body but had no nerves or skin with which to feel, yet he could. He could very well feel the burning agony of Aine's flames, and Haona's impeccably sharp night slashes. As a ghost, he was an anomaly in the world, knowing that he drew the strange power of ghosts from a realm parallel to this one, the realm of the fallen one.

Attempting to use the move the prince wanted him to use was akin to picking up a bow after a lifetime of blade training and being told to hit a target two hundred paces away—a completely and irreverently different process. Also a substantially _difficult_ one. The power with which he drew from flowed to him naturally, as if from within the very steel he inhabited.

But this, the energy of life, was different.

Life energy, ki as his trainer had informed him, clung to everything in the physical world, surging and coursing through the water, the sand, and the very bones of the dark prince and his companions—the Earth vibrated with it, giving a slight hum to the nonexistent ears of the dead. Efrain long figured out that the living were unable to see this invisible energy, using it but a select few times. However, ghosts and those attuned with that energy could sense its presence and shape it into weapons and blasts that were extremely damaging to the body—the energy of life used against itself. Naturally, the fighting types adjusted rather quickly and were attuned to it, but just like life and death were separate, the energy did not call to ghosts and could only be observed, at least on the surface. It was possible to use that as well—given what his trainer wanted him to learn at the current moment- but it seemed to repel away whenever he chose to grasp it.

A lesser man would have given up on such a stubborn resource, but in life he was no lesser man. He _willed _it up from the ground, white light rising in streams to coalesce and coat the steel that was his body to form a shimmering, if unstable, silhouette of white blades. The sensation of holding on to something this repulsive to his being was like rubbing two Magnemite together with the same ends facing each other and the longer he held it the more strain it put on him, despite not having a body or mind made of flesh. His trainer's grip was tight as the energy shined and spiraled around his hands and into Efrain, the strange sense of the living feeling more alien than death.

Glowing white swords replaced Efrain's blades, longer and thicker than before—virtually weightless but shining with a radiance that reminded Riven of the sun. Their image crackled and distorted as the ghost struggled to keep their shape intact.

_I cannot hold onto this for much longer, prince, the power is slipping._

Nodding, Riven readied himself and _swung_-

Two white swords cleaved forth into the air, producing a small shockwave of force that only managed to cut a millimeter into the mound of sand Riven had built up to test as a target. Disregarding that, Riven advanced and swung once more, hoping the move would work, testing out the durability of the blades themselves.

The mound of sand was cut into three pieces as a horizontal slash with both blades made contact with it. A frustrated snarl came out of the trainer as the white swords shattered to pieces on contact, only the steel of Efrain's blades managing to cut through.

Riven and Efrain both stared, hissing at the disturbed mound of sand, one from a human mouth, and the other from the vibration of steel. Another failed attempt.

Sacred Sword was supposed to be one the most powerful moves a Doublade could learn, and immediately Riven had set out to trying to bring out the potential in Efrain, seeing as how a fighting type move like that could cut through virtually anything metallic. After his run in with that Bisharp, he wanted to make sure that he had an answer to that metal body. Relying on it to let him get another cut on its other eye would be a good way to get his ass kicked, and there was no telling if he'd encounter something else which featured rocky or metallic hides.

Still, even after three years, he couldn't get it right. No amount of training, meditation, or techniques had improved Efrain's ability to gather the necessary ki to give the blades strength. He could shape them, aye, but the ethereal blades themselves broke like glass against material even a flimsy knife wouldn't struggle against.

Riven kicked up some sand with a foot, growling at the mound.

Gale came over, eyeing him strangely as he continued to growl at an inanimate object. Hands wrapped tightly, she was sweating profusely from practicing with Baron, who'd broken away from the practice battle with Gale's birds to continue her training. "What move are you trying to learn?" She asked, having seen a bright white glow a minute ago.

"Sacred Sword," he answered curtly. "Efrain, again."

The same process followed as glowing white swords shattered like powder.

Scowling deeply, Riven annihilated the mound with a shadow claw, blowing sand upwards from the blast. "Three damn years and I still can't get it right. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, neither does Efrain. I know learning it wouldn't be easy for a ghost, but I didn't imagine it'd be this much of a pain in the dick."

Letting go of Efrain so the ghost could collect himself, Riven noticed how red in the face Gale was. Her skin shined from the sweat. "Ignoring my shitty skills as a trainer, practice is going well? You're dripping."

"Yeah, just tiring as usual," she affirmed, fanning herself lightly. "He has me working on counters and kicks."

"Good. Countering and striking back expends less energy. You don't get tired as quickly." His eyes bulged open as he saw Aine get blown into the water face first like a ragdoll by a gust. After the shock wore off, he couldn't help but snort. "I see you're trying to get Baron and Aine used to fighting at a disadvantage? It's not fun."

"Of course _you'd_ know," she laughed mockingly. He shrugged and she cocked her head in confusion."Not going to train with Will? He does have a lot of varied types on his team. Good pract-" Her face lit up like a star. "Oh! That reminds me! Lucia told me Seren evolved. I haven't seen him yet, how much has he grown?"

Riven looked towards Will's general direction, cringing.

"What's with that horrible face?"

"Just… just call out to him, you'll see." His palm met his forehead hard enough to leave a red handprint on his skin.

"Ah-huh," Gale said suspiciously. She cupped her hands over her mouth and called out to the fox. "Seren!"

The Eon, which had moved on from blasting Rika with ineffective bolts of lightning to running in place a thousand times, completely stopped, ears standing straight up while its eyes darted around in search of the voice. When he finally caught sight of her, he shot forward like a tiny, furry meteor, the whirlwind of sand he left behind showering Will and Quil. The yellow blur of electricity came rushing over to Gale, somehow slowing down enough to become visible.

Gale just managed to catch the electric fox as it knocked her down and snuggled in close. She held Seren away when his electric spines started leaving her skin tingly and numb but the Jolteon was undeterred, joyfully licking her face in her arms.

"It's nice to see you too!" She said, laughing. "You got so big! And… blue. Wait. He's blue. Why is he blue?"

Riven half-snorted. "His trainer wears a cape and grew his hair out so the wind could blow it dramatically. You tell me."

Gale smiled widely, scratching Seren behind the ears despite being painted completely blue. Shaking sand out of his hair, Will called out to him, and the fox scurried back to its trainer like a bolt of lightning. "That little fox shows me energy than you have in your entire life," she said. "Even if he's... painted oddly."

"Hmph. And to think that boundless ball of energy used to sleep so much."

"He's still cute," Gale grinned. "Even though I can't hold him in my arms anymore."

"You spoil your baby pokemon too much."

"I'd like to see _you_ raise a baby pokemon," she chastised with her hands on her hips. "Going to have to since Baron decided to be a horndoom. Someone has to be the adult, and since Mr. Cerul is the trainer, he has to pick up the slack."

Riven blanched, losing all color in his face despite the sun desperately trying to give him some. Kids. He hated kids. Baby pokemon didn't cry as much but… come to think of it, he didn't really ever see baby pokemon. Maybe they were less annoying than human children.

A flash of fire caught Gale's attention, seeing Will and Quil start on a routine of what looked like an elaborate exercise of fire punches and flamethrowers. He broke away from the Typhlosion, spinning and twirling with his flames as the style changed.

"Will's hard at work," she said idly. "I didn't see him when you two were fighting but he must have been good to drive the invincible man back."

"I'm not invincible, else I'd always win." He frowned. "But yeah. He mixed in Sword's Dance with some kind of spinning, dancing style? Surprised the hell out of me too. Pretty hard to follow when a kick going towards your face suddenly hits you in the ankle."

They watched him practice for another minute before Gale started fidgeting. The brunette bit her lip, raised a finger to get Riven's attention but put it down as quickly as she put it up. Should she ask him? Maybe he'd say no…

"Spit it out," he demanded, noting the incessant tapping of her right foot. "You're fidgeting again. Just bloody ask already, I won't melt you with a glare. People would be piles of goo by now if I could do that."

She contemplated the decision, still unsure whether to say it or not. He crossed his arms and tapped two fingers in impatience, egging her to be out with it.

_Okay then, let's just see what he says._

"Can you train me? For now, I mean. Baron is sort of busy and you taught him so I thought maybe- Maybe you could help me?" She shrunk in on herself, feeling very small as his eyes narrowed, scanning her body. Not lecherously, more in a _is-it-sturdy-and-will-I-break-it_ kind of way. His gaze settled on her upper body, then her legs, and finally, at her face. By this time, she was sweating bullets.

"No," he answered simply, and went over to go rebuild the sand mound.

"B-but why not?" Gale sputtered, following him. "Please?"

Hands full of sand and crouched low to the ground, he peered up at her as if she was insane. "No."

"Can you at least tell me why?" She cried. "Just saying no doesn't help!"

He set sand down and exhaled through his nose. "I'm not going to train you. Not with that body. And I don't mean it _that_ way. How I was taught isn't at all like Baron's instruction. Train with me and I _will_ hurt you. I don't want you to hate me, Gale."

"I would never-"

He cut her off with a hand. "Yeah, that's what I said too. Except when someone spends hours beating you into the ground and making you taste dirt and mud while he shoves his foot into your side, all the while mocking you, you start to develop some _feelings_ for that person. And very, very choice words."

She shook her head. "I don't care. I want to learn. Even if you beat me into the ground. I won't hate you either, just… please. I…" She glanced away. "I overheard what you and Isole said. That group that caused the Dragon Festival to go the way it did, is that really why you came back to Hoenn?"

"That's not true. I legitimately came back for my pokemon and you. They just happened to coincide." Her face burned at that single word. Riven paused for a moment before continuing to build the sand mound. "I had a feeling you'd be listening. Breathing was off. Your fake-sleeping needs work. She was right though. I don't want you or the others to do something reckless for the sake of following me. These mercs are dangerous, and the people they work for even more so. It's not your fight, best not get involved."

"Didn't we already tell you? We're your friends, we'd follow you anywhere. And if their plans come to work out, it _will_ be our fight," Gale pointed out crossly. "That's why I want to learn how to defend myself, so that when that time comes, I won't have to rely on others to protect me. Do you know how useless I felt at the Dragon Festival?"

Riven said nothing about that, knowing how it felt to watch from the sidelines as the world broke in front of him. "So you want to learn how to fight people. In a non-trainer environment, I assume."

"Yes." Completely serious, she inclined her head. "Please. I don't want to be a burden. Will can fight with his fire, I can't. And if you did it half a million years ago, then I can do it too."

He pursed his lips, wondering if he was going to regret this in the future. "Is there anything I can say to turn you away from this?"

"No," she said sharply. "I'll just pester you until you finally teach me."

"We wouldn't want that, then. I get grumpy when people pester me. Fine. We might as well start now." His eyes turned cold and harsh, donning an expression Gale had only seen twice before. A strange shiver went down her spine. "Get ready and find something to bite on."

_Let's see if you still have that attitude after we're done._

* * *

Baron, Haona, Yukiko, Emile, Vizi, and Kyne watched in stricken horror as Riven carried Gale over and placed her gently on the ground in front of them. His lip was busted open and dried blood ran down his mouth. Gale's injuries were far worse in comparison; there was bruising along her arms, ribs, and face, with cuts and marks indicative of being gripped far too hard. Her body was battered and beaten, and her mouth was lined with wiped blood. She writhed in pain on the ground, whimpering.

Riven gestured to Baron, who apprehensively walked over to stand above the injured girl. "Use Heal Pulse on her the best you can."

His Gallade held his arm tightly, _Did you do this?_

Riven ignored him, directing the psychic to focus on the girl.

His other pokemon were understandably horrified, while Gale's were brimming with anger. Riven didn't flinch at the pressure, undoing the wraps on his knuckles then flexing his fingers. Training was training. He'd _warned_ her about what could happen. "She wanted me to train her." He said, carrying his voice so the others could hear. "Like I was trained. No holding back. Female, friend, and companion or not. "

Baron and Aine felt a pit in their stomachs form, flinching from just imagining it. He'd put them through the training too, back in Forina. Even though they were being attacked by a human, the training was brutal on them, giving each their own share of bruises and cuts.

However, they were _pokemon_. Not humans.

There was a fundamental difference between pokemon and human, though—and with how injured Gale was, that couldn't be more evident. They'd taken harder hits before, shrugging them off with a grunt and a clenching of the teeth. The same move against a human would probably have killed them instead, or shattered so many bones and crushed enough organs that they'd be in serious trouble if they did get hit with it. Durability was not a human's strong suit. In fact, nothing short of leadership and tactics was. Humans were exceptionally fragile physically.

But their trainer was different. He'd always felt that way, less like the trainers they'd seen so much, but something more intimidating, more feral. More of a pokemon. Which he was, technically. Since the beginning with those Mightyena they knew he wasn't like that rest, and that was part of why they followed him. Seeing Gale like this, who'd given them the care and gentle touch their own trainer often lacked, felt terrible though.

Riven, in contrast, stood there, his face unreadable.

Kneeling down in front of her, Baron hovered his arms over her prone body—hands glowing a warm pink when the characteristic ring of energy wrapped around his wrists. Healing waves descended into her body, enveloping her in a comforting pink glow. Slowly, her wounds began to disappear and bruises cleared up, leaving healthy skin behind as if nothing had happened. When he was done and on the verge of passing out, Baron nodded at his trainer, signaling that she was in better condition, not necessarily good, considering she just got beaten into the floor.

Gale woke up a few minutes later, throat parched and unable to swallow properly. She sat up, grunting in pain as her ribs and midsection seemed to burn. Her jaw felt like it would come off when she rubbed it.

She blinked as a water bottle was held out in front of her by her mentor, still wearing that spine-chilling expression of cold indifference. It softened slightly after he bobbed the bottle in the air, insisting.

"Drink, your throat must be dry."

The water bottle was gone in seconds. Riven helped her up with an arm, testing to see if she could walk. She wobbled on her feet for a bit but found her footing and thanked him.

"My whole body hurts… How did I get knocked out?"

"I kicked you in the jaw," he said impassively, ignoring the murderous gazes of her pokemon. "I warned you."

"Is that why it feels so sensitive? Did you break my jaw?"

"I heard a crack. Then you fell."

She couldn't distinctly remember it, but she guessed it must have hit with the power of a sledgehammer. To think that this was what real fighting was like, what the Remnants trained to do to their opponents. True combat training; vicious, deadly, and frighteningly methodical.

"_It _was_ broken,"_ Baron confirmed, his arms crossed. _"Did you really ask him to train you?"_

"Yeah, I did…" She kneaded her ribs, whining softly from the jarring pain. "There are some people out there biding their time to do terrible things. I don't want to be another casualty. I want to protect my team too. If that means breaking my arms or getting so beat up I can't move, I don't care. I know what happened in Sinnoh, and I don't want to be the weakest link, of my team or my party. I don't have fire or special abilities, but I can at least do this."

Her tone was resolute and brimming with a trainer's confidence.

Baron and Haona exchanged glances, a light smile on their faces. _"Now you're starting to sound like him."_

Gale returned the gesture, which fell apart as she complained about her ribs again. Will came over with his pokemon, wincing when he caught a glimpse of Gale and Riven, who both looked like they'd gotten dragged through a cave and starved for days. "You look like shit. But Gale looks worse. What did you do?" He asked Riven. "Did you kiss her?"

"With armbars, punches and a lot of kicks," Riven returned stoically, undaunted by the loaded question. "She wanted me to train her, so I did. This is the result. I wasn't joking."

Will winced even harder this time, blanching white. "Seriously?"

"Yes. I tried to stop her, she didn't listen."

The youngest trainer turned to the brunette. "God damn, Gale, his punches fucking _hurt._ Are you nuts? His idea of training scares _me, _and I light my clothes on fire all the time."

Gale smiled weakly, pointing towards her floating ribs. "I learned that, Will. Several times. If Baron didn't heal me-" She waved at the Gallade in thanks. "-I would have had to go to the hospital, I think. Riven, was it like this every day for you?"

"My instructor broke my arms the first day," he stated simply enough to leave the others gawking. "And my ribs several times in later practices. There wasn't a day in my training that I didn't have bruises at some point. I hated the bastard, but he was a good mentor. Taught me not to have rage blind me in a fight, no matter how much you want to rip the other guy's throat out with your own hands. Let anger do the thinking for you and you die, simple as that. Might as well let it simmer while focusing entirely on killing the other guy first."

Will was incredulous, throwing out a mocking laugh. "Hold on. Hot-blooded Riven? What? Your face is permanently frowning or frozen on a glare. I can't see it."

"Well, surprise. I wasn't just hot-blooded. More like superheated," Riven corrected. "Beat it out of me though. It still comes out occasionally."

Will gulped, recalling the ferocity of their fight and what he did back in Lavaridge. "Err, definitely."

They headed back to the center after training, remaining in Slateport and repeating the process for a few weeks, going through ceaseless and extensive training. Riven and Will practiced with their abilities, much to the former's distaste, while Gale continued her training regimen. Their pokemon trained too, honing their abilities further.

They trained up until the announcement of a strange series of lights outside Driftveil City in Unova. Riven asked Nurse Joy to turn the volume up on the TV, and when the same glow he and Will had seen emerge in the desert ruins was shown, albeit a different color, a wave of concern spread over both of them. Even Gale, who knew as well, paled.

Someone had found another sphere. And it wasn't them.

Watching the pillar of pinkish-white light shoot hundreds of feet into the air, Riven shifted in his seat, facing Will.

"Hey Will. Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"How's your sister doing these days?" He said with a knowing smirk on his face.

Will's lips arched upward, chuckling mischievously. "I haven't seen her in a while, I think I'm starting to miss her. Maybe little brother can pay her a visit?"

Gale blinked, frowning at what the oldest trainer was implying. "Wait, are you seriously going to do this? You're going to Unova? Even though you just got here?"

Riven eyed her, as if what he was saying was obvious. "Someone found that sphere before we did, and it wasn't Nera. I have a sickening feeling I know who did, and that blonde-haired guy who paralyzed me owes me another round. This time I'm not alone."

"How are you so sure that this hidden group will stick around?"

He reclined in his seat, twirling darkness between his fingers. "When you get a new toy, what do you do with it?" He twined his fingers in thought. "What's the most attractive city in Unova? Where do people flock to there?"

"Castelia," Will answered, saying the first thing that came to mind. "It's the business center of the region, Lucia told me about it. Businessmen and trainers go there from different regions all over the world. The streets are always full."

No, that wasn't what he was looking for. Riven shook his head.

"Let me rephrase. What's a city in Unova that will definitely have cameras for the world to see? These guys don't think in one step, they look three, four, five into the future. In Lumiose they fucked us from so many angles we had no idea what happened. It took a massive cover-up and an intervention from me and Steven to prevent complete catastrophe, and even that wasn't enough. People still aren't over it, and they trust the Kalosian league even less. What's a location that could potentially send a region into disarray?"

"Oh _shit_." Will breathed. "That's… It's Nimbasa. There isn't a building there that doesn't have some kind of camera."

"Nimbasa… The entertainment capital of the entire world," Gale mused. "If that gets attacked, and trainers get blamed…"

"Then that would mean that Team Plasma would be right." Riven concluded, having studied up on the teams extensively in the past three years. "Trainers wouldn't be fit to have command over pokemon. Massive protests would break out. Unova already has problems with the leftover Plasma supporters and their protests too, right? I heard one of them got seriously out of hand when Sinnohan representatives visited—devolved into some _serious_ violence. Should Nimbasa get attacked, and depending how bad it is, things could get just as bad as Sinnoh."

And if the officials and the UFOs were unaware, the state of affairs would be elevated further from shit creek to shit ocean.

"Nimbasa broadcasts to the entire world on air, especially Elesa's shows and… oh my god." Gale fought the urge to gasp, inhaling sharply. Suddenly all the small, disorganized protests that never seemed to go anywhere in Hoenn made a frightening amount of sense.

They were buildups, seeds of mistrust waiting to sprout. Several cities in the region were already starting to mistrust trainers, and the nasty looks multiplied over the years.

"Hoenn would see it. _Every_ region would see it. They're trying to spread fear."

"Break the enemies' spirit and you don't have to fight," Riven muttered darkly. "One of the basic principles of war. I knew they were behind this."

Their methods were far too elaborate and they covered their tracks so as to make it seem like all these things they did were unrelated, flying under the radar with clever usage of misdirection to avoid official attention while they worked in the shadows—manipulating events to their liking, unlike the past teams.

The thing about tracking a clever target, though? It forced the hunter to be smarter, more cunning than its prey. Singularity and Charaph. Their overall goal was still a haze, but he was starting to get the idea.

"Hoenn's not the only target, they're focusing on the entire _world_. And they're disabling the largest threat to them first, trainers. They have the power to stop them, after all, they don't want another exceptionally powerful trainer to stroll in and destroy everything, that's why they hired mercs. I hate to admit it, but they know their tactics well."

He stood up, feeling strangely with purpose again.

"This should be interesting."

"Wait, Riven. _Wait_," Gale demanded. "You think just us three are going to be enough?"

"Nope. But that's why we have friends. Will, give your sister a call. I'll let Steven know. And Gale?"

She furrowed a brown brow, not looking forward to what crazy idea he'd come up with next. "Erm, yeah…?"

"Contact Seab and Amy. Tell them you have a quest for them. I'll go get things ready and-"

"It's the middle of winter in Unova," Gale pointed out irritably, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Unlike Hoenn, they actually have seasons there. Snow is everywhere right now. Might want to think about that after Isole nearly turned us into ice sculptures and _before_ you start making plans. That's how stupid adventurers die."

Riven's momentum fell flat and died. "Fine. After we buy some winter clothes. Let's go already."

He walked out of the center, pulling out his holo caster to presumably notify Steven.

"So pushy when it comes to things," Will said to Gale with a humph. "Does he ever relax?"

"Relax isn't in his vocabulary. I feel bad for his kids, if he ever has any." Gale remarked and sighed softly, before turning her attention back to the television, a familiar dread preceding any feelings of excitement or adventurousness.

"_-Reports of the hated Sayre cult have been increasing among the Unovan and Hoenn populace, with numerous trainers displaying 'suspicious and deplorable' behavior in the past few months. The Sinnohan Champion, Za-"_

Gale turned and left, following Will out of the center, clipping on her pokebelt.

Hundreds of miles away, sitting on top of the Nimbasa City Ferris Wheel, a blonde-haired man licked a popsicle, counting the stars in the sky among the sea of darkness.

In his hands, a metallic piece of metal glowed white with etchings, calling to its brethren, ready to become whole again.

* * *

**This is so late and I apologize. School has been whooping my ass with assignments and midterms. I had 3 midterms and 3 papers due last week, all on Tuesday and Wednesday while also writing a research paper too. I spent an entire week at the library AND took more shifts because lease signing season is up right now. **

**Anyway, I just wanted to talk about the nature of ice powers and how pokemon break reality.**

**Considering what happened (freezing most of the surrounding area from drawing energy away from things and freezing water vapor from the flipping air) an ice type would let out so much energy in doing that they'd practically explode. Now, they also need energy to produce this ice, and considering that infinity energy is called this for a reason, they use that as a power source. A power source that can freely convert energy to matter out of thin air, as we see gallons of water come out of a Lotad that I could drown with my piss. **

**The amount of energy that would require, even for a scrubby Lotad is mind boggling.**

**Where exactly this infinity energy comes from is unknown as it isn't really explained in the canon, either. **

**Nonetheless, it's the answer to all the impossible things pokemon can do. I mean, they outright ignore the conservation of mass and 2****nd**** law of thermodynamics pretty damn hard. Naturally, this would apply to humans who've evolved as well, taking it a step further with mega-evolution, as they draw from the world first before tapping into this extra-dimensional infinity energy.**

**It's a pretty interesting concept, to be honest.**


	62. Entertainment

**This took five weeks to get out. Sorry about that, editing and tailoring this chapter was very time consuming. I also had finals and papers galore. Organic chem beat my ass but I got it done. Made it longer to make up for the wait time so I hope you enjoy it. Hell will ensue.**

* * *

Riven stood hunched over the railings of the ship's open air terrace, a pensive furrow on his brow. He watched the vast stretch of sea in the distance, catching glimpses of Sharpedo and the sparking of Lanterns in the water.

Right after the broadcast, he'd called Steven and calmly informed him of what it was he was going to do. As expected, Steven advised not to act without any prior information, making sure that there wasn't any form of tea or liquid substance in his mouth that could be susceptible to forceful ejection. He knew Riven wasn't an idiot but one never knew.

And seeing as how Riven was a good boy, he'd assured Steven he'd take his words into consideration. Then immediately disregarded that and bought a ticket from Slateport to Castelia City. The price was pretty extraordinary, but with the funds he'd received from working on certain… jobs, he'd amassed a sizable bank balance. With the speed of the cruise ship he was on, the estimated arrival time was several days, roughly.

Normally he'd enjoy the scenery of a long day of cruising with the weather this good, but his thoughts were pervaded by worries of several days worth of time spent doing nothing but twiddling his fingers while getting to Unova and hoping he didn't arrive to a flaming trainwreck raining shit en masse.

Time was really working against them here. Well, when did it not?What was just a human concept really wasn't just human at all, they just _believed_ it was.

Silly, puny, petty, little humans, thinking they were so _importan_t.

The Legendaries and fate didn't seem to care about their importance, seeing as how they'd thrown Riven half a million years into the future, got fed up with the human _everything_, and metaphorically flipped the species table just to sweeten the deal—a deal which ultimately told all mankind to go screw itself for a good one hundred thousand years and for an added bonus, made them weaker than Linoone piss.

From the state of his world though, he couldn't argue it didn't deserve it though. Things were screwed to hell but it was still his world. When he was still living in it. Certainly couldn't complain about it now. Loopholes were a funny thing.

"You know it's bad when even _gods_ can't fix it." He broke out into a stupid little grin as he gazed into the sky. When he noticed people staring, he straightened with a clearing of the throat.

_Now, irony aside… where to start? _

Back in Slateport, he guessed that Singularity's next target would be Nimbasa—at least partially based off his previous encounters with them on different occasions back in Kalos along with Isole's information. All of the times he'd run into them had been in populated locations with plenty of camera coverage and large groups of onlookers. They wanted some sort of message to be sent out, so doing it in a place like a dusty old town or the business heavy Castelia didn't make much sense. Castelia could be a target, but Nimbasa had plenty of children and tourists.

_And when children get threatened, the entire world seems to stop, bating its breath while the terrorists grip it by the balls. _A savage grin as he clenched a fist._ And squeeze._

All conjectures and assumptions though. Evidence was lacking something fierce and considering there were no clues of any kind, he hadn't the faintest what to do when they got there.

Asking around for a suspicious group of people operating in the shadows would just earn him judgmental looks and murmurs of crazy while getting him none closer to grabbing any sort of useful leads.

_Lucia might_-

No. Wouldn't work. Officials mostly likely wouldn't know a damn thing either. Their response would probably be something along the lines of "what" and "oh fuck". Hopefully one or the other and merciful universe not both. In case it was both, it'd be an absolutely _horrendous_ day.

And these guys were _intelligent_. Giving law enforcement and special forces units a kick in their collective testicles was what they did for shits and giggles.

Hell, he didn't know three-fourths of the members on the damn mercenary group. A few names, but that was about it, which said quite a lot from all the fingers he broke to get that information.

Their operations were bundles of misdirection and cleverly disguised scapegoating and cover-ups. Trying to catch them preemptively was sort of like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. Using a badge to question people would undoubtedly tip someone off too. Crime in Unova was well-entrenched and when someone from another region came snooping… well- let's just say lips that were normally very sealed got prone to loosening up considerably. Seemed like that renowned Unovan hospitality of throwing foreigners under the bus was well supported after all.

He bit his lip, shifting in place to rest his right foot on one of the railings.

_The news broadcast was yesterday, so I'd give it about a week or two before anything major happens. At least._

And that was the best case scenario haphazardly based on the double-edged nature of being a careful planner; organizing sophisticated operations took time and planning. _Lots_ of it. Mobilizing your men, anticipating police movements, the arrival time of the Elite Four, their pokemon composition, any psychics in the area, nearby trainer strength, and location—of which had twenty other factors tied in with it alone. In an urbanized area like the huge cities in Unova or Kalos, that made planning for unknowns that much harder.

Of course they could be hasty and half-ass an attempt, which would royally fuck his plans over considerably, but Unova was as tame as Hoenn about as much as a Skitty was a Luxray. They were both felines, yes, but one of them could tear your damn throat out and _literally_ make your heart explode. And the Unovan Field Operatives were the Luxrays; they _did not fuck around_. UFOs were armed and more than capable of putting people down, be it with pistols or their pokemon. The region had a long history of war, and Unovans weren't above violence to take down threats, if that botched meeting with the Sinnohan representatives a few months ago was anything to go by.

Taking that into consideration, Riven figured that the bigshots would think things through before rushing in blindly. Assuming the mercs already did reconnaissance in the area-which they _should_ have if they weren't garbage at their job-then that would mean he had a time window of two weeks, maybe three depending on how they were managing the scouting and if they wanted to throw the police or anyone on their tail off—all of which was also conjecture, because if they had performed the preliminary scouting, then they would have already acted by the time he arrived in Castelia. Or within a timeframe that still left him in a position where damage control would be a priority rather than a last resort. They still needed to get to Nimbasa from Castelia, which was no small stretch either.

Bloody distances. Sometimes he wished he could teleport. He really freaking did. Disadvantages sucked.

On the flip side, and with luck-if he dared for once count on that sorry excuse for a boon- they'd be held up by travel time like he was. The jump from Hoenn to Unova, and even worse, Kalos to Unova, was one that even a Metagross couldn't take and a Garchomp couldn't fly to without dropping out of the sky of exhaustion, meaning more conventional forms of travel as opposed to remarkably _convenient_ teleports or long distance flying.

Miles of sea separated the regions, and a long stretch of continent blocked off the region from a direct route by water, and the northern winds found near Unova and Sinnoh iced over the wings of planes and airships, making air travel dangerous at best in the winter. Weather wasn't really an issue in Hoenn, being in the tropics, but it was a harsh reality in the northern hemisphere and to a lesser extent, the southern.

He leaned an elbow on the railing, still mulling it over. "Unovan cities have large buildings, perfect for surveillance… lots of windows-"

A jolting wind of cold touched his fingers and he recoiled back, easing up when he saw who was responsible. White Queen blew some cold air into his face with an evil cackle, Boagrius smiling happily on her back in his sun form.

Moving from her back, the cloud pokemon perched himself atop Riven's head, a strangely warm blob of squishy matter. It made Riven look ridiculous but he didn't really mind. "CAST!"

"Nice to see you too, Boag. Take it easy on the shouts, you made the glass on the windows vibrate just now," Riven chided lightly, bobbing his head sideways. The Castform didn't budge, still smiling brightly.

Haona grunted, motioning to the translator hanging on the strap of his pack with a claw. She twirled the bang of fur on the side of her head. "Sooool."

"And you. Stop insulting me, I'm your trainer, brat. Need something?" Riven asked. He'd gotten better at understanding them without it lately, but he didn't quite get everything they said. Turning it on with the push of a button, he settled the translator around his ears, moving Boagrius' very light body with a hand to make way for the headset.

"_Not really_," Haona said listlessly, the electronic voice of a young woman replacing her growls and low hisses. "_I've already seen a ship already. I'm really bored of walking around."_

"Did you try the lower decks where all the other pokemon are?"

"_You try walking around alone being me,"_ she shot back sourly. She growled again, coming out as a half whine of frustration with the synthetic voice. "_The sailors looked at me once and started praying. Pfft. Humans."_

Ah, that's right. Sailors were as paranoid as they were vulgar. An Absol was a grim sign on _land_. On the sea? Better bet they prayed. Not that it would help, you know, given the implications of what his permanent vacation into the future entailed.

A fleeting thought came to Riven, a random tidbit of information he'd picked up in the Lumiose library. Apparently an Absol was sighted uncharacteristically near the S.S Cactus shortly before it departed, hit a giant iceberg and went under; and well- needless to say, no one survived that. The caution was warranted.

"Where's Aine and Baron?" Riven wondered instead, deciding not to disagree with her or entertain the thought that he could potentially die of exposure in Jellicent inhabited waters. The water near Unova was damn cold, being up north. "We can head down there if we get everyone together. That way the sailors won't start blaring the alarms and people will reasonably keep their shit intact and not lose it."

Haona nodded, checking off Boagrius-who was still firmly planted on Riven's head- while trying to recall where the others were._"Baron's with Gale, practicing or something. I don't know. Aine is-"_

She seemed to think about it for a moment, then paused as her eyes traced a blur of red and beige feathers, the cheerful cry of a child floating into her ears shortly after a familiar Blaziken shot up into the air like a bullet.

"_-giving children nightmares,"_ she finished blankly as she gestured with her horn.

Riven caught sight of the energetic Blaziken coming down from her jump, who looked positively enthralled with entertaining the children via building high jumps. That couldn't be healthy for the poor floor though. Metal was sunken in already. As far as he was concerned, he didn't know that Blaziken if the captain told him he had to pay for repairs.

"Kids are having fun it seems." He leaned his back toward the railing, his dour expression shifting into a mischievous grin. "But… if they somehow die, let's pretend she's _not_ our teammate, return her, then sneak off. They'll never see it coming. We can leave dear William though, and Quil's crazy ass. Cut our losses. Just don't tell Gale, she'll skin me. Then chew me out. Not sure what's worse."

Haona snorted very loudly, sitting on her paws beside him. She scratched a claw on the polished marble of the floor, signaling for attention until her trainer finally obliged and ruffled the fur on her head. The three of them stared out at the waves in equivocal boredom. A few minutes that felt like hours droned on and Haona finally voiced her concerns.

"_It's hot,"_ she said, a slight bit irritable. Even though her white fur reflected most of the infrared rays and blinded just about everyone else, the sun bore down on them with its heat._"And dull. Did I mention hot? Because it's hot."_

"I'm aware that it's hot, White Queen. Be glad your fur is white."

She gave him a scowl. _"Says the hairless Mankey. At least you can sweat."_

"Ah right, sucks for you." She bit his leg. No reaction. "Well, we're still in the tropics but we should be going north soon. So it should get less hot. And if I'm right, it should get a little more interesting. A lot more, actually." He shrugged casually. "And we get to see a new region, that's a plus. I still need a sixth and I heard Unova has some unique pokemon. You've never been outside Hoenn, so it should be something for you."

The Absol perked her head up again. _"A new teammate?"_

"Eh, possibly," Riven muttered airily. "It's going to be a bit different training it if I'm not going to be doing gym battles anymore. At least not primarily."

"_You mean training for more dangerous things? Like you do with Efrain?"_ She guessed, thinking back to Petalburg and how she didn't even think twice before bisecting that man like a fruit. _"Are you sure that's a good idea? We're used to it but…"_

"Yeah," he said solemnly. "I'll have to if I keep going with this. These assholes aren't the good kind of people you can leave walking around alive. Although… I would like to give it some pokemon battle experience also, so it doesn't accidentally kill something if I somehow get into a friendly spar. I've seen combat trained pokemon, and it's safe to say none of you are like that. They don't know remorse, or love. And saying you're sorry that you blew another pokemon's face off works very poorly."

"_I agree, combining fighting, lethality, and the verge of death is something that should only be fun to our trainer!"_ Boagrius laughed boisterously, drawing the attention of the people around them. _"I must say, however, that not having any life threatening event in our immediate proximity makes things dull. So dull!"_

"I'd normally deny it since I usually end up in the hospital, but you're kind of right. Everything feels too… peaceful. To think I imagined this as an ideal life. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Funny how life turns out," Riven chuckled. He stood, taking one last look at the tranquility of the sea and deciding it could wait. There was still six more days of it left anyways. "Since you're both as bored as I am, let's go collect the others and head down, then find a couple of trainers for you to thrash into the floor. How does that sound?"

Haona's mood lit up and Riven felt Baogrius growing a bit warmer at the mention.

Ripping Aine away from the multitude of mini humans that wanted to go Blaziken bungie jumping, Riven and most of his team descended to the pokemon arena. The entire area was fortified with thick steel walls specially built for collateral damage from battles and could even house the largest of pokemon, judging from the Steelix he could see slamming its poor opponent face-first into the floor.

There were trainers and pokemon scattered just about everywhere, with explosions and shouts ringing throughout the entire arena. Several stands were erected on the edges of the arena, protected by what seemed to be a cutting edge forcefield that pulsed blue every few seconds, some kind of new technology developed by studying light screens and reflect. Curious, he ordered Haona to fire an ice beam at the crowd.

She did, much to their astonishment as the force field flared a bright blue as the beam made contact with it, nullifying it with only a few ice crystals dispersing throughout the air.

"Huh," Riven mused, pleasantly surprised. "That's interesting."

"You fucking asshole!" Came a voice from a man in the stands. "Are you insane?!"

Peering up at him and just as they made eye contact, Riven gave him a creepy, demented smile. The man seemed like he'd been hit by a paralyze wave. "Maybe we should try a hyper beam next."

This time not just the man turned milk white. Several other people seemed to brace, not trusting the barrier either.

"_But I don't know hyper beam," _Haona protested.

"He doesn't know that."

"Crazy nut job! You're a scourge on the trainer population!" The man got up and took what Riven presumed to be his son and left in a hurry, still cursing these "crazy ass trainers". The offending trainer let out a sardonic snort and shrugged when Haona regarded him with scrutiny.

"_You shouldn't mess with people like that,"_ she reprimanded.

"And yet you listened to me," he mentioned simply. White Queen was about to object but was confounded that she'd listened without a second thought, even despite knowing she shouldn't do it.

"_I-I didn't think about it,_" she managed quietly. "_Why did I do that?"_

"Yeah, why did you?" He repeated, walking ahead. "That's the issue I'm seeing with trainers and their pokemon these days. Blind obedience isn't good for you. Just look where it got me. Don't listen to everything I say, sometimes I make bad decisions. At times I make terrible decisions. I wouldn't want any of you to do something you're not comfortable with. Think for yourselves sometimes, out of battle and in it. A soldier is part of a unit, but he's also his own man. Not that you are soldiers, though. If Gale heard me say that she'd definitely skin me."

He looked around just in case.

"_Oh, so _now_ you decide to give us your human trainer soldier wisdom? _After_ you decided to do something you weren't supposed to?"_

Riven held back a shitty smirk.

She scoffed. _"Filthy hypocrite."_

He chuckled and swayed his head to get Boagrius' attention. "Hey, will you check to see where Gale and Baron are? Look for that overgrown Pidgey and an annoying Fletchinder, eh… I'd say a giant crowd huddled around them should be a good indicator. Rare pokemon and girls attract guys like Beedrill honey attracts Teddiursas. Wish I had a water pokemon so I could spray them with a hydro pump, turn it into an experiment. How many hydro pumps does it take to sate that thirst?"

Within seconds, Boagrius had found the abnormality in an edge of the arena, where a bunch of trainers were gathered around a very nervous and frantic Gale, with Baron leering at all the older boys.

Riven made his way over, using Aine's arms to hold onto while she hopped across the arena in one leap, with Haona running ahead. The Blaziken, in a flashy display, rebounded off the wall and landed semi-gracefully beside Baron with little more than a hard step. Never mind the wall having a Blaziken's footprint embedded into it.

"_Took you long enough,_" Baron hmphed as they touched down, _"maybe now all the annoying trainers that don't care about how rare Vizi is can leave. I can read their thoughts and they make me very uncomfortable. Teenagers."_

"Oh look, the pot is calling the kettle black. Maybe you should have listened to those same feelings _before_ you went and had an egg to dump in my lap," Riven pointed out with an added hiss. "If anything, they remind me of a certain young Kirlia flipping up skirts on the beach."

"_Hypooooocrites,"_ Aine sang teasingly.

"_Hey,"_ Baron replied with a raised finger. _"I learn from example. And don't you dare pull irresponsible on me, dear trainer. I _will_ go there. And I'll give Will ideas to give you more crap. Don't make me do it. He's already asked me to give him dirt on you."_

The Gallade crossed his arms and waited.

"You…" Riven stammered for words, growled when nothing came to him and flipped Baron the bird in a poor attempt to defy his defeat. "Enjoy this victory, I'll get you back, just wait. I'll smite you with the power of a thousand suns."

Aine stepped in, breaking the contest. _"Help Gale first, go back to insulting each other later."_

"Yes, _Baron_," Riven bit out. "Go back with the rest of the team you rowdy, disrespectful lecher. I'm the trainer, so I'm pulling rank. Bad pokemon. _Shoo_."

Flashing a smug grin, the Gallade turned around, heading back with the rest of the team.

"_I still won."_

"Fuck off."

Baron let out a boisterous laugh, his work was done here anyway. Riven's entrance had deterred some, but the few remaining were definitely sizing them up. Sufficiently unhappy with losing to his pokemon, Riven's scowl was intensified. Armed with his weapon, he turned to the crowd.

"Oh, it's a girl?"

"Her feathers are so glossy!"

"She's a fire and flying? Such an awesome combo!"

"You're so lucky to have a Fletchinder, when she evolves, she'll be unstoppable!"

The sight of Gale looking like she wanted to crawl away and die made Riven want to snicker. A commotion occurred at the other side of the crowd, with Haona pushing through trainers like a bowling ball. When she reached him, her fur was ruffled and unkempt, panting lightly.

With his entire team here, save for Efrain, whom he couldn't take out for safety reasons, he strode over to Gale and placed a hand on her shoulder, resulting in Riven almost getting a right cross to the mouth had he not had the foresight to back away before she reacted.

"Don't scare me like that!"

Seeing some of the more interested trainers lose a substantial amount of it once he arrived, Riven crossed his arms. "You can thank me later," he said, flicking his eyes towards the now dispersing crowd. "They're not so bold after seeing a Blaziken, Absol, and Gallade on one team. Being a guy helps too. These trainers are so desperate it's hilarious."

Gale blinked and got a wonderful idea. "Hug me," she ordered.

A brow shot up into Riven's hairline. "What?"

"_Hug. Me_," she whispered through clenched teeth. She just about had it with all the attention Vizi received from being a foreign pokemon, and with that attention came male gazes that wouldn't _go away_. "Please. I'm being smothered. Send help. And put your _I'm-going-to-kill-you_ face on."

"Don't freeze up like a dead fish though." Riven said, hugging her tightly and mustering the greatest of death glares as she broke out into the most girly giggle he'd ever heard escape from her mouth. His face almost _twisted_ and had half a mind not to fling her like a Banette doll.

The hug did its job though, as even more trainers _suddenly_ lost all interest in the Fletchinder and walked away with a sour scowl on their faces. Gale exhaled in relief as they left. "Thanks."

"I said no dead fish, not spoiled Ever Grande brat." He shuddered. "That's… eugh. It was like hearing Isole laugh. Good god…"

"I had to sell it, or else they wouldn't think it was true," she reasoned, rolling her eyes. "Thug faces do keep away guys… It's like male bug spray! Brilliant! Nurse Joy's advice was sound. Thanks for the reminder."

"THUG FACE?" His growl died prematurely_._ "Wait, Nurse Joy told you that? Seriously?"

"Female trainer survival 102." Gale replied with a cheeky grin. "She said that befriending someone like that would keep other guys away. Solo female trainers get harassed quite a bit, and it's hardly safe. So a big, _strong_ man scares the annoying ones away. I lucked out with you." She batted her eyelashes at him. "They think twice about trying something."

"Sometimes I wonder whether you're playing me deliberately."

She snickered as he squinted at her.

"Stop that. The innocent girl façade won't hold up with me. I'd rather you break them in half. They'll stop leering once that happens. Nothing kills their self confidence more than a woman who can kick their ass. Do what you did to that guy in Mauville, his balls fell off and he never got them back."

"I know you're only saying that because you thought it was funny."

"Exactly because I thought it was funny. Do it again."

"Yeah well, I also don't enjoy getting assault charges." She countered. "Why don't I do it to you then?"

"Hah. Train for a couple more years and you just might have a chance. By the way, where's-" A giant pillar of fire erupted on the other side of the arena, where a poor Hitmonlee was sent flying into the air, landing on the floor with a sickening crash. It writhed on the ground from its charred body, until one of the arena aides rushed over to it with a Blissey. "I'm assuming that's Will."

Couldn't be anyone else, with the molten slag covering most of that side of the arena. Howling laughter could faintly be heard as he saw black hair and a caped figure perched atop a wall of hardened lava. The blue Jolteon sparking beside him was just extra confirmation.

Riven's fingers were on the bridge of his nose before he knew it himself. Starting to become a habit around Will.

"Mmmm. He's been challenging people left and right. The trainers here vary. Some of them are as strong as Will, but a lot of them seem to be around the middle of the gym circuit, in terms of team strength," Gale assessed. "I'm pretty sure Baron alone could sweep a team."

"Unless it's a bird, then he's fucked. But I don't think I'll be battling anyone right now. Need to draw up the plans in my skull." He framed a square on his forehead with his fingers. "Haona is up for it though, she's been itching to battle all day. Mind taking the reins? Get your frustrations out? Thinking about blue Jolteons give me brain-splitting migraines."

Haona trotted over, red eyes pleading. The brunette laughed and couldn't help but accept, scratching the back of her head. "Who to beat into the ground first, though? I'd hate to Growlithe-puppy kick newer trainers."

And definitely not with Riven's pokemon, who probably qualified as Victory road level from the amount of non-stop training they did for a three whole years. Haona was fast enough to run down herds of Tauros at full speed, and was even able to keep up with Flannery's Rapidash, who was a certified Elite level pokemon. Her razor winds alone shredded groups of trees and her night slash had the power to make an Aggron double over. _Without_ sword's dance.

"Well…" Riven mused, "I suggest against that smug prick over there that's been undressing you with his eyes this entire time. Teach him a lesson about being a creepy bastard. Meanwhile I, will go observe from a distance, and break my mind trying to figure something out."

"Obsess over it and it'll just make you crazier than you already are. _If _that's possible," Gale mentioned idly, releasing most of her team and beckoning Vizi over from playing with a Pidgeotto about her age. "Go take a nap or something. And don't pace around, it makes people nervous. It makes _me_ nervous. Relax for once, we're on a cruise, enjoy yourself! And try to ignore Seren's… odd color."

He grunted, but in fear of having her lecture him, was convinced to forget about the impending doom and retreated to the stands, taking Boagrius and Baron along with him. Aine preferred to stay in the arena, playing tag with some of the other pokemon scattered about.

Haona and Gale shined with excitement as they battled the creeper in a two on two match, with Vizi as the other participant on Gale's side.

Some members of the audience cheered, and Riven began to clap as well, not just for Gale, but for Haona. His team was powerful but-

_Will it be enough? _

Silly thought. It never was. And he had _no idea_.

* * *

_Land. Finally._

The cruise ship had finally reached Unovan waters, with the land mass visible in the distance.

Approaching the region, Riven climbed up the flag pole, his worries alleviated slightly by the fascinating suspension bridge that connected Castelia to the southeastern part of Unova and the Pinwheel forest. Four support pillars bigger than those of the train system in LaRousse stood proudly out of the water, where descending cable-like supports curved downward to uphold the weight of the bridge below. Despite the distance, he could tell that it was massive, completely dwarfing any bridge he'd seen previously. Unova had a lot of impressive architecture from the brochure, and Black City was a wonder of technology and progress from what he'd heard.

And Castelia didn't disappoint either. Skyscrapers and huge office buildings towered in the background as they stepped onto the docks. Cars and people raced around in the streets, as if in a tremendous hurry. Lumiose was as large as Castelia, but didn't have nearly as many high-rise buildings. Made him wonder if Nimbasa had the same aura too.

Gale and Will were absolutely stupefied. Riven had to chuckle when his own pokemon looked like someone had slapped them with an iron plate. Felt good to finally be the one that didn't have to pick his jaw off the floor. While still immensely impressive, Lumiose had dulled the blow quite significantly.

"Center of commerce for an entire region, huh?" Riven mused as they passed by an entire street dedicated to stores and clothing outlets. Trainer accessories were on display, hanging from shop windows with various signs advertising prices and deals. Large, building size screens lined some of the skyscrapers, blaring out products and videos of Gym battles. On one of the screens, the Castelia City gym leader was trouncing his challenger as a group of people sat in the square, watching the battle with eager interest.

"The skyscrapers make the ones in Rustboro look like toys!" Gale gasped, trying to count how many windows and floors she could make out. "Is this what Lumiose is like? Everything is so… wow."

Riven rotated in a complete circle, quickly taking in the scenery around him. "Like Lumiose? No, not really. For one, the buildings are smaller in Lumiose but there's a lot more of them and it has a sort of… classy feel? Here you can feel the energy, the rush. Not as homely as Lumiose though, or as fancy. This is as urban as it gets. There's a reason people go to Lumiose for romantic escapades," he said, shaking his head with a wry smile. "Alleyways are similar though… Bet there are thugs everywhere hiding in them. Every city like this has its fair share of scum."

"Lucia wasn't lying," Will said, peering into a shop window. Seren mimicked him, cocking his head sideways at a figurine of a Jolteon, pawing at the glass. "There's all sorts of stuff here! It's like a bigger Slateport!"

"Only Slateport isn't so cold," Gale said, shivering. The air was chilly, being in the middle of winter. There wasn't any snow yet, but it was likely it would start soon enough. Riven and Gale were dressed in thicker clothing meant for the cold, while Will was walking around in shorts and a light sweater. He didn't appear at all bothered by the chill. And why would he? The guy was perfectly fine when Isole almost turned them into ice blocks.

"Castelia's impressive, but we can sight-see later." Riven scratched the side of his head with a finger. "We should find a pokemon center and link our pokedexes with the regional map first. We'll need it when we head to Nimbasa. And to be honest, I also want some Pignite ribs. I'll blame the port in Will's hometown for that." He looked around with a hum. "Think there's a restaurant around here? I'm damn hungry."

"Oh, that's right!" Will piped up, knowing exactly what shop Riven was referring to. He went to it often whenever he visited the port. The dish was Unovan in origin, so the food as a rule of thumb had to be better directly from the source. "We can get the original here—the pure Pignite ribs. But-"

The two boys focused their gaze on Gale, who returned a flat look. "You want to use my pokedex to find the restaurant, right?"

"Yes. It has nice 3D models. And directions that actually _work_ in cities."

She sighed, not bothering to attempt dissuading the two. Pignite ribs did sound fairly delicious, especially after eating that ship food for a straight week. "To the pokemon center then… but you're buying," she said, addressing Riven. "Your idea, your treat."

Nodding, they found the pokemon center nearest to them several blocks east, syncing their pokedexes with the city and regional maps. Leaving their essentials there, they found the restaurant in a shopping mall and began to eat while planning their next move.

"So, when are Seab and Amy getting here?" Riven asked, holding up a rib. "If they're coming at all, that is. I hope Amy isn't too pissed about it. I assume you know how she gets. My mouth still remembers."

"She wasn't too bothered, actually," Gale replied, slipping Seren a piece of her food under the table. "They both said they wanted to visit Unova some time, but they weren't too thrilled about it coming from you."

"That definitely makes me feel better," he said dryly. "Mind I ask why, they would think such a thing of me? I'm the harbinger of peace and prosperity—the very symbol of tranquility and pacifism," he followed up with a perfect deadpan. A deadpan which couldn't contain the stupid grin that threatened to form on his mouth while Will gagged and almost sprayed his drink over the table.

"Symbol of tranquility. Hah! That's a nice joke. You know _exactly_ why."

Images of explosions, Scyther, lightning, ruined city squares and getting shocked to the point of paralysis passed through his mind.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," he said innocently.

"And I'll believe that when the sky turns green," she huffed with a glint of humor. "I think they should be here already, they left for Unova around the same time we did. And there's way too many docks in the port to find them there so they said to meet up in the Central Plaza—it's a central location and anyone who goes there probably won't pay any mind to four trainers sitting around with their pokemon, so no worries about people overhearing. I'll call her after we finish up here."

"Who're Amy and Seab?" Will wondered, sufficiently recovered from his episode. "Friends of yours?" He held up a hand before Riven and Gale could utter a word. "Are they Riven's friends or your friends, Gale?"

She waited to finish chewing before answering. "Uhm… is that important?"

"Yes."

"Err, both? I-uh, met them through Riven but they've talked to me over the years so… I guess they're more my friends?" She didn't seem too sure.

"Okay. Because Riven's idea of friends are people that want to kill him." Of course, after his little test back in Mt. Pyre, he was one of them too now. Details, details.

Riven looked at him, mouth full of meat and sweet oran and honey sauce, "Amy punched me in the mouth then had her Grovyle hold a leaf blade to my neck. That's how I- no, that's not right… How _they_ introduced themselves to Gale. Through me." Waggled a hand in the air, talking about it like it was the weather. "Sort of. If that makes any sense? Gale became friends with them after me and Amy nearly murdered each other in a public event. She's generally friendly though—most of the time at least. Think of it as intimate bonding, only with mutually assured hatred. Oh and that was right before the dragon festival, for extra trauma points."

Will was completely unsurprised. "See, this is what I mean." He pursed his lips and took out his phone. "I should call Lucia soon too. But how do I explain this to her and not have the rest of the Unovan Field Operative division breathing down my ass?"

"Welcome to my world," Riven remarked sarcastically. "Where you get screwed by anyone and anything while everything goes wrong. Where is she stationed? Assuming she's not part of the investigation divisions that roam around the place. That'd be easier for us- What?"

Will's face contorted, like he'd just bitten into an Iapapa berry. He set his phone gently down on the table and took a prolonged drink of water.

Riven shared a sigh with Gale as they both figured what he was about to say. "I'm hoping you're going to say Nimbasa for convenience purposes, but I guess I'll just pretend it is to make myself feel better." He just knew that she'd probably be somewhere halfway towards nowhere. And as the universe tended towards of a maximum of "fuck you", it obliged.

"She's in Iccirus city," Will said in a dispirited tone.

Glanced at the map.

"Shit."

"That's across the region," Gale pointed out, grimacing also. A holographic display of the region appeared before the table, with the location of Iccirus flashing in green. "Hundreds of miles away. Even flying it'd take weeks with rests. Riven, I really wish you could teleport."

He held up his cup of water in defeat.

_Yup, perpetual fuck-you circle. Universe never disappoints._

"Well, that certainly screwed things," Riven deadpanned. "Even if she's in the frozen ass end of Unova, see what you can do with her, Will. I doubt she'll leave her post unless we stress the urgency of this and get her superiors to listen to us but if we want to use the UFOs and get them on our side, we'll have to be careful. Scratch that, Plan B. Get the UFOs to listen to us, preferably in their field office at Nimbasa. You and Gale could be just as you are, trainers from Hoenn. Since you know Lucia, that establishes some trust. Should be enough to get through the door at least. If they don't think you're in on it and stupidly arrest you first.

"Well, I have eight badges," Will stated simply. "Should make them think better."

"Never know. Still, it means you're a capable trainer that has the authority to get involved in large scale conflicts. Even if you're foreign. I know Unova dislikes foreigners, but I also don't think they'll turn a blind eye to that."

"What about me?" Gale wondered, zipping down her jacket to reveal her badges. "I've got six."

"As long as you have more than five, you can get involved without repercussions. Although they might withhold information from you. Honestly though, I don't expect the UFOs to believe anything you two have to say, considering we have no concrete evidence, just here-say. And trainers are _not_ officials. That's not even going to explaining how they know about this. They'll definitely try to question it out of you. We know these guys exist, but they don't. And they know even less about how dangerous they are."

"So basically, our story has to not sound full of shit. That'll be easy," Will remarked sarcastically, "so where do you come in then? You're the grand architect of the plan. Planning isn't an excuse to be a lazy ass."

"I'll think of something. Both of you might not agree with it though… They might not believe a couple of trainers barely out of their twenties, but with what I'm thinking of, heads will turn." _I hope_. "I'll wait for nighttime-that's when I'll start looking for information. Not now though, it's still daylight out," Riven replied, standing up. "Are we done? We need to meet Amy and Seab before it gets dark out."

Heading to the Central plaza in the middle of Castelia, one of the only places in the city with an abundance of trees and _actual_ grass, the three sat on a bench, waiting.

Within twenty minutes, they noticed a Staraptor fly high into the air, where it signaled with a wing and loud cry. A blue-haired young man and a blonde girl with a spiky ponytail appeared a minute later, greeting them with a wave as Gale stood and returned the gesture. Riven and Will remained seated, the former indifferent and the latter a slight bit curious.

The blonde girl gave Gale a tight hug, and the other one simply smiled, directing his attention to Riven and Will instead. He raised a blue brow upon seeing Riven, then Will, who was equally as lost. A large, scowling Manectric and a Lucario flanked the guy, while an Ampharos and a Mawile could be seen behind the blonde.

"Oh crap, is that Riv?" Amy asked Gale, astonished to see him after the events of the Dragon Festival. Green eyes beamed as she stood over him. "You look so different! Last I heard you got arrested."

_How does she even go from looks to getting arrested so easily? Oh wait, it's Amy._

"Briefly," Riven replied simply. "Then, uh, things happened."

"Ah-huh," she said, not convinced at all. She folded two fingers in the air repeatedly. "_Things_."

"Yes_, things_. Though it's nice to see you too, Amy. It's been what? Nearly five years now? Jak evolved and- a Mawile? Nice choice. I'd say you look different too, but that spiky ponytail is still there. And Seab… damn you grew. How old are you now?"

He held up a friendly hand. "Twenty. Almost twenty one. Also, I bloomed late." He took a glance at Gale and lowered his voice to a whisper, leaning in. "I'm not the only one, right?"

"That you're not."

"Anyway, who's this?" Seab asked, holding a hand out to Will. "I'm Seab."

"Will, Riven's friend."

They shook hands, and Seab sat down on the bench with them. Amy then introduced herself to Will, to which he absently shook her hand too. Quickly settling down, they got right down to business.

"So, skipping unnecessary stuff first, what's this about, Riven?" Amy asked. "Calling someone to another region is pretty serious."

"And strictly private, isn't it?" Seab deduced. He caught the subtle question in Riven's glance. "You're going to the authorities afterwards, and us _first_. It _has_ to be serious, and partly outrageous."

Refuting that was pointless. Riven nodded, his expression growing grim. "Outrageous barely skims the surface, to be honest." Paused, searching for words. Start with the basics first, something generic. "That light in Driftveil. Did you two see it? It was on the news a week ago, before Gale called you. Even in Hoenn."

"So it does have something to do with that," Amy mused, fixing her ponytail. "We both had a feeling. How important?"

"I'm not going to tell you how important it is. I'm going to _show_ you. And when we do-" he gestured to Will, "-it should be very clear to you why we're doing this."

Intrigued, Amy and Seab followed them to the rooftop of one of the abandoned buildings in a far off part of Castelia. Thugs roamed in corners and gave them looks, but one look at their pokemon turned them away instantly. Here they were away from prying eyes, and no one would take any mind to a skirmish or two on the streets. Especially not one atop a building in an area with telltale signs of battles in the past. It wasn't fixed yet so that must have meant the city cared little about this part of town. Quite depressing, but that's how things worked.

On the roof, Riven and Will backed away from the other three, with pokemon standing in between the space to use protect if needed. Grumpy, Ren, and Jak eyed both of them with the same scrutiny as their own trainers, clearly not expecting anything. Beside Gale, Riven's team smirked, along with Will's, who simply waited for the shock and dropping of jaws.

"What do they want to show us?" Amy asked Gale.

The brunette placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Just wait. But I suggest you prepare for a lot of questions. After the initial shock, that is."

"Shock?"

Gale directed her attention back in front with a hand, stepping back. The blonde nodded, believing Gale and turning back towards the other two. It was then she noticed Riven taking off what seemed to be a necklace made of shining pink stones from under his shirt. Seab's eyes widened, recognizing what they were.

"Diancie stones…" he muttered almost wordlessly.

Once they were off, Riven shared an almost sorrowful look with Amy, who was in turn perplexed.

"Amy," he started, shifting his body. He breathed in deeply, as if distracted by something. "Remember what happened back in Petalburg? What scared you away about me? That I didn't feel _right_?"

And suddenly she did, remembering that blood red eye and that horrible feeling of something wrong—something sinister that made her skin crawl and her spine tingle. For a fleeting moment, it was as if she'd seen a force of evil; a demon in human form. His words registered and she managed a frightful croak before that wave of negativity erupted from his body in blackish wisps of darkness, seemingly blacking out the light of the city.

The same eye glowed back at her, and a growl that could barely register as human came from Riven. Hunched over, he shook his head furiously. The aura of dread and hatred receded, still present but subdued, leaving only anxiety and the sensation of uneasiness. Ren had already placed his paws in the opening form of an aura sphere, compelled to extinguish the evil on sight. Grumpy crackled with electricity while Amy's Mawile began to visibly hiss, the fairy in her reacting towards the corruption.

"Seem familiar?" Riven asked, forcing it out with some difficulty. "Hard to control… too much negativity here. Lots of fuel here—in this part of the city, resentment. It's bad..." A sudden snarl and he pointed a finger at Amy and the others, darkness collecting at the tip. Their pokemon reacted instantly, forming protective barriers to shield their trainers.

"Riven, wait! Stop!" Seab called, unable to prevent Ren from firing. An aura sphere left the Lucario's palms, heading straight towards Riven. "Move! That aura sphere can kill you!"

Riven smiled savagely, and released.

A howling blast of concentrated darkness blackened the air and carved along the floor, colliding with the aura sphere momentarily before blowing past it, weakening the pulse but failing to stop it. The trainers braced but were left speechless when it never made it to the protective shields formed by the other pokemon.

Will stood before them, spewing a flamethrower of fire from both closed fists so hot it shimmered the air around them, lighting up the sparsely lit area in a flare of bright orange. They could feel the heat just standing behind him. His hands and feet were enveloped in flames, and his skin seemed to glow. His flamethrower evenly matched the pulse, dissipating it harmlessly into the air as darkness and fire clashed.

Riven followed with a night slash, sending a shockwave of condensed darkness with a deft movement of the wrist, which had formed a black protrusion of condensed… shadows? No, darkness? Whatever it was, the blade was devoid of light. The shockwave was met by a spinning kick laced with flames, producing its own traveling shockwave of fire.

The same as before occurred, with both attacks canceling each other harmlessly. Will's fire went out with a flick of his arms and legs, and he tossed Riven the Diancie necklace. As soon as Riven put it back on, the sinister aura around him was completely gone, his posture straightened, and the snarling stopped. Red returned to a deep blue and he shook his head out, groaning with a migraine.

"God, I hate doing that. And in cities… ugh. Thanks Will." Will went over and clapped him on the back, putting his shoes back on. "What?"

Seab, Amy, and their respective pokemon could only stare in flabbergasted shock, managing only stupid stammering and monosyllabic babbling.

Gale smiled at both of them, producing a bag of industrial grade adhesive from her trainer bag.

* * *

"How do you get up to this shit?" Amy incredulously demanded, furiously slamming down some cash to pay the poor cashier at the Castelia cone stand.

Licking his own cone, Riven chuckled in amusement. Seab mirrored the question, only with less intensity and more far-off looks. He hadn't even touched his cone yet. "Believe it or not, it gets better. Let's go somewhere where there isn't a huge line of people glaring at us. Getting dark soon too."

In the pokemon center rental room, the four trainers and a few of their smaller pokemon sat around on their beds, finishing up their Castelia cones.

"This cone is really good," Will said.

"It really is," Riven agreed.

"Unova is so wonderful!"

"Such a nice-"

"Cut the shit," Amy said. She pointed her cone at Will like a spear. "You just shot fire out of your fucking legs and arms-" Changed the direction towards Riven, "-and you went full edgelord and nearly blew us to hell with a dark pulse! What the hell do you mean, humans can evolve?! That's…" She swiveled her arms frantically, which Seren tried to mimic with his paws. "That's impossible."

Channeling the same playfulness at her incredulity as Birch did when he first met him, Riven clapped a hand on Will's shoulder. "Here's to your impossible then."

Will backed that statement by blowing out a breath of flame at her, melting some of her cone. He tried incredibly hard to keep a straight face when she bit into the cone as hard as she could, refusing to believe her eyes.

"Now I see why this is so important," Seab muttered, having surrendered his treat to Ren. The Lucario had no objections, stoically licking the cone like it was his destiny. "Riven, you mentioned you were born like this?"

He nodded. "I'm a time traveler. Well, less of a time traveler and more of a flung-through-time-because-legendary-bullshit sort of traveler. I come from a much different, and much shittier time. A time when humans were indistinguishable from pokemon. Again, kind of."

"Like those myth stories in Sinnoh," Seab recounted, brain racing. "They were true after all…"

"Half a million years…" Amy muttered in defeat, "that shouldn't even make sense. But somehow it does."

"That might be because it's Riven you're dealing with," Gale chimed in.

"Urk… I'm going to go see the Joy in the front," Amy groaned. "I feel sick. Seab fill me in later, I need some time to piece my head back together." She stumbled out of the room in a semi-drunken stupor, followed by her Mawile, Vanilla.

"Don't seem quite as surprised as her, Seab," Gale pointed out. "Hiding something?"

"Only my shock," Seab responded bluntly. "Trust me, I'm not okay after that display, mostly because thinking that this is possible scares the daylights out of me. I'm from Sinnoh, and I know how things get when they go catastrophically wrong. And this… this is far from good."

He gripped the bridge of his nose.

"You said you were born like this, and something gigantic happened that reverted everyone into watered down knock-offs, but what about Will? His trainer card says he was born in Slateport," Seab said, pulling up his ID on his pokedex. "I know your Kalosian ID is an incredibly well-made forgery, Riven, but his is authentic."

"And there's the problem," Riven said. "He _was_ born here. But he was _turned into_ a fire-type. Has all the weaknesses and strengths of them, able to withstand high temperatures and even below freezing. His skin doesn't burn and his idea of lukewarm is boiling. Also stronger and faster than an average human. Much more. Not a temporary power-up device, Seab, he really did evolve. Permanently."

"He looks normal at a glance, though."

"Evolution works differently for us. Just look at me. Sure, I have mismatched eyes but I'm told that's a genetic issue. Otherwise I look completely normal. That's where we differ from pokemon, while they change form, we don't. Regardless, what changed Will was something I've been following for years now, along with the help of Steven Stone, you might know him."

"You know the ex-champion?!" He looked towards Gale, who just smiled back- no, beamed even. "B-but-h-how?"

"Granted, I met him before I knew who he was," Riven explained. "But that's not important. What's important is that whatever happened to Will was caused by a human creation from a lost civilization that disappeared mysteriously over twenty thousand years ago. We've found artifacts and puzzles from them, spanning several different regions and remote locations. Global society and it just vanished. It's _weird_. They were able to create some sort… sphere that acts like an evolution stone for regular people. One touch and you evolve, like giving an Eevee a thunder stone or a fire stone."

Seren gave a happy yip.

"That light in Driftveil? It's the same as the one that shot into the air from the ruins me and Will were in when he evolved. The spheres are keys, but evolution stones as well. They have to be handled with gloves or from people who've already evolved, triggering some sort of stored flashbacks. Steven speculated that they did more than just evolve people."

"Hmmmm," Seab rubbed his chin. "Already evolved… You said that… No…"

Riven, Gale, and Will grinned as they saw the idea take root in the blunette's mind.

"These people that you're tracking, they want this power. Humans with the power of pokemon… Oh god _shit_."

"Yeah," Riven sighed. "We don't know what they want, but one of them spoke to me and what he said made me uneasy. He talked about freedom, and how everyone deserves it."

Seab froze. Memories of his parents distressing came to him, and sparse bits of the Sinnohan news filtered in from the recesses of his brain. "Unova… Sinnoh. The Sayre cult and the Plasmas. They both wanted freedom for something. Different and utterly twisted goals but the same concept. A collusion?"

"While that would be an unholy nightmare, it's unlikely," Riven said. "Their goals oppose each other. No, it's more like the two sides are being used by the bigger one, Singularity. They're up to some shit, crossing regional borders everywhere and stirring up trouble that just _seems_ unrelated. They're nothing like the past teams, Seab. At least the past teams had belligerent idiots that allowed a single kid to defeat them. I'd have shot the kid and moved on."

"That's why you need the UFOs? You are planning to get them involved, right?"

"No other choice really. I wish I could say that we'd be enough and win through heart, spirit, and determination of the self, but that's not how real life works. They have numbers, planning, resources, and the preemptive strike advantage. We're reacting to _them_ so it's going to take a lot more to fuck up their plans. And the UFOs are great for that. Or at least, they can salvage more should everything go up in flames."

"How exactly do you plan on telling them what's going to happen? You can't walk into the field office in the cities and definitely not the pokemon league HQ and suddenly get them on your side. Gym leaders are unaffiliated with them too, so that's out. And will you mention anything about the spheres?"

"I have some ideas." Riven slouched forward, elbows on his knees. "As for the spheres… I was hoping to keep that a secret, hopefully the threat of Sinnoh 2.0 and the revival of the more extreme Plasmas will get them to listen."

"And Will's sister is a field operative," Gale cut in. Will nodded. "She might get us a hearing."

"Sure, but-"

"The UFOs aren't the rangers, Seab," Riven said, recounting the reports he'd spent hours reading in the Kalos library. "Back a few months ago, they were able to calm the situation down when that plasma protest went awry. Quickly too. Rangers are good when it comes to pokemon and keeping order on the routes, but the UFOs are trained and precise. They'll be far more equipped to deal with this sort of thing. Hilbert and Hilda may have been the trainers that brought down the Plasma's higher ups, but the UFOs cleaned up the remnants and broke up their connections."

Seab peered down at the floor in deep thought. "So what are me and Amy going to do? Stay here in Castelia?"

"That was my intention, yes. Singularity has an infatuation with blitz attacks, and I don't doubt they'll be ready to divert attention by attacking Castelia in case Nimbasa gets tampered with. There's more valuable things here than in Nimbasa, so naturally the Elite Four would be inclined to protect this place first." Riven hmphed. "Question is what are they planning?"

He walked up to the window and opened the curtain, noting that it was dark out. Taking out a large bag from under the bed, he opened it to reveal dark clothes and a mask that covered everything but his face. It had a Sableye pattern but it was painted a solid black, with a dark grey visor that obscured the eyes from view.

"What's that?" Will asked. "A mask? With a visor? Visors are cool."

Riven ignored him. Hoisting the bag up to his shoulder, he started towards the bathroom.

"I need information. And I know generally where to find it. Kalosian smuggling routes often had Unovan partners, and I still remember some of the locations that I'd heard about," Riven said quickly, stepping into the bathroom. "Castelia is a port city, so smugglers have to have lookouts and watchers to notice any peculiar activity. I probably won't get any information about Singularity here, but it'll establish a base here in Unova for me to work with. Should take about a night or two."

Seab looked at Gale and Will with a face that begged for answers. The girl shrugged impassively. "You get used to it," she whispered. "He did some things in Kalos for three years. Hasn't told me the whole story yet either."

"Don't think we want to know," Will added. "Probably going to go stab someone right now."

Riven returned wearing a dark longcoat, hair pushed back with the mask hiding everything but his mouth. Efrain was behind his back, which Will imagined probably gave him a sinister silhouette in the dark.

"Ooooooh, you got a longcoat too," Will noticed. "Who're you supposed to be? Because this Riven has a much cooler fashion sense. Suits you better than those vests and hoodies, so _lame_."

Riven walked up to Will and stuck his middle finger into Will's forehead.

"Prime. The name I made for myself as a mercenary, and yes, the longcoat is very cool. I didn't wear it in Hoenn because it's stuffy as hell in the heat." He grunted, going back to the topic at hand before he backhanded Will with his other middle finger. "I think the Unovan smugglers here will definitely know who I am. I did screw up their business partners in Kalos; the Unovan trade routes and Kalosian ones are very acquainted."

"And you're just going to walk in there? They'll kill you on sight," Seab reasoned. "I know you can handle yourself given what you told us about your past, but seriously, they might have guns. Is that a good idea?"

"Not in the slightest!" Riven smirked wryly, drawing a long sigh from the Sinnohan. Will snorted. "I'll be back in a couple of hours. When I do, I'll let you all know the rest of the plan based on what I find out. In the meantime, Will, contact your sister before she goes to bed. Seab, go find Amy and bring her back to Earth. Gale… uh, how many hyper potions do you have? By any chance?"

"…Why?"

"Reasons?" He laughed nervously. The sight was incredibly odd, having a guy dressed in dark clothing with two swords behind his back and a mask laughing like that. Almost made him seem harmless. They all knew better.

"Are you trying to take _my _stockpile?" She accused, guarding her bag. "Go buy your own!"

"I used all mine on the ship and I forgot to buy more. If I went to go buy some dressed like this I'd get arrested. Can I? Please?"

Her glare had the intensity of a storm. She glowered and threw the bag at him. "I hope it's painful. And pay me back, you ass!" She huffed quietly, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Drives me nuts sometimes…"

"I don't think questioning insanity is a good idea for my mental health but why did he take hyper potions if he left most of his team here?" Seab blinked, pointing to the drawer after Riven jumped out of the window and disappeared.

Will and Gale snapped to the drawer, where Riven's entire team save Efrain, were safely inside their pokeballs. _Not_ on him.

"That fucking idiot," Will bit out, slamming a hand on his forehead. Gale couldn't help but follow. "What was the point then?"

"Why does he do this… He's going to cheat. Just like Forina... he's insane," Gale replied languidly, climbing up the bunk to go to bed. "If you're wondering, it's like a video game character. Only this time it hurts, and you can still die of blood loss."

"I don't follow," Seab said_. Cheat? How does that work?_

"Basically… auh," she suddenly got very lethargic. "They don't just have pokemon abilities," Gale said, beginning to yawn. "Riven and people like him can use pokemon based medicines and items to heal themselves. It really is unfair. He cut into his arm and used a hyper potion back on Mt. Pyre, bled all over the place-healed right back up. I gave him the idea that gave him ideas. I've learned giving him ideas is a bad idea."

"You're now just realizing th-"

Seab and Will froze, one in thinking about the possibilities of such a thing, and the other in piecing together Riven's plan.

A savage grin spread over Will's face.

"Oh… ho-ho-ho..."

Seab's mouth hung agape. The two Gale traveled with seemed like evil master and evil protégé, with her being the only sensible one in the group; and even that was pushing it, she hardly seemed fazed by their antics.

"And another one falls," Gale snickered as she closed her eyes. "Good night, boys."

_God_, Seab thought to himself. _I just thought I'd be a normal trainer…_

But he half-figured that Riven had a way of taking everything normal and utterly destroying it. Never a dull moment with him—and by not dull he meant close to death. And now, now he was conspiring to work against a shadowy organization that had no compunctions about ending anyone, and he was in a far off region where everyone gave him a judgmental eye for being foreign. In over his head hardly seemed proper to describe the situation, a situation that was a bloody hurricane waiting to happen.

Getting a throb in his brain, Seab finally stood up to go find Amy. Or well, join her in being at a loss for words, his head was hazy enough as it is and his legs wobbled like a rundown house in a storm. He groaned, taking Ren and Grumpy with him to the mess hall, where Amy sat with a fist on her chin and an intense look of focus. He sat down beside the female Plato and sighed.

_This is going to be like watching a trainwreck. Only from inside the train. Arceus, help me._

* * *

Riven returned at sunrise, clothes stained red and his hands bloodied. He looked unperturbed as he climbed into the window, nearly giving Gale and Amy a heart attack, calmly hopping inside. They were having tea with each other and Amy instinctively flung it at him, already reaching for her pokeballs. Luckily, Baron stopped the tea- liquid and all- with a light use of psychic and returned it to her hand once Gale reassured Amy that it was Riven and not a creep that had climbed through the window randomly.

The blonde then sat back down, holding her chest from the scare.

They noticed the blood on his hands and some trickling down his forehead after he removed the mask.

"You're bleeding," Gale pointed out, examining him. He appeared to have received a clubbing to the head, most likely a pipe.

He backed away from Gale, muttering that he was fine. "Doesn't hurt. I'll just use a potion and wipe off the blood."

"What did you do, Riven?" They both asked. Amy was far more disturbed than Gale was, but she was withholding her judgment for the time being.

"Got some information," he replied vaguely. "Running around in Kalos for three years got me some names. Helps when you know where to look for scum. I didn't think it would be handy, but it was today. The guys I questioned were… uncooperative. Fixed that quite easily, but I did find something."

There was talk of another Plasma rally in Nimbasa two weeks from then; an event that likely would be used to capitalize on the panic and give Singularity another scapegoat to take the fall. Protests weren't exactly a secret thing, but plasma supporters hardly advertised their activities.

Within a day; Will, Riven, and Gale prepared their supplies to cross the desert route, while Seab and Amy stayed behind in Castelia in case they heard anything. Their role was to comb through pokemon centers and trainer circles for any suspicious behavior. The problematic thing about that was that many trainers did bizarre things on a whim, and it was hard to pinpoint any extremely worrying behavior.

Route 4 was similar to the Mauville desert in well, being a barren wasteland designed by nature to be an unforgiving bastard. Sandstorms raged constantly along the route, but with less intensity than Mauville's. Gale grimaced at the sight, but Will reassured them both with a nod.

Rika was a Flygon, which had saved them a considerable amount of time and potential disaster. Having had a close brush with the power of the desert before, Riven and Will doubled up on everything, not making the fatal mistake of underestimating the desert and its best friend, the law of Murphy.

Or its corollaries. _Especially those_.

They ended up not needing the extra water and supplies, since Rika could control sandstorms to even allow Emile and Kyne to fly safely through the small pocket of undisturbed air she created as she flew near them. They were able to get to Nimbasa in less than two days, stopping at a small settlement for rest and a meal.

Nimbasa was much like they'd been told. Bustling, with people smiling and dancing and awestruck; completely unaware of the danger they faced just being here. Riven's travel companions and their pokemon were equally concerned, a collection of frowns among a sea of smiles and grins. The happiness in the air felt like a blanket.

After all, if everything was going right, he obviously didn't know what the hell he was doing, and at that moment nothing had exploded, malfunctioned, or went up in metaphorical flames yet. This was worrying. Very worrying. The roof hadn't caved in from a coincidental sandstorm at the settlement, and the flight to Nimbasa afterwards was uneventful. And now—now he was here in the middle of the entertainment capital of the world, surrounded by enough happiness to give him cavities.

The first snag they hit was one they anticipated fully. Will had called Lucia, and the short of her response was, "hell no". Her posting had been relatively new and she neither had the clout nor the connections to do what Riven had planned. Coaxing the phone number from her, Gale and Will had found themselves calling the UFO office multiple times, to the point that an agent and his partner were dispatched to stop them from calling.

Two UFOs appeared out of thin air from beside a car, wearing deep scowls. Their presence instantly made people back off.

"Can you fucking quit calling? We traced your call, damn it. Is this a joke to you?" A field operative walked up to them and motioned for Gale and Will to hand over their phones. The other man stayed by the car, pissed but ready to back his partner up. "Foreign trainers too! Hoenn natives, I can tell. You can't come to Unova and spam the field office in the bloody League HQ for god's sake. What the hell do you want? And how did you get our headquarters' number?"

"Who're you?" Will asked instead.

"You answer me, kid."

"How do I know you're a field operative?" Will shot back, confident in his ability for annoying others. _Answer all questions with another question until they're so pissed they finally start answering yours. Perfect plan._

"Are you- ugh. Fine. Quinlan Turner. A field operative, obviously," the black-clad man responded irritably, holding up a badge. Even the Reuniclus floating beside him was managing a glowering scowl, even if it had a friendly, squishy face.

"Clus!" It demanded, chattering.

"Exactly, Sherry. Now, you two, start talking before I have to write up a pain in the ass report for two troublemakers who just happened to stumble upon a number they shouldn't have. And I really don't want to do that. It's almost the weekend and I'm not in the mood for this crap."

"And if we say we won't talk until you take us to the field office here in Nimbasa? What then?" Gale suggested devilishly. "Going to arrest us, sir?" She held up her hands and smiled innocently, joining Will, in being the brattiest they could be, older trainers be damned.

The field operative looked back at his partner and clenched his jaw. He dialed a number and reported the disturbance to the office, complete with colorful language. Pocketing it, he held in his rage. "I can't fucking believe this. Sometimes I wish we could shoot people for this," he grumbled. "God damn reports…"

Riven snorted very loudly from the shop he was in, pretending to view the wares. When he saw them leave with the two operatives, he headed into an alleyway and changed into his costume.

_Time to get into character._

* * *

Again, as expected, the operatives were skeptical of Gale and Will, giving them dubious looks and appearing more interested in how good the coffee was than what they were saying. Still, they both tried and made sure to leave out any mention of the spheres and Will's unique… _condition_, while emphasizing the threat, albeit a little vaguely. Knowing too much would cause the UFOs to be suspicious, and that was detrimental.

"I mean, the coincidences and such do make some sense if thought about very carefully, but do you have any proof?" A female operative with an Emboar asked, speaking for everyone else in the room. "And coming to us first, why not the local police?"

"Because local police are as useful as a couple of nunchucks made of two pieces of Mightyena shit tied together on a string," came a low, raspy voice from a corner of the room, covered in unnatural shadows. Gale and Will spotted Riven, no- Prime, and feigned concern, doing as told and pretending they didn't trust him. It took one step for all the operatives and pokemon in the room to draw their guns and get ready to fight.

The mercenary's mouth curved in a toothy grin. "Now, now, my friends, you asked them if they had any proof. Well here I am. I'm the one that can clarify their story, and I needed them to get the UFOs to hear me out, otherwise I'd get arrested, and I don't want that."

He grinned savagely again, his tone growing considerably deadlier, daring. "I think I could take about half the room down before you blink. Not something I haven't done before, really." A hand drew a sword with a sharp motion, pointing it downwards and causing the operatives to tighten up, with some muttering for him to drop it. He let go of the sword, but the sentient blade began to float in the air next to him.

The floating sword surprised the ones that didn't recognize it, while the ones that did furrowed their brows and gave subtle cues to their pokemon.

Underneath the bravado, Riven was sweating bullets. He was _completely _fucked if he did try anything. Sure, he was fast and could use shadow sneak to surprise opponents and he could use quick attack to blink towards them, but that would A: get him dead, or B: reveal to everyone that he wasn't normal. Cue, massive explaining/interrogation. If things went worse than he expected, both. Also, bullets were fast. _Very _fast. Speed or strength wouldn't get him out of this one, so… it was best to make them think he was a serious threat that only let them live because of his good nature, not because he couldn't do shit at the moment.

So the only option he had left was to shoot the bull the hardest he could, and play mindgames.

In a second he disappeared without a trace, suddenly appearing behind the group, tapping the woman with the Emboar. God pursuit was _fun_.

Everyone in the room whipped towards him in an instant, bewildered. The Emboar just a few steps away from him breathed fire from its nostrils menacingly, challenging him. Its trainer held it back with an arm. Riven simply grinned back.

"But… I didn't come here to turn you into corpses on your home turf, after all, I need your help. First, though, let's play a little game, shall we? I call it, 'what's my name'. So, you there," he gestured to an operative in the back. "What's my name?"

The operative's grip on his pistol tightened, but he managed a firm shake of the head, still utterly calm. Riven could see people maneuvering around the sides, no doubt trying to box him in should he try anything.

He ignored the anxiety he was feeling at being cornered, and the sweat under his clothes, but continued, still displaying confident arrogance. "Don't know? Call your boss. Ask him about the Unovan-Kalosian smuggling ring under the control of a Micheal Rosswick. Ask him how that ended. Go on. It's okay."

He waited, crossing his arms as the other's swallowed tensely, giving the man in question an apprehensive nod of approval. Picking up the phone, the operative did as Prime said. Placing his superior on speaker, the entire room sat in dead silence as a voice came through. It was calm and collected, smooth as ice.

"A break in? Hmmm, I see. Odd. Am I on speaker? I am, good. Operatives, hold your fire. The man you see before you, describe him to me."

Riven bowed playfully, shifting in a half-circle so they could get a good look at him.

"Sir, he's wearing a mask. He's armed too. I assume heavily, I can't tell if he has a gun."

"What is he armed with, then?"

"Two swords, a Doublade, I believe. The sword is floating in the air. Kalosian, but he doesn't have an accent."

"Hmmm. What color are the blades?" The superior asked, desperation evident in his voice. "Are they crimson?"

The single floating sword in the air spun, the sentient yellow eye probing deep into the operative's soul. "Yes, sir. They're red. He mentioned a Micheal Rosswick."

The superior's voice paused, and audibly clicked his tongue.

"Go on," Riven egged, cackling. "What's my name?"

"That is Prime, a Kalosian mercenary that dismantled several of the most problematic crime rings in Kalos. And made a show of it_. _A shiny Doublade was his signature, and he left murder scenes full of dead bodies, clean and efficiently killed. He's also responsible for taking down several Aberrant-class pokemon in Kalos, so the Kalos League has given him partial protection. He's also an irreverent jackass. If he claims to be on our side, I suggest you listen to what he has to say. Keep me posted, I'll notify the other divisions."

The line went dead and every operative in the room froze, then shared an awkward glance, refocusing back on Riven.

Who began clapping, half amused by the sudden shift in the situation, and because their discomfort was palpable and quite hilarious. "Hah. You do know my name! That's good. We can skip to the next stage, then. Now if you'd kindly-"

"Stay. Back."

Entering the room, an operative with a more sophisticated uniform emblazoned with a patch on the right shoulder, warned, "I don't care if you're the champion of bloody Unova, you do not come into our field office and start throwing your reputation around. You said you wanted our help, so put the Doublade away, and don't act like you're defenseless. I've heard of you too, and I damn well know some undercover agents in Kalos who've experienced your work."

Riven was almost flattered.

"That wasn't praise."

"No such thing as bad publicity," Riven added. The higher-ranked operative remained completely impassive.

"Come with us, and you will explain to us how and why a mercenary known for cutting criminals to pieces is using trainers with squeaky clean records to go out of his way and have a personal audience with the Unovan Field Operative force. Unless you know them already, which means that this is bigger than just some smuggling ring. The meeting room is a floor above us, now drop the swords, or I'll drop you. Then, and _only_ then can we have a civilized discussion, if that's even possible for you."

This time, it was Riven's turn to be shocked.

_Knows I need them, so he's trying to take advantage of that, and I have no way of refusing. Smart._

He expected them to be good, he hadn't expected them to be this good. Finding out that law enforcement wasn't completely useless was refreshing in more ways than one. Their rep lived up to its name and he suddenly felt better about going into this. Slightly.

Conceding, Riven took out a pokeball and returned Efrain, which prompted the operatives to lower their weapons and calm their pokemon. The more decorated operative, Yates, led them and practically the entire building to the meeting room, packing it in seconds.

Riven tapped his fingers impatiently against the desk, giving the ruse that he was bored, relaxing in his chair to draw the attention to himself. Gale and Will were doing a good job of not looking at him, and instead minded their own business, no doubt feeling pressured from the situation too. While Riven looked calm, he was fully ready to shadow sneak the hell out of there at the first sign of danger. That'd be difficult since his escape route had been cut off too—another good decision made by Yates.

Yates sat down across from Riven, composed and firm, a hallmark of experience behind his slightly graying hair. "Let's not beat around the bush. Prime, Gale Serna, Will Ethne, you wanted our attention. You have it. Not only did you have one of our operatives provide you a phone number, but a dangerous mercenary with a ruthless reputation broke in without permission and somehow evaded all of the psychics we have in this building. That will be examined later." He imparted a stern glance at Will, whose red eyes were uneasy but held firm. "Lucia Ethne will face repercussions based on the severity of the issue. Is this understood? She was recruited to be an operative because of her battling prowess, despite being from another region. Jail is a possibility for her. Ruining your sister's life would be unfortunate, wouldn't it?"

Will swallowed, nodding dimly. "Is she coming to Nimbasa at least?"

"Possibly. Depending on what you tell us here. If what you say is as urgent as you're implying, then she'll teleport over here in a manner of minutes. Getting down to business, however, we're all ears. Make your claim."

"Okay then…" Riven took a deep breath, twisting his body to crack his spine. His posture straightened, and his voice lost that playful savagery he'd displayed earlier. "You've heard of the protests in Hoenn and other regions, right? The ones similar to the Plasma protests-which went catastrophically wrong, by the damn way- and the Lumiose incident?"

Yates and the other higher ranked operatives were deathly silent.

Riven threw his hands up. "Oh come the fuck on. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, you've read the files. Every regional govenment read those files, and it's been about three years. I know what happened, I was there."

A female operative with the nametag, K. Allini, gasped. "An anonymous person was listed in the report that informed Viola of the events before it happened… That was you?"

"I have been doing this for a while," Riven shrugged, to which Gale almost snorted, but held it back. _She probably thinks I'm showing off._

"Point is, the guys behind this tried to pin the attack on an unstable trainer who mega evolved a fucking _Tyranitar_ in a city square, while using a robbery and local gangs to try and confuse the police. Their plan was a trap for the police while also using that trainer as a scapegoat to avoid blame and make off with dozens of mega evolution stones and some keystones too. Those were returned later by a very unfortunate crime lord. Against his will, if you know what I mean."

He tsked in contempt.

"Regardless, the situation went wrong. I was working with limited resources, but Viola managed to wise the police up and with some help from a few other 'coworkers', the plan fell flat. They still managed their objective though, and generated some mistrust of trainers in Kalos, and hurt tourism for quite a while. The bullshit mountain the League pulled was nearly the size of Mt. Coronet, and smelled worse than a Muk."

The mention of unstable trainers drew looks of concern. Good. That meant they weren't blowing him off.

"Who is this group you're speaking of?" Yates asked, taking notes in a little notebook.

"They're called Singularity, and they're well-connected, funded, and not above hiring professionals and killers. They're also behind the Dragon Festival's incident in Hoenn." He flicked his head towards Gale. "She was there too."

Gale confirmed it when everyone else looked at her. "A blonde man was there at the festival, he replaced the pokemon eggs they normally give out with Salamence eggs. A few of my friends helped drive out the Salamence until help came. Two of them are in Castelia right now, waiting for us. In case of anything."

"Anything?" Yates questioned. "Wouldn't Castelia be a better location for a terrorist attack? Not Nimbasa?"

"You'd think so if they were trying to break Unova economically, but backup plans of backup plans are Singularity's specialty and that's not what they're after." Riven's mouth fell into a thin line. "They aren't the teams that have roamed in the past. They're methodical and intelligent. They want to send a message and cause disorder of some sort. They want the whole world to see it; Unova's just a stepping stone that happened to present itself as a perfect opportunity—plenty of past conflict, and a history of tensions with the leftovers of a team with an ideology that was hard to disagree with. But what they plan on doing for whatever reason… It involves the shitfest in Sinnoh, and showing to everyone how they could recreate it."

Yates and several others muttered amongst themselves, voices grave. "Nimbasa does have cameras in just about every location and anything that happens here is probably filmed in some form. If they were trying to take advantage of the media, Nimbasa would be the ideal target."

Riven nodded, crossing his arms. A calendar was perched on the wall. "What happens on the twenty third of this month? Is there any special event going on? One that would draw a lot of attention? Carnival? Festival? I know this place is all about entertainment but-"

One of the greener operatives, a man in his early twenties, hardly older than Riven and Gale, instantly spoke up. "Elesa's battle and fan meetup tour is exactly on that day! It's the biggest day in Nimbasa city, Elesa does it every year and the people love it, Unovans come from all around the region to see her. She's a superstar! Why?"

"Because that's the day of the protest," Will responded. "When the Plasma guys are going to stage another protest, like the one a few months ago."

The agents' faces soured just remembering that fiasco.

"All the publicity that the tour gets will draw people in and they're hoping to get their message heard," Gale added, "Trainers are going to flood in too, so if Singularity wants to blame trainers for any mishaps, they won't have to work very hard."

"Castelia also has little incentive besides the gym for trainers to stay there for prolonged periods of time," Riven said. "Want to start another Sinnoh incident? All the factors are there, and I don't doubt that if they account for law enforcement like last time, they'll set a trap for them too. If innocent people die, and they make it seem like trainers did it... things will get worse. Much, much worse. Very, very fast."

In short, a shatterpoint. Drive a wedge in it and everything splinters into tiny pieces. Not a more perfect opportunity.

"How do you know there'd be a Plasma protest on that day?" Yates asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the three, mostly Riven. "They don't reveal their plans to just anyone. How, did you get this information?"

"Field operatives have laws, jurisdictions, and morals. I don't. I also happen to know how things work in the world of scum. Violence and a little know how gets you quite far. A sharp knife in the mouth and pliers tends to make people talk. And criminals aren't the bravest of them. They value their lives."

The field ops were noticeably disgusted.

Yates processed that, not happy accepting the turn of events but figured he had no choice. "And you're sure of all this? What do you have to gain by helping Unova if you're a Kalosian mercenary?"

"The Sinnoh incident didn't help anyone's business, Yates. And these guys… they have something I want. And no, I'm not going to tell you what it is, just that it's personal. Training needs to stay, or the entire world will fall apart. The training world isn't going to survive another incident like Sinnoh's. That affects me too, believe or not."

* * *

When Gale and Will finally got out of the Nimbasa UFO field office, they met up with Riven under a large tree, who was grooming Haona's fur with a brush, Boagrius perched on his head again. There was a lollipop in his mouth, and he looked unbelievably innocent compared to his little stunt as Prime.

Pretty disorienting.

When Riven looked up, he was caught off-guard when a tall woman dressed in a UFO uniform stared him down, familiar red eyes holding a knowing glint. Side by side, he could see the resemblance with Will, now that he'd gone through puberty. She was still taller than him, though.

"Lucia, you're here," Riven noted warmly, brush in hand. "Welcome to Nimbasa!"

"Stop that, Riven," she said, plopping down on the bench. She gave a heavy sigh of relief. "That stunt you pulled as Prime-god I didn't even _know_ you were Prime-was insanely risky. My superior almost had my hide! Couldn't you have called beforehand, at least to let me brace? The entire field operative force is scrambling and I'm going to be here in Nimbasa because of it. Yates scares me, honestly. So does his Haxorus."

"He stared down a very super _badass_ mercenary, so yeah," Riven joked cheekily. Gale and Will scoffed.

"Prime's different," Gale said, a little unsure if that was the right word. "Cocky bastard too. Maybe you should be an actor."

Riven frowned.

"How'd you know it'd go well?" Will asked. "Cuz you know, they really _would_ have shot you. Don't tell me you were cool as ice, because I don't care if you're a hardass made of diamond, or that you fought in a war fuck knows how long ago, knowing you, I'm surprised you didn't collapse after that."

The older male was oddly silent, and gestured to his pants. They were _quite_ new.

"Ahem, I'm glad things worked out without anyone losing their heads, in both senses. I figured they wouldn't believe anything you said, so I improvised and had to make an impression and, uh, _impress_ upon the situation."

Haona bit his leg for the terrible joke.

"So you figured the best way to do that was flaunting your dick?" Will snorted. The two girls gave both of them a look of disapproval, Lucia especially. "Without even knowing whether you were famous enough to be recognized? How much of that was pure desperation?"

"I can one hundred percent confirm that it was pure desperation. Time constraints, I had to do _something_. Could've gotten me dead and all of you arrested, but hey, it worked, right? Truth be told, if I tried anything I'd be fucked in one way or another. I'm surprised they left me go easily enough."

"Shadow sneaking into a wall when no one is looking isn't 'letting you go'," Gale pointed out with a jab. "They also tried to psychic lock you about four separate times. The psychics in there were practically twitching."

"That must have gone over splendidly for them. Did you give them a gold star for trying?"

"I'm going to give _you_ a gold star the next time you ditch us. Then maybe I'll tell them that Prime the badass nearly wet himself the first time he tried fly-"

Riven leaped at her and covered her mouth. "Shhh, shhh. I don't have any burn heals."

"Then don't do it," she advised sharply. "And don't dare pull your semantics crap on me, regret that you will. Greatly."

Riven's loophole idea deflated like a balloon. He tried to pout, but failed quite miserably when her scowl only deepened. "White Queen, she's being mean." The Absol sat on her hind legs and blew some frost into his hair. He glared, but noticed Lucia in his peripheral vision, staring at him like he was a giant crossword puzzle. "What?"

"Nothing- just… There's something different about you," she said. "Apart from the haircut." The raised finger in his hand slowly went down, disappointed. "You're calmer, less jumpy. There's a more… relaxed nature about you that wasn't there before. I always did think you were a Buneary with an attention problem." His eyelid twitched. "And I don't think you've ever brushed Haona's fur before. That's good. Actually, all of you look different now, aside from my brother. He's always been… you know."

"It's part of my charm," Will announced proudly.

"The only thing you can charm is ashes," Riven jabbed.

"At least I can charm something."

"Boys… knock it off." Lucia scolded, then readily deflected. "Gale, you're a trainer now too, awesome!" She faced Riven who was still having a growl match with her brother. "Although, I'm surprised she didn't tear you apart for being away so long when you came back."

Riven's face fell, and Gale focused her attention on the ground, swaying on her feet.

Lucia held up her hands, waving them with a stutter. "O-oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"That's alright, Lucia. I-we're past this. We worked it out months ago," Gale explained. "It's done with, I'm-I'm… just glad it's over now. Anyway, what a way to meet up again, right?" Her smile was forced, clearly trying not to remember those agonizing three years.

"Yeah," the older woman agreed. She knew Gale was deflecting, but didn't press the matter. "How did my brother meet you two again? Or did you find him?"

"Found him," Riven answered, with a hint of acid. "He nearly incinerated me and you were really close to losing a brother. Sword in chest close."

Will whistled innocently, shifting his eyes everywhere except at his sister. Lucia reached over and flicked him on the forehead. Reprimanding, she held him by the collar. "Do you want me to get a heart attack? First this whole UFO thing and now you're prodding the metaphorical dragon with a stick? I want my brother _alive_. What am I supposed to tell mom and Connor when you turn up dead because you provoked a guy that'd kill you without a second thought? Sorry, Riven."

He shrugged. "Still tempted to kill him, actually…"

"But it was fun," Will whined, dodging another flick. "At least until he went full edgelord," he said, deliberately being infuriating.

"Know what, you little piss drinker? You want to go right now?"

"I'm good with that, then everyone can see me beat your ass."

Gale held back both boys with a sigh as they growled at each other, one nearly spitting sparks while the other started reaching for sharp metal.

Ever observant, Lucia instantly turned to Riven. Considering she was a UFO, there was no surprise she wouldn't miss something like that; it was part of the job.

"What does he mean by that? I know what the word means, I want to know what it _means means_."

"Uhhhhhhh…" Riven trailed off, paused, and had to laugh. "Before I answer that, let's go get something with preferably lots of sugar."

"Why?"

"Because this is the third time this week I'm going to tell this story, and the sugar helps a lot."

She began to lose color in her face. "Oh god. I'm going to wish I never asked, right?"

"You reap what you sow. Come on, Skitty."

* * *

The next two weeks leading up to Elesa's city-wide tour were spent in preparation, organizing operatives in different look-out points and any fallbacks in case anything major occurred. Seab and Amy had also notified them that the UFOs had sent operatives there too. Many of the UFOs were dressed in civilian clothing, hidden among the enormous crowds gathering on the streets of Nimbasa. Lucia and Will were on the ground as well, keeping their eyes open for any suspicious behavior. Gale stood atop a building with several other UFOs, using binoculars to keep tabs on the crowd. Riven watched Elesa directly, surveying her tour platform from a nearby building.

The amount of trainers and non-trainers flooding in from outside the city was mind-boggling, and the sheer size of the crowds made it a difficult task to keep track of everyone. Elesa was going to begin accepting challengers in roughly an hour, so that's when they expected the protest to happen.

Riven's paranoia was at critical levels, reminding him of the times when he'd lay in wait to spring an ambush, hoping, praying that the enemy was unaware. This time he was completely sure that the enemy did know, and had established countermeasures already. What those were remained to be seen, but he specifically warned everyone that if Tesla, Loberia, Aliac, or a Silphos appeared, they should group up or wait for back-up. He only knew what Tesla looked like, and there were so many blondes running around that trying to find him amongst the crowd would be impossible.

The other members of Charaph were completely unknown, not even going into the Singularity grunts and people working for them. If the Plasmas got involved too… well, shit.

He waited, forcing himself to pay attention once the challenges started. Elesa's voice carried over across the city center, connected to every microphone in the city. Every television screen displayed her, a beautiful brunette waving at the crowds as the challenger stepped up to the podium.

Riven noted the simplistic appearance of the trainer, a kid in his teens dressed in common trainer attire with messy hair and a hat. He didn't look particularly thrilled.

"State your name, challenger!" Elesa said, her red visor opening up to reveal bright blue eyes.

"Leo Jennings, from Striaton City, ma'am!" He responded, releasing a Ferrothorn. "I-I'm e-excited to meet you! I'm a big fan!"

Elesa turned on her charm as the crowd went wild, knowing what she was about to say next. "Well then, Leo, I see you and your pokemon are daring to battle! Give me some excitement and we'll see whose star shines brightest!"

Nearing the end of the match, there was movement in the now stationary crowds. The kid from Striaton was on his last legs, his Excavalier horribly burnt by the gym leader's Zebstrika. She probably got tired of getting steamrolled by grass types and electric resistant pokemon, teaching the electric equine flame charge.

_They're early. And that kid is making beginner mistakes, that's odd._

Eyes narrowing, Riven gestured to Baron to try and focus in on the people moving. The Gallade focused for a brief moment, a light blue tinge glowing around his body. Thoughts seeped into his mind, a cascade of differing feelings and ideas. He had to stop, the flood was too strong with how many people there were. A twitch of two green fingers and Riven radioed Yates, who also observed the tour on the ground, unable to see the movement from his position but warned just the same.

"Watch the people moving among the crowd, psychics can't pick up anything with all the people, but they're suspicious."

"Keep it in your pants, mercenary," Yates warned lowly. "We don't want to turn this into a bloodbath."

"That doesn't mean they won't. As soon as someone dies, the gloves come off. That's my rule."

"Let's see if you stick with it."

"Heads up, movement on the stage."

Everyone froze as several adult trainers, well into their twenties and thirties, climbed onto the stage. The kid facing Elesa barely turned around before he was shoved forward into the arena. Immediately halting the match, Elesa's gaze turned steely, beckoning the boy over.

"What do you think you're doing? Interrupting a gym battle? Who do you think you are?"

One of the men in the group stepped forward, raising a hand and pointing at her. "You know who we are, and what we want. We want pokemon to be liberated! And you, you host public events where they go to get hurt, turning it into a spectacle for everyone else to see!"

Bodyguards emerged from the crowd as the kid made his way over to Elesa, sufficiently terrified.

"Get off my stage," Elesa warned, her demeanor changing instantly. She sent one of the bodyguards to escort the boy out. "Your Plasma protests in Castelia made a mess of everything and frightened the entire region. I will _not_ allow this in Nimbasa. Move or I will forcibly remove you. If you leave now, we can continue the show and everything will be fine, and none of you will be persecuted. Please _leave_."

Her threat was further enforced by her Zebstrika sparking menacingly beside her, electricity jolting beneath its hooves.

"And if we say no?" One of the female protestors challenged. "We have the right to protest, and if we're not using violence to do it, it's fine, isn't it? Just because you're a gym leader doesn't mean you can break the rules _your_ League established! Removing us by force? You're just a bully, using pokemon as a means of getting your way, just like those trainers!"

Elesa's glare didn't reduce in intensity, but a twitch was visible on her lip- infinitesimally small from her strict control, but it was there. Riven grimaced when he saw reporters already dialing their bosses to get in on the new scoop. They were the first wave of movement, something they'd anticipated. Next would be escalation of threats, then violence, and finally, chaos.

The Plasma's refused to budge, advancing towards the Gym leader, whose bodyguards stood formidably in front of her, releasing fighting, electric, and ice types, specially tailored for crowd control. More Plasma supporters revealed themselves in the crowd, chanting about the atrocities of humans against pokemon.

That's when the crowd got angry. Shoving and shouting followed, mainly aimed at the ones interrupting Elesa on her battle platform.

"Get off the stage, punks!"

"Let Elesa continue the show!"

"You Plasma bastards!"

"Get out of Unova! You've done enough!"

Arguing followed for several minutes, the anger growing steadily. Riven could feel it, stirring something up inside. The UFOs hidden among the crowd and in several buildings were tensing, jaws clenched and weapons and pokeballs ready when the projectiles started getting flung. Riven had to give them some due respect for holding, the police would have gone in by now and wrecked everything.

Of course, that didn't account for something else going in and fucking everything.

At that precise moment, Riven knew just what kind of countermeasures his Singularity friends had set up. And so did the entire region.

The televisions displaying Elesa's face abruptly changed to an image of a newscaster, his throat cut, face first on his desk, blood spilling onto the counter. Holding a knife, a boy with a lanky frame and coal black unkempt hair smiled widely at the camera—a spine chilling smile. There was a girl next to him, already moving the body of the newscaster. She had flowing red hair and green eyes, wiping herself of the blood with a disgusted scowl.

In Castelia, Seab went limp, watching the scene unfold as many of the trainers around him donned pokemon masks, and terrified blue eyes wide. _No… not again,_ he pleaded.

"Hello, Unova! I'm Jynx!" The girl announced cheerily, flashing teeth.

"And I'm Shuppet," the other one chimed in. His happy demeanor was completely fake, coming out completely flat, and fully unnerving. Psychopathic tendencies, for sure.

Synchronized, they grinned sadistically. Shuppet twirled the blade in his hands, licking the blood off the edge.

"We're your hosts from here on in, and we're going to finish the work our predecessors, Houndoom and Stantler, didn't finish. You might remember them, well, not you, but we do."

Jynx held herself in her arms, displaying grief. A twisted sort of grief.

"They sacrificed themselves to our savior, but they fulfilled their purpose valiantly. And bravery is to be applauded."

"_Much _applauded," Shuppet emphasized. "Just like all those trainers who were relieved of their pokemon the last time, right? Oh, what am I saying? Those trainers? Cowards. Weak. Only trainers that deserve their pokemon can be remembered."

The girl clapped her hands together, giggling. "Exactly, Shupp! Weed out the weak and undeserving; the Plasmas, the UFOs and then all of Unova. Although, I wouldn't just worry about sweet old Unova. I've heard the tropics are nice, the people are relaxed and soft there. They don't _deserve_ their pokemon either."

Riven, Gale, Will, Lucia, and Amy went rigid.

"Can you _feel_ the excitement? Can't all of you see the world we want to create? This is just the start. We have partners, and they've given us power you can't imagine! Power that will let us go further than before, to collect the trainers we'll lead into this new tomorrow. And on this excellent day, we proudly announce the Tournament 2.0! More news later! But first, we need to satisfy our gracious sponsors."

They took out a slip of paper, turning their heads at the words.

Jynx laughed mirthfully, pointing a finger at the screen while reading off the paper, "remember that every light ceases to burn-"

Leo Jennings turned to Elesa, terror shifting into a mask of indifference, his eyes turning lifeless. He took out a pistol and put the barrel to her Zebstrika's head.

"-even the brightest of stars'," he recited.

History did have a way of repeating itself.


	63. Spanners

The world seemed to stop, moving at a trickle's pace as onlookers and operatives alike could only watch as the barrel of the gun lifted, moving upward in what seemed like an eternal few seconds. Sounds faded and only a noiseless void was left behind. Cold sweat ran down skin and adrenaline filled the bloodstream, with the steady beat of the heart crashing in the chest like a gong.

And just like that, those few eternal moments passed—and the world sped up again, coming to a crashing, screeching halt after the crack of a pistol shot buried a bullet in the Zebstrika's brain.

On the rooftops and within the crowd, the operatives already began to move, already accustomed to highly tense situations. Most were still in shock.

Riven clenched his teeth. History might've had a tendency to repeat itself, but hell if he was going to _let_ it keep doing that. If this was fate, then he'd make damn sure to get a stick and royally shove said stick right up its ass.

Eyes narrowed at the gym leader, drawing up theoretical time windows. Unova's star wasn't going out today.

Riven reversed the grip on a sword, angling the blade up, ready to throw. There was no way that he'd be able to throw Efrain down from the height at which he was at. Not in time to stop the next shot, anyway—which was already being lined up with Elesa's head. He wouldn't be fast enough, but Baron would.

"Wait! Prime-" Yates called.

"Take him _down_," Riven ordered, without a moment's hesitation. The instructions were clear.

The Gallade disappeared, right as Leo Jennings began to point the gun at Elesa.

A green hand materialized as a Gallade appeared in a pink flash of a teleport, gripping the boy's extended hand by the wrist. A jarring and sickening crack was heard as Baron snapped the bones in the kid's wrist with a single motion.

Jennings screamed as the pistol fell uselessly on the floor, shots ringing out from it as it did.

Extending a green blade outwards from his right arm, Baron impaled the trainer on the blade, lifting him from the ground momentarily. Blood trickled out of his mouth as the blade perforated his lung; eyes widened in fear and his face twisted in pain, screaming coming to an abrupt halt.

On the giant screens, Jynx and Shuppet flinched momentarily. So did the entire crowd.

Baron pulled away, dropping Leo Jennings on the ground of the stage, his body landing with a simple thump. He turned to see if the gym leader was hurt, watching with a pang of sorrow and guilt as Elesa shakily held her Zebstrika in her arms. She'd fallen to her knees, blinking repeatedly at the sight.

"He's gone…" She murmured in shock, cradling her pokemon's neck in her arms. The weight of his head felt like a boulder as her hands shook. Blood stained her white skin, trickling down her arm and onto the floor. As shock receded and settled, a very different emotion formed, both stronger and purer—a cold fury. "They killed him—killed Lancer. R-right in front of me!" She clenched a fist so hard her blood almost stopped flowing into it. "Those Sayre supporters... They won't get away with this. I'll make them _wish_ they stayed in Sinnoh."

Anger blazed in her eyes despite the forming tears, with a dim undertone of sadness beneath the blaze of emotion. It hit Baron, astonishing him with the intensity of it. His chest burned, the feelings overwhelming even for him. Seeing her like this was jarring, considering her face was everywhere on the billboards, brightly smiling—a stark contrast to the rage she was demonstrating now. She wasn't just a gym leader or an icon held on a tall pedestal, she was a person that thought and felt and was _human_.

"I need my League team," she snarled, looking up at Baron. "Get me to them. _Now_."

Breaking away from his astonishment, he kneeled down in front of her, holding out a hand. _I understand, but first I need to get you away from here, help will be here short-_

Murderous thoughts seeped into his mind, putting him on alert. Shooting to his feet, he fell into a defensive stance. Focusing, red eyes widened as Elesa's security team turned around to escort her out.

Behind them the protestors reached into their coats.

_No, stop! _He called out telepathically. _Don't turn your back!_

A hailstorm of bullets followed as the Plasma supporters abandoned their acts completely, pulling out high caliber weapons and pistols of their own. When the bullets ceased, her entire security team lay dead, with only few of their pokemon surviving, sustaining heavy wounds.

Holding his arms up in a cross, the swirling cocoon of protective energy kept Elesa safe from the gunfire, but Baron grimaced when he saw several of the would-be Plasma supporters begin to take out pokeballs and reload their firearms.

He could protect Elesa from gunfire, but against other pokemon, and with that many opponents, he couldn't ensure her safety. There was also the fact that he couldn't do anything offensive with the shield up. The Protect would wear off soon, and with each consecutive use its power diminished.

When he saw a Cofagrigus and a Liepard emerge from their pokeballs, he cursed mentally, reinforcing and strengthening his shield. No choice but to stay on the defensive while help arrived. Hopefully in time.

Holding firm, he grunted as two shadow balls merged and exploded in a flare of shadows against the Protect, forming deep cracks along the rim of the shield, spreading outward from the center of the impact. Again, he reinforced the shield, repairing the cracks within while struggling to maintain the failing form of the barrier, given its size. Another blast of shadow balls made contact, and the barrier nearly shattered, pushing Baron backwards.

Another reinforcement and the two pokemon and their masters attempted to flank around, abruptly coming to a halt when a crimson blade embedded itself into the floor in front of them.

Baron couldn't help but grin darkly, grateful for the respite.

A yellow eye opened on the blade, prompting some of the trainers to take a wary step back. In a blur of movement, a dark figure in a mask appeared, holding a twin of the blade in the ground. Three trainers turned to face him, fumbling for their weapons.

"A person? He-he has swords? What the f—"

One of the smarter ones in the back panicked, face contorted in fear after recognizing the pokemon and sizing Riven up. A regular trainer this was not. "GET AWAY FROM-"

Riven hissed, not about to let the trainers summon more pokemon. _Efrain, overwatch._

The embedded sword dislodged itself and flew above him as he turned his body, gripping the other in his hand and slicing through the air in a rotating slash.

A crimson sword carved through one of protestors, slashing through him from shoulder to hip. Ducking low, Riven spun on his heel, angling the blade to prepare for a stab. The same blade ran through the next before he could shoot him, leaving the sword in him while he lunged towards the next poor bastard in his way. A knife flashed out of his coat, tearing into the third's throat as he fumbled for pokeballs. Within seconds, three lay at his feet, a bloody mess on the stage floor.

Walking up to the second, he pulled the sword out of the man's stomach like it was second nature, completely ignoring the cries of agony.

Riven turned and straightened, casually tilting his head at the rest of the group, visor and mask covering all but his mouth. Visibly sighing, he feigned boredom and twirled the bloody sword in his right hand, flicking blood onto the floor and settling into the opening form of sword's dance. He put a finger to his forehead, looking back as he did so.

Taking the cue, Baron dissolved the shield and held Elesa in his arms, quickly teleporting her away to a group of UFO operatives on the roof. Below, the crowds had descended into full blown chaos after the bloody display and the murder of Elesa's Zebstrika, with trainers pulling out pokemon to assure themselves of safety, desperately fleeing or daring anyone to attack them. The rest of the crowd was either hysterical and trying to fuck off as fast as possible, or didn't quite know _what_ to do. Screaming seemed to be the best they could come up with.

Nothing wrong with that. Really gave the everything-is-going-to-hell vibe he'd been expecting fairly clearly.

Moving in quickly, the UFOs summoned their own fully evolved pokemon and took out their own weapons, pointing them at groups of trainers. Light screens were set up around the shops and around the operatives, forming layers of protection in case of any surprises. Psychics flanked them, ready to disable and halt projectiles. The trainers on the street battling it out with each other were approached by the black-clad operatives, being held at gunpoint.

"Return your pokemon!" They shouted. "We're UFOs! Return your pokemon now or we _will_ shoot!"

Mortified, some listened, but as situations like these tended to go, things always went to shit fairly quickly, never the reverse. Of course the universe would never allow things to get less chaotic. It had to put people through the wringer first because it was a sadistic dick that wasn't satisfied until the necessary quota of suffering was reached.

Typical.

Pressurized water, fire, electricity, and all manner of attacks flared when another crack of a gun went off in the middle of the crowd, dropping a kid with a shot to the gut. Trainers were fighting each other, no longer caring who was an enemy or not. Regular people pushed and shoved, turning the scene into a brawl, only a huge public one where nobody was drunk but equally as hysterical.

The lightscreens helped some, but soon enough the collateral damage from the attacks was throwing people around like dolls and seriously injuring others. An explosion from the clash between a fireblast and a thunder blew an unfortunate man's legs off.

Psychics split the crowd as operatives made their way over to the wounded, holding down trainers as well.

"Get the kid out, he's bleeding!"

"This guy's missing an arm _and_ a leg!"

"Stop those trainers before other people get hurt—Mendez watch out!"

A signpost flew.

"Shit. Mendez down!"

"We can't bring the medics in until the area is clear!"

"Then clear it!"

"But who the hell is the enemy?" Came the question over the comm-links as the UFOs tackled trainers and their pokemon fought off attackers. "There's trainers everywhere! Who's a cultist and who isn't?!"

"Keep calm, Hyacinth!" A female voice ordered, hard and authoritative. Most likely someone with the same rank as Yates, possibly higher. "Watch yourself and be wary of any trainers with abnormally high levels of aggression, they're probably the Sayre followers!"

"So if they're trying to kill us they're bad, and if they're not, they aren't?"

Oh joy.

"That's fantastic, I mean, it's not like _everything is trying to kill us_ at the current bloody moment, after all."

More shots followed, and a Gigalith had already been thrown through a window by a hydropump, shattering the reflect protecting the shop. Several pokemon were already strewn about on the streets, sporting gashes, bruises and presumably various cracked ribs. Some were worse than that. They were lucky there weren't many fatalities yet, from what they gleaned. That would probably change if the mercenary got done with the group on the stage.

"Scratch that. High levels of aggression? Are you serious?! It's fucking crazy out here, we're sitting duckletts! We can't see anything in this crowd!" One of the operatives pointed out, slapping cuffs on an older trainer. "We need to-"

_Crack. Crack._

"Take some cover then!" Another suggested, disarming a trainer that rushed him with a knife and beat him across the head with the butt of his pistol.

"We can't let the trainers kill each other either!"

"We also can't let them kill _us_!"

"Great. Just great. First we take orders from a criminal and now this."

Several groans were heard as the part the operatives dreaded the most began—the part where they put down their lives and expected to get mangled or worse, all for some stupid nutjob. For all the chaos, the operatives moved quickly and efficiently, subduing trainers and directing civilian traffic away from the streets and into buildings. The streets had begun to clear, but it was still a mess. Blood was strewn about everywhere, along with several limbs and pieces of things that used to belong on bodies.

Gale stood on the rooftop of a building, watching for any threats from the skies and trying her hardest not to focus on the carnage below. When she heard the humming sound of what sounded like a jet, she looked overhead to see a trainer atop a Garchomp, its mouth glowing a bright blue. Color draining from her face, she took a radio and nearly shouted into it.

"There's a Garchomp in the air! Someone's riding it and it's preparing to attack! Watch out!"

"What?! Where- Oh, FUCK! Hyper beam! GET! DOWN!"

A roar resounded in the air as the dragon unleashed the attack, ready to incinerate anything below it. The operatives rushed to cover behind buildings and cars, bracing as best they could.

The beam tore through layers of light screens and reached the ground, destroying a large portion of the concrete and incinerating several vehicles, diminished by the shields but still highly destructive. Two operatives were too close to the explosion and were flung through a store window, showered in glass. They didn't get back up.

"Simmons! Gainer! Check if they're alive!"

"Seriously, a fucking Garchomp? Are you kidding?"

Before the other UFOs were able to collect the downed men, a spiraling beam of psychic energy ripped across the pavement in the street, carving its way forward as it traveled down the street, peeling off concrete shards in a shower of earth.

"Haxorus incoming!"

The two operatives rushing over to help the fallen immediately abandoned the thought and dove into an alleyway.

Blue flames roared, colliding with the psybeam in an explosion of energy and light that rattled windows and light screens, setting off several car alarms. Yates stood before them, his Haxorus roaring at its challenger, a Malamar under the control of one of the followers.

"All of you," he addressed firmly, "secure the other parts of the city and spread out, try to keep the panic to a minimum and secure the square. It shouldn't be long before our 'friend' is done with his duties on the stage. Elesa has already been secured and the Elite Four have already been notified. Keep an eye on the mercenary, his violence could make everything worse. Do try to stay alive."

Dispersing the other operatives with a glance, Yates eyed the trainer, staring him down with an intensity he still held from his own days of training.

He held his composure as he thought of the potential fallout of this incident, the thoughts looming over him in a swamping wave of concern. As much as he hated to admit, the mercenary had been right, they would try and take over some kind of radio or television broadcasting station, and as a result, they'd assigned operatives to the main Castelia broadcasting tower, as well as the smaller one in Nimbasa.

What was worrying was that despite UFO protection, these trainers still got through, just like Jubilife in Sinnoh several years prior, even with a gym leader leading the charge. He doubted they got through with pokemon alone- operatives weren't weak battlers in the slightest degree- so how did they get through? Weapons?

But how did a bunch of trainers get a hold of high caliber firearms? In Sinnoh, the few weapons that they managed to get their hands on were old and bought from criminals with standards loose enough to associate with trainers. It didn't take much to wave a stack of bills in front of a low-life's face and buy a weapon from them. The guns weren't as sophisticated and reliable as the standard issue UFO pistols and general weaponry that most regions' military forces carried, but were enough to kill or seriously injure. But these… These were professional, assault based weapons. Weapons that held heavy bans and were constantly monitored and tracked/ Ones no ordinary trainer could just get their hands on. At least not without some very, very professional help.

His Haxorus spat a wave of blue flames into the air, the light of the sun shining off its tusks as adrenaline settled in and thoughts burned away.

Something still didn't feel right.

* * *

Riven grimaced as the comm-link blared with orders, profanities, and explosions. Shuppet and Jynx were grinning like mad, sharing a bag of popcorn, seemingly applauding the absolute carnage while trying to throw popcorn kennels into each other's mouths.

He hardly had time to check the surrounding buildings or the chaos of the crowd when the Liepard and Cofagrigus shot shadow balls at him in unison. He let go of the blade in his right hand, allowing Efrain to move freely. A purple outline of a serrated sword formed around the Doublade, swinging in crescent slashes of shadow claws to neutralize the attacks. Riven wasted no time, disregarding the two pokemon as he lunged into the group of protestors, summoning his own pokemon to cover him from several other pokemon they'd summoned.

Haona and Aine emerged to intercept a Beartic, Galvantula, and a Conkeldurr. Haona weaved past a signal beam, firing razor winds at the pokemon as she maneuvered around them. The Beartic diffused the slashes, opening its mouth to shoot a volley of sharp icicles against the winds, dispersing shards of ice as sharp winds met ice. An electrically charged net of silk came down on Haona after she narrowly dodged a concrete slab from the Conkeldurr, unable to catch her footing to evade. She twitched and writhed as electricity coursed through her, restricted by the silk.

Going in for the kill, the Galvantula's pedipalps began to glow a noxious purple—cross poison. The attack closed in on her but dissipated when a blast of fire rained down from the sky. Aine landed on the stage hard enough to dent the metal, fire flaring outwards from her legs and arms as a result of the landing.

The stray cinders ignited the web and freed Haona, who shook herself off and thanked the Blaziken with a nod. No time for formal thanks, partly due to a Conkeldurr deciding that throwing concrete slabs around was perfectly acceptable.

It was not.

At least Aine's help made dealing with the three of them much easier. Fire and fighting was an ice type's worst nightmare, and Aine proved that fairly fantastically when she practically beat the Beartic's ass up down and sideways with flaming punches and kicks. The Galvantula was slightly faster than her, but was also being harassed by her flames, rendering it unable to retaliate in fear of being scorched and on the other half, frozen to death. Aine and Haona worked together, alternating their attacks between the three pokemon to cover each other.

The Conkeldurr chucked another concrete slab at Haona, taking advantage of a blind spot created from the Galvantula's thunderbolt. Aine rushed forward, spinning as she did so, shattering the concrete pillar with a single kick and sending fragments of concrete flying around them. Following through, she rolled to evade another concrete pillar and sent a flaming uppercut into the Conkeldurr's jaw, knocking it momentarily upwards. It crashed into the safety rails of the stage arena, momentarily stunned.

Focusing on the other two, an ice beam and a blaze kick to the mouth finished the Beartic and the Galvantula, freezing one solid and severely burning the other.

Their victory was short-lived as the downed fighting type recovered and managed to blindside Aine with an incredibly painful stone edge, sending her sprawling to the ground in agony.

Haona distracted the Conkeldurr while Aine got back on her feet, still hurt but healthy enough to keep fighting. Her red feathers helped cover up the fact that several of the stones had pierced skin, with droplets of blood splashing onto the ground where she stood.

Aine gave a pained wince, but nonetheless assured Haona that she was still in condition to fight.

Between dodging concrete pillars and horrifically powerful punches, Aine and Haona noted Riven fighting the other trainers, visibly annoyed that his opponents weren't complete idiots. The two knives in his hands were practically stained red and Efrain wasn't much better, spreading crimson everywhere he cut. The stage resembled less of a stage and more of a battle site, with bodies and blood in spades.

The Liepard and the Cofagrigus were zoning him out, taking potshots at him when he wasn't weaving in between their attacks and going for more throats. While annoying, he could manage it just fine. The zoning was a nice idea, but helped little considering most of the cultists were face down on the ground in a pool of their own blood.

Riven had just finished driving a knife into someone's chest when a shadowy hand reached up and gripped his foot. _Bloody ghosts_, he cursed, struggling. _Sorry, Efrain_.

_No offense taken,_ the Doublade responded, using one of its swords to slice the hand holding Riven's leg. Coming loose, he staggered in place just enough for the Liepard to pounce on the opportunity, firing another ball of ghostly energy at him.

Blocking the shadow ball with one sword was going to hurt, and shadow balls weren't exactly ineffective against Efrain. Still, he raised steel to block, in the haphazard stance he was in. Broken wrist, at worst.

Luckily, Aine intercepted a shadow ball with a blazing kick, drawing a breath of relief from him. Opening her beak, a stream of searing hot flames erupted outwards, creating a large wall of fire that isolated the Liepard and Cofagrigus to the other side of the stage. Riven momentarily peered at her, but she gave only a nod and a small smile in return. Fire flared at her wrists again as she charged into the fire wall.

Within minutes, Riven had finished the remainder of the followers off and Aine had taken down the Liepard and the Cofagrigus, leaving one a charred mess on the ground and the other a rapidly disappearing husk. Haona's battle with the fighting type had iced over the entire stage with giant crystals of ice surrounding the still form of the Conkeldurr, almost entirely encased in it. At the center of its chest was a bright pink slash mark, a pool of blood beneath its feet. She'd used the ice to hold the Conkeldurr in place to set up the psycho cut safely. Well done.

Riven and Aine met back up with her as she regained her breath, her blue horn stained red.

"Are you both alright?" He asked as he examined them for injuries to avoid something biting them later on.

The Absol gave a curt grunt while the Blaziken revealed part of the mid section where the stone edge had hit, her claws marked with her own blood. She whimpered softly when Riven looked it over, reaching into his pack.

Haona was physically fine, but Aine's skirmish with the Liepard and the annoying coffin ghost had jarred the wound and made it worse. The adrenaline had drowned out the pain, but he could tell she was starting to feel it now.

She hissed as the hyper potion he used on her began to take effect, healthy skin replacing most of the damaged tissues and flesh. Riven looked her over once more; the wound was still tender and not completely healed, but she would manage.

Now, for the topic at hand.

"Yates!" Riven radioed. "I'm done here, what's your status?"

The operative turned on his comm-link, allowing the roars and explosions speak for themselves. "Busy. Are you done murdering people? Multiple murder charges would put you in jail for life. Just a warning."

"No time for your legal bullshit. Enemies seem to want me dead, so I dead them back. Any word from Castelia yet?"

"Not-" Another roar. "-yet. They haven't answered- Dragonbreath! Move in close and use nightslash! But I know for sure that the radio station in Castelia is where Jynx and Shuppet are. They did as you said they would, I didn't expect them to get through the UFOs we set up there, however."

"That's… a little worrying. Let me see what the hell is going on first. Notify me if they radio in."

Riven made his way off the stage, witnessing the anarchy that was Nimbasa at the current moment. The worst of the crowd was gone, having scurried into buildings or the nearest pokemon center out of fear, but a significant portion of those that remained didn't know enemy from foe—which was kind of a bad thing since he was neck down covered in blood and sporting two rather large swords that were practically dripping. _And_ he had two pokemon behind him that looked equally as bad.

Good for scaring the pants of your enemies, not good for letting people know that you weren't a serial killer hell-bent on spilling their guts. Demonstrated perfectly when a nearby female trainer caught onto this, and out of fright, swung a metal baton at him that she picked up from an unconscious security guard. Right at his head.

He easily caught the baton with a hand, twisted it out of her hand and tossed it to the side with a metallic clang. Seeing her Simipour already beginning to respond, he brought up a knife, holding it to her neck. Her green eyes were alight in fear, and her Simipour's hydro-pump died in its throat.

"Aine, Haona, tell it that we're not the enemy and not to do anything retarded, like I don't know- attack us?" He ordered, watching the Simipour closely then switching back to its trainer. "I can see your mind racing to try and pull something out of your ass, girl. I advise you just not. So let's make a _compromise_. I'll let you go, you get to a pokemon center and you tell everyone to stay there and wait until things calm down. Run and don't stop. Don't try to beat someone's skull in with random weapons either. Shit is going down, so just leave it to the pros and your journey can keep going for another day. Being a hero will only get you dead. Pokemon center, you, blue monkey thing there—safety. Got it? Nod to say yes, no sudden moves."

She nodded slowly, swallowing hard. "Excellent, now get over there." He let go of the knife and pushed her on her way, careful not to turn his back. When she picked up the Simipour and sprinted off in the direction of the center, he exhaled deeply.

_Good thing she listened. Having to kill a girl that young out of self defense would have been unpleasant,_ he mused, and starting running again. "Yates, I see the universe is being its usual self. Things out here are a goddamn mess. A girl just tried to beat me upside the head with a baton. A little blood and people freak out."

"Welcome to our world, mercenary," Yates responded dryly. "Where trainers regularly try to assault you. Maybe you should try it instead of being mercenary—Charge! It's going to use psybeam again!"

"I think I like not kissing anyone's ass better," Riven quipped as he ran over to the area most concentrated with battles, doing a quick headcount of his pokemon, who were closely following him, also looking around for any threats. His eyes scanned the surrounding buildings, uneasy about how open the streets were in comparison. He didn't like this at all—too many vantage points and there was no telling how set up the enemy was, not counting the absolute chaos in the streets at the moment, further adding to the mess.

The trainers and Sayre followers were one thing, but they had to have known about the UFOs. Question was, where were the criminals and Singularity grunts? UFOs were filled with ex-trainers who'd gotten well over six badges at the least, or military brats who'd gone to school and signed on the moment they turned eighteen. Both types all demonstrated their prowess both at battling and in busting criminals fairly evenly. A bunch of kids couldn't take them, powerful pokemon or not. They'd need some heavy assistance to get an edge over trained operatives.

And there was no edge here. It didn't make sense.

His head began to feel heavy, and very faint wisps and streams lined the edges of his vision, distorting and fading out as if being interfered with. The Diancie stones, probably. He could feel the fear and distress, eating at his subconscious as something darker pushed outward. If he could see the Other flow, then it was concerning… to say the least. The only other place he saw that was in the blade graveyard, but even then, that was fairly subdued, mostly regret and envy… this, this was on a whole different scale, and a more twisted part of him _noticed_.

He's _acting up again_, he thought, shaking his head as he rounded a corner, eye stinging.

That momentary distraction nearly cost him his head as a Scizor sliced a street signpost in two, right around the corner where his head had been. He'd only just managed to dodge it, ducking below the pincers with a last minute dip.

"Haona! Aine!" He called, sliding under the metal bug as it swiped its pincers again, heading back up to his feet. Listening, his Absol fire an ice beam, locking the Scizor in place to prevent pursuit. A Steelix emerged from the ground shortly after, uplifting blocks of concrete into the air as it tried to dig up from beneath him.

_Tricky asshole_, Riven smirked as he threw Efrain at the wall of a building when the floor began to give way, pursuiting to its location to evade the attack.

Will called it the warp strike, oh so aptly fond of it from a game he'd played, likening what Riven did with Efrain's blades to that move. Riven wasn't all too versed in video game logic, but it was more misleading than saying it was pursuit. That way he could make an enemy think it was something else, considering pursuit had drawbacks of its own. Exploitable ones at that. The less they knew, the better. Also, the name was pretty cool. Scaling buildings was excellent with it, especially when there weren't many shadows to take advantage of, like in daylight.

Warping to a rooftop, he smirked at the trainer below, who looked both baffled and annoyed. Good. It was safe to assume that the guy was a Sayre follower, given his non-existent hesitation to take his head off. Unfortunately, steel types were awful garbage against fire and fighting. And Aine was _both_.

For once, disadvantages were in his favor. Which also meant that the universe had something brewing specially for him, nothing else could make his gut twist quite like it. It was just a waiting game to see what kind of dickery it had in store for him at this point.

On the other side of the rooftop, he spotted Yates and his Haxorus, duking it out quite spectacularly with a Malamar. _Kalosian devil pokemon, more like_. Those things were nasty, and had a habit of hypnotizing people. He'd fought an Aberrant Malamar once near Coumarine, his own typing rendering its mind control effectively dick. Sure, it was one of his easier Aberrant jobs, but by no means was it a walk in the park. That thing put him in the hospital for two days when it threw a metal pole into his side.

It took a gyro ball straight to the face. Fuck that thing.

Far to the right, he saw the flares of fire and electricity as Will and Lucia fought off several trainers with their pokemon. He even saw Roland using the buildings to his advantage, slicing his foes down with blinding speed. The other operatives were holding their own against the attackers and confused trainers as well, supporting their own battling pokemon with defensive techniques to protect themselves and civilians. On the sides of the buildings, faint shimmering gleamed in the sunlight, revealing traces of reflects and light screens. Minimizing collateral and structural damage too… Operatives were good.

He hardly blinked as Baron teleported beside him, red eyes watching Haona and Aine spread ice and fire up and down the street as they dealt with the trainer's Steelix and Scizor. Said trainer being frozen in a big block of ice. If the kid wasn't dead, he'd be missing a few limbs after thawing out. Ice beams were notorious for having terrible sideffects when used without restraint, and Haona didn't look too merciful.

"Elesa's safe, I assume?" Riven inquired, still scanning the streets below. "She had a close call. Can't say the same for her Zebstrika, though."

"_Yeah,"_ Baron nodded. _"Safe… but angry. She wants to get her League team, but the followers have overrun the gym. The ones in black don't know if they're holding hostages."_

"Hmmm. Figures," Riven mused, not entirely doubting that they'd try something like that. "So… how bad?" He asked instead, deciding where to head off to. Lucia and Will seemed good enough. Yates was holding things down… the ideal place would be the operatives on various streets below, since that was where the highest concentration of civilians and trainer to trainer skirmishes were, and as a result, the best possible location for collateral damage.

Baron shrugged a shoulder, then flicked some blood off his blades. _"Eh, twelve?"_

Oh, just slightly above screwed. That wasn't so bad.

"_But we have no idea who is an enemy or not, all the trainers look normal,"_ Baron continued, outlining the carnage and blood-stained concrete there was the catch. _"I don't know… this seems too…"_ He paused, in partial disbelief that he was about to say it. _"—Easy."_ He finished, concerned. _"I don't like it."_

"Sounds about right," Riven acknowledged, inhaling sharply. "Honestly, neither do I. We still don't know how badly things are going in Castelia, if they are at all, or how many injured there are. Worse yet, what happens _because_ of this." The spike on Baron's chest was glowing a dull red, and the twitch of his lips spoke louder than his words. "I mean, you can feel it too, right?"

"_Feel what?"_

"Fear. Their fear. It's nauseating," Riven said with whiff and snarl, as if smelling something foul.

The psychic looked at him with concern, glancing away after a second then held a hand to his chest. _"Yeah… Humans are more afraid of this than I thought. Not just them either—other pokemon too. Older ones, ones that know. I don't think I've ever felt so much fear. Makes me sick. Positive emotions are what this is for, not this."_

_You can feel it, but I can freaking see it_, Riven remarked in his head. "Not even at the Dragon Festival?"

"_Mmmm,"_ Baron deliberated, waving a hand, _"that was more like oh-shit-there's-dragons-I'm-going-to-die kind of afraid."_ He closed his eyes, grunting lowly. _"This one runs deeper, people aren't just afraid for themselves, that's easy to understand… They're afraid for their pokemon, for _us_."_

"Trainers really care about their teams," Riven added. "Will lost one and his fire went out of control. Enough that he burned three assholes to the point of being unrecognizable, and he'd hardly even used his flames up until then, nor did he think much of it. I wouldn't be surprised if the trainers valued their teams' lives more than theirs. After Sinnoh in particular. People will go to extremes if they're damaged enough. Those Sayre followers are nothing but cracked eggs."

"But who am I to judge them?" He laughed again, staring at his hands. "I fought a war I couldn't possibly hope to win. All because of some half-thought out desire for revenge. Or pride. I don't even know myself."

Baron was silent for a moment, then asked, "would you care if one of us died?"

Riven opened his mouth, then frowned at him. "Of course I would. What kind of question is that?"

"_But you gave a generic answer. How _badly_ would you care?"_

"Now if only you could read my mind," Riven chuckled, his lips forming an unsettling savage smile. "Then you'd get an idea. They'd leave this earth in _pieces_. And that's after I'd made sure they suffered."

Baron shuddered, satisfied if a bit disturbed at his trainer's apparent sociopathy.

"These dicks though," Riven said, switching gears. "If they want to bring the Tournament back to weed out the 'strong' trainers, they're going to have to try and take over Castelia's stadium for that. I don't imagine that going over well for either side involved. Bloodbath for sure. Even worse than Jubilife's. A fourth or more of the trainer population in Sinnoh was eliminated because of that. UFOs will have to fight tooth and nail to liberate that damn place, and we don't know a thing about what's going on over there. Rushing in there blind would be idiotic if they push the UFOs back. Worst case scenario, they take over the radio station, the stadium, and lockdown the city ports. Shitstorm wouldn't fully describe the situation."

He paused, thinking. An idea came to him and he raised finger, pointing at the sky. "Shit superhurricane. No… colossal megafuckstorm. Yeah… that sounds terrifying."

Baron ignored that. _"Well, can't you call Amy and Seab over in Cast-"_

Roar piercing the sky, Baron and Riven hit the floor instantly, knowing better than to be a highly visible target for a dragon. Pretty standard trainer advice, at least in areas marked or known for dragon activity. Saved trainers more than once.

Staying low and hiding behind a vent on the rooftop, they watched as blue flames spread across the sky, chasing after a winged figure.

That figure being a Pidgeot with a _very stupid girl_ on top of it. Brown hair flew in the wind, and Riven's stomach relocated to his knees.

"IS THAT FUCKING GALE?" Riven gaped. "Is she—Oh, fuck. She's trying to fight a Garchomp in the air with just a flying type?! That's—That's _insane_. Who told her that was a good idea?!"

"_That is something you'd do,"_ Baron mentioned wryly. _"Emulating you, perhaps?"_

"It's one thing doing something insane and it working out however stupid it is. It's another when it's both insane _and_ ineffective. That?" He stuck an accusatory finger at the dragon. "Ineffective. Insanity or not, I'm not a good role model, I _have_ said this," Riven scowled. That Noivern thing he did in Kalos nearly gave him a heart attack and ruined an otherwise perfectly good pair of underwear and pants. That was something he'd never want to repeat. "Why do people do this? I'm fucked in the head, that's easy to explain but that doesn't mean other people should follow me!" He clawed his hands together, making exaggerated hand motions "I. Don't. Get. Her!"

_She's a woman, it's pointless trying. Also, your insanity is inspiring_, Efrain pounced, disembodied voice chortling. Sometimes they forgot he could talk. _As long as it looks fun, people will follow fools. And you, are like a Poochyena puppy who tries to chase after birds. In short, a fool._

"Shut up," Riven grumbled, knocking the two blades together. His face contorted sourly as his palm met his mask covered forehead. _"_I think I know why she's doing it."

_Because you're still a fool, and a terrible prince?_

"I told you to shut up and no, it's not because of- Alright, maybe. But the main reason is because to her, _it's an adventure,"_ he mimicked, trying for his best Gale voice. "Fuck. That stupid girl… She's just going to die and then I'm going to have to-" He trailed off, mumbling lowly to himself as he saw Emile dive to avoid being incinerated.

"_Riv- Can you stop mumbling? Rela- RELAX. Well, don't relax but look, she isn't doing that bad, see the wings?"_ Baron pointed out with a green finger. _"I mean fins. Whatever Garchomps have…"_

Skeptical, Riven's eyes narrowed in focus, and true to word, part of the Garchomp's body was lined with frost and ice, interfering with its ability to fly and outmaneuver Emile. In Gale's backpack, Yukiko and Boagrius were sitting tight, blowing out powder snows and ice beams at the dragon.

Goddamn.

For such a menacing dragon, a ghost and a flying cloud a fourth its size were making a joke of it. The plan was still absolutely insane though, one screw up and Emile, Yukiko, Boagrius, and Gale would end up a falling ball of toast. That would be the second time Emile was getting chased by an angry dragon.

Good thing Garchomps were shit at making sharp turns. Salamence they were not.

"_See?"_ Baron gestured with his hands. _"Not ineffective."_

"She's still going to get herself killed," Riven huffed petulantly, standing once he ascertained that the Garchomp didn't care enough to turn them into barbecue.

"_Worried?"_ Baron chided, with a smile that was all teeth.

Riven gave him a flat look.

"'_Course you are. I'll keep an eye on her. Wait- where are you going?"_

Riven gestured to the large building with lights and neon signs adorning the exterior, easily the most noticeable building in Nimbasa. "Guess." He looked up at the sky and heaved a heavy sigh. "Having Elesa on our side would help calm people down, and make sure they don't lose faith in the gym leaders. If we don't want that epic clusterfuck to repeat itself, then we need to reverse or prevent whatever we can. She's alive, so now people need to see her _do_ _something_. Morale is important in aspects other than wartime, take it from me."

"_Why not let the ones in black take care of it?"_

Riven stood up, angling one of Efrain's blades. From what Baron could see, his trainer's mouth lifted into a sardonic grin. "Because they play by the rules, and the rules take too damn long."

One throw and he was gone.

* * *

"We can't approach the gym without getting discovered, and there's way too many of them in there to fight off. If they're holding your gym trainers hostage, we could risk them dying in the process well before we bloody get there," an operative explained to Elesa. "The situation's, uh, _pretty bad_."

"That's quite the understatement," she deadpanned. She was incredibly angry, and grieving from the looks of it, but she wasn't stupid. The UFOs were good at their jobs, but she knew from experience that the layout of her gym would be disastrous to try and take on in a rush attempt, especially with the enemy having access to firearms as well. That'd be like charging into a Galvantula's web—painful, stupid, and with a high chance of ending up electrocuted and then eaten. Her own design working against her, what a wonderful change of events.

And with psychics patrolling the area… the chances of getting in there unnoticed were virtually zero.

Someone had set this up _too well_. So much so that it scared both her and the operatives she was with.

A sound of metal clanging reached their ears from behind. When they saw a figure in black and a facemask appear out of thin air, they nearly jumped back from being startled, drawing their guns.

"Holy sh-"

"Was that a teleport?"

"Didn't see it, shadow sneak? Isn't that an offense?"

"Don't think he gives a shit, man."

"Wait…" one of the UFOs cursed under his breath. "That's _him_. Prime."

Elesa's eyes narrowed at the man, flinching from the sheer amount of blood on him. He'd looked like he'd just carved through a river of bodies, and the blades in his hands looked oddly familiar.

_Something's not right, the UFOs aren't shooting him…_

He got closer, and she stepped back, but one of the men, a muscular blonde one, gave her a reassuring yet shaky smile. "Try not to provoke him, superiors say he isn't hostile. He's with us," he said apprehensively. He looked at him again. "…I think."

"You _think_?"

They tensed as he stopped in front of them, tapping a foot on the ground, arms crossed.

"One of you, tell me why you're all sitting in an alleyway playing with your balls," Prime demanded. "There's a gym full of people being held at gun, knife, and pokemon point. Isn't your job supposed to save people when the police are being incompetent? You're the protectors of Unova? What the hell are you doing? Waiting for a sign from god? Because let me tell you, he's a major dick."

"Ugh. Look, merc. There's psychics up there, and lookouts in the buildings here, here, and here," an operative with bloodshot eyes replied irritably, showing him a holographic map of the street, with the selected areas glowing. "We charge in there, and the gym trainers are dead. If you got any brighter ideas that aren't tantamount to indirect murder, we'd sure as hell would do more than 'sit on our balls'. But until then, we need to wait for backup. Or snipers. Oh wait, the gym doesn't have any open windows. QED, we're screwed."

While they couldn't see the roll of his eyes from the visor and mask, they did see the scowl. "And here I was thinking UFOs weren't entirely useless… Way to disappoint. I'll take care of it, but first I need some information." He pointed a gloved finger at Elesa. "Where is the gym's power system?"

"Why?"

"I have an idea." He gestured to his blades. "I can get you all inside if the gym's pitch black, that way I don't send you into a death pit, and they'll get caught with their pants down _and_ bent over. I also don't have to guess where to put you. They shouldn't be able to see you. Theoretically."

"Except we aren't Liepards," one of the UFOs replied sarcastically. "And you won't be able to see either."

Riven gestured to the visor. While it wasn't retrofitted with night-vision or technology of any sort, it _could_ pass off as a highly sophisticated piece of headgear when it really wasn't. UFOs didn't know that he could see in the dark, nor did he feel the need to tell them when this explanation worked out with less questions.

"Something tells me you use fear often," Elesa pointed out. "Reminds of Grimsley..."

Riven gave her a knowing smile. "People are afraid of the dark. It's useful in a world where the lights never go out. Because when they do… well, I've learned brute force isn't always the best solution. Sometimes, all you need is a good trick."

"Except _we_ still can't see," the same UFO said.

"Holy shit, man, can you fucking wait? This is why I hate authorities. Did you just wake up today, decide to be a tumor, and shove a pole halfway up your rectum?"

"I know I didn't decide that I'd be stuck dealing with Sinnoh's leftover bullshit on my week off because of some bigshot mercenary either," the UFO responded gruffly. "So, forgive me if I'm a little pissed."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did the safety of the _entire fucking region_ disturb your shitty barbecue? Next time let me know, because fuck's-his-name Vanderkerz wants to sleep in longer-"

"What about the psychics, then?" The blonde one cut-in, giving the snarky operative a stern look. An Elygem clung to his pants, screeching and hissing lowly. It eyed Prime with a hostile wariness. "That plan would be done the moment they sense our thoughts and tell everyone in the building we're there. Gym's visible too, there's no easy way to approach it. Unless you're invisible…"

The merc chuckled lightly, with a slight bit of mirth. "Don't worry about the psychics, they won't see me coming. What's important is that once I radio in that they're taken care of, one of you goes to the main breaker, kills the lights, then you port in and do your thing. Simple, right?"

_Simple being relative here._

He held up a hand. "But please, let me do something first when it's dark. It'll make things so much easier if they're scared out of their minds. Wait there until the opportune moment, even if you're shaking. Goes for you too, gym leader. Don't let your morals stop you from doing the right thing."

"Even if we're shaking?" The blonde one asked. "What's that mean?"

The mercenary twirled a blade in his hands. "That means that what I'm about to do, you're not going to like very much. Wait for the radio, and don't do anything stupid. I'm going to leave my comm-link on, so you're going to hear everything. Show some self-control and don't say anything. Do it right, and everyone will walk out unscathed. Mostly."

Leaving the operatives and Elesa to their confusion, he walked into a shadow, emerging from the darkness in between one of the two buildings that the UFO had marked. The first sentries he saw were a teen in his late teens, and another about the same age, the former with a Musharna and the latter with a Sigiglyph.

An unholy combination for sentry work, really. Against people whose minds and thoughts they _could _read… which was a lot of people. Generally speaking, of course. Up against those of the dark, or a being with remarkable control over his own mind, they were about as useful as a Dunsparce.

Being a dark type was a mixed blessing. At times he was a walking "fuck your psychic bullshit" and other times it just made life suck that much more. Like with teleporting and instantaneous travel. Or in general psychics hating you. Or feeling everyone's negativity while seeing enough colorful swirls that he'd swore he taken some sort of drug. Tradeoffs sucked.

He glanced up, planning his route of attack.

_Four on the roof, all looking outwards towards the bottom. I'll have to eliminate them as they're shifting positions and in that time get rid of the ones in the buildings around the gym._ _Guys in the buildings are focusing on the buildings, not themselves. Pretty amateur placements really…_

So far he counted about… nine sentries in total on this side.

Doable.

He shook Efrain's blades, readying himself.

_Ready?_ He asked the ghost.

_I was wondering when I was going to get to do something_. _Hmmm…_ _How does the soul of an insane teenager taste?_

"All clear," came the mercenary's voice over the comm-link. "You'll have to excuse the blood. I might have gotten it everywhere. Tell the janitors I'm sorry."

The operatives and Elesa alike winced, watching him remove one of the Doublade's swords from a scout's chest as they left the alley. Their pokemon were torn to pieces, cut down just as quickly as their trainers had been. One oddly looked like he'd had the soul drained out of him. Horrifying, but it wasn't anything UFOs hadn't seen before, not that they _wanted_ to see it, anyway. It reminded them that these sort of people existed out there regularly, doing the same thing to who knows how many people; it was a horrifying and depressing thought. Elesa didn't look nearly as well though.

"I don't know if we should be glad he's on our side, or arrest him. That's just sick."

"Right now, I don't care if he kills them all," Elesa admitted darkly, fist clenched. "They murdered Lancer."

"Do you really mean that?"

She said nothing as blue eyes glanced away, holding back tears. Even gym leaders weren't infallible. At heart they were still trainers too, and grief often pushed people to extremes. She breathed shakily and spoke into the radio."So… What now, mercenary?"

They headed over to his position, stomachs churning at the sight of the fallen scouts. And at the pile of meat that had become of the unlucky ones that got pulled off the rooftop. They way he'd gone about it was honestly straight out of a stealth video game, which drew some dark humored snorts from some of the operatives.

Still, video games were a lot different from real life. And this… _god_. At least blood in video games disappeared. They felt like saying something, but right now there wasn't a choice. Swallowing it was the best they could do. Cleanup was going to be hell.

"Alright, this is what's going to happen" Prime said, clapping his hands together. "Elesa, and you, blonde guy—you two head over to the main breaker and kill the lights. The rest of you, prepare for a fight but hold until they come back on. Blonde- shit, what- what's your name? Too many blondes here in Unova."

"Pershing," he answered simply.

"Pershing… Okay, turn the lights off when I say, 'Are you afraid of the dark?'. Got it? Also, return all of your psychics. They _don't_ want to be there." He eyed the Elgyem, curling a lip upward when it let out a grating screech.

"Uh…"

"Don't question it. Just do it. Soon as you're inside, and the lights come on, take them all down. The surprise factor should give you enough time to do it, no matter the gym layout. If you're as good as they say, anyway. They can't possibly fit all the gym trainers and people stuck in there on your rollercoasters, Elesa. I'll leave a sword here, that way you can shadow sneak there when needed. If I'm in the same room, you should appear within proximity."

"Wait, those swords are alive?"

A yellow eye opened on a hilt, peering up at the operative indignantly. Efrain slapped him with a sash_._

Rather than be scared, the operatives got closer to inspect Efrain, like trainers around a shiny. Well, technically, he was.

"Woah, that's pretty wild."

"Is that a pokemon from another region?"

Riven nodded, slightly proud. "Yeah, Doublade. Kalosian. They're sentient. And both blades are one entity. Name's Efrain. He's a bit of a sadist. Look at him funny and he'll castrate you."

"Really?" One of the UFOs asked, backing away.

"No," Riven replied, snorting. "He doesn't know where those things have been."

They all gave him a disapproving look, which he brushed off with another snort. Leaving Efrain in Elesa's hands-he didn't trust the UFOs, frankly- he made off to the entrance of the gym, standing idly in front of the doors with a hand on his chin.

How was he going to do it?

Decisions, decisions.

"Can't decide." He turned on his comm-link, changing channels. "Will, Lucia, how are things?"

"Fucked," Will replied curtly.

There was an explosion. Or five. He couldn't really tell. Quil might have been chortling in the distance.

"Descriptive," Riven said dryly. "Can't you fluff it up a bit more?"

"Really fucked."

"Nevermind," Riven chuckled. "Well, seeing as how you're not busy from the amount of explosions I hear on your end, hear me out. I'm facing a dilemma right now, I don't know whether I should sneak in, or give them the entrance special; what do you think?

He could almost _feel _Will's grin. "Is that even a question?"

A devious smile spread on Riven's face, enough to eat a mountain of Tauros shit.

"Good, because you know, I'm really leaning towards the-"

"Oh, no. Don't you _dare _damage Elesa's gym!" Lucia warned, cutting in. "I swear if you-"

"-Second option," Riven laughed, and raised a sword.

"You bastard! I'm going to get in so much trouble for-"

"Hue."

* * *

"Uh, Elesa? I think that crazy bastard just carved a hole in your gym," Pershing said, handing Elesa the binoculars without taking his eyes off the rising trail of smoke and dust.

She sighed deeply, scowling.

"That's the second wall this month."

* * *

The wall of the gym blasted open as a shadow claw ripped cleanly through steel and concrete, carving an enormous scar into the exterior. Yelling ensued as the followers and the hostages scrambled, trying to see what the hell just happened.

Riven confidently strode into the gym, unperturbed by the blood and dust clinging to his coat. He'd made a point of smearing himself in more blood before going, trying for the most batshit crazy image he could muster—mainly to inject thoughts of "this guy is not to be fucked with." It was amazing how an unsettling sight made people more prone to mistakes. An image was just as powerful as it was perceived, and it could do wonders with the right hands.

"Who the hell are you?" Asked a red-haired kid. He was holding a girl hostage, holding her at knifepoint. He looked down at him, disturbed by the blood. Good, it was working.

There were followers posted along the rollercoaster tracks, holding rifles and all manner of illegal firearms. Now it made sense what that ordeal in Kalos was about with the weapons. This was what they were gearing up for. Singularity had been planning this for three bloody years.

If they had that much foresight, then it was obvious that this wasn't all they had. Three years of planning and preparation, organizing and assembling, with a shitty hostage situation and a failed assassination attempt to show for it? No, they weren't this petty. He knew who he was hunting, and this wasn't their style. They were _better_ than this.

Or maybe this was all the Sayre followers' doing. They were kids, so it made sense if their plans were garbage. Perhaps Singularity couldn't control them? Playing with loose cannons was always a dangerous business.

"Let them go," Riven ordered, sighing with perceived boredom. "Or things will get messy. Not good for your health, believe me."

"Quit screwing with us, we know you're with the UFOs. They're trying to negotiate right now, but we're not going to fall for it." A male trainer with unruly black hair stepped forward, flanked by a Seismitoad. There was a radio in his left and a pistol in his right. "They sent you here to disturb us while they move into position, huh? I admit, that entrance was a little surprising, but you didn't follow up on it. That was pretty stupid. Now these people are that much closer to dying. Nice job breaking it, hero. Take a step further and people are going to start dying. I'm sure that the UFOs don't want that, right, operatives? Muzzle your dog before he gets people killed."

The radio in his hand buzzed, with muffled sounds of a hostage negotiator on the other side.

"_Their_ dog? Oh? Really now? Is that what you think." Riven tilted his head playfully, taking mental notes of the opposition. "And oh my! What a predicament you've put me in. Whatever shall I do?"

So now he knew that they knew that the UFOs were listening. Good, this could work. That information was certainly useful, and would give credibility to his little ploy.

Hostage situations were interesting. Mainly because they only worked because one side wanted people alive while the other exploited that desire to get their way. They were long, arduous and usually ended with casualties on both sides, or everyone on the hostage taking side dead, alongside the hostages.

But… when the other side could give less than a Growlithe's shit about the hostages, holding hostages became pretty useless.

However, that also meant that it was a gamble when it came to how alive the hostages would actually be as a result. And even if they were somehow saved, no one would really like their savior anyway, considering they were perfectly willing to throw away lives. He could theoretically just threaten to murder them all should they touch a single hostage. Simple, but severe. Definitely not going to earn anyone some points with the law. In fact, he was teetering on the edge of getting arrested after this, since he had killed several people since this whole fiasco began. Count would likely rise by the end of the day too.

_And that's why being a hero fucking blows,_ Riven remarked mentally. _Whatever you do, you get screwed_.

All he could do at this point was rely on his image, and turn the situation over on them. Fortunately, insane was something he did well. And those years in the criminal underworld of Kalos refined the bloodthirst inside, as well as his ability to act like a sadistic prick.

"Go ahead," Riven said simply, swinging Efrain up onto his shoulder. "Kill them all."

The hostages tensed in fear, and the operatives on the comm-link instantly sucked in a breath. Elesa and the group outside the gym felt a spike of concern, but they held on, hoping that it was just a gambit. That feeling only got worse.

The followers were rightfully taken off-guard, however.

"What?" The kid questioned. "What did you just say?"

"Your ears don't work, kid?" Riven grinned, flashing canines. "Kill. Them. Go ahead! Take your knife and cut their throats! Spill their blood! Watch closely as the life leaves their eyes. _Savor it_. After all, they're hardly worth anything to you, right? To be honest, they're not worth anything to me either. See, I don't care about them. If they lived or died, it's all the same. Whatever the UFOs think, I couldn't give less of a shit," Riven practically howled, tone sadistic.

"I'm just here because this little cult of yours is bad for business. I wouldn't mind tearing all of you to pieces, I think it'd even be fun. Although, I'd prefer if I didn't have to paint the walls of this fine establishment red, janitors really don't need a harder time than they already have. The outside is already a mess, I mean, those pour kids didn't know what hit them. There was so much fear in the eyes. How cute, little children who lost a loved one deciding to spread fear and play with the world of criminals. You don't even know what you're getting into. Such amateurs, you really should work on your sentry placements, they're terrible."

There it was, the realization just whose blood was dripping off Efrain's blade. Oh man that was satisfying.

"Stick to pokemon battles," Riven warned gravely, going utterly serious in a single second. The blade came off his shoulder and with a flick, spread crimson along the floor. "Just children, trying to play in an adult's world. Oh sure, you kill and frighten because it's easy when pokemon do all the work, but by yourselves you're nothing more than weak, little children who can't handle loss, thinking power can make you feel better. Only it doesn't, does it? How _tragic_."

Several eyes widened, and Riven had to fight the urge to grin like an ass. _Eat the bait, go on._

"D-don't get any closer!" One of the younger ones said, holding a pistol to a rather annoyed gym trainer, who seemed more focused on watching the clock than trying not to die. Seems this wasn't the first time he'd been held hostage. He was trying his best to keep calm. Quite impressive, all things considered.

"Or what?" Riven challenged. "You're going to kill him? Do it, that won't stop me. Think about it, if you do kill him, what's going to stop me from killing _you_? As long as they're alive, you're safe and you get to keep every body part intact and at most leave in chains. But if they die… well, death is a mercy compared to wait I have waiting for you should you kill them. I don't tend to kill people if I'm not paid for it, unless you get in my way. I'm a high-functioning psychopath, I can see sense. So should you."

"Don't listen to him, Kabuto," the black haired one commanded. "He's only one guy, and we have guns and pokemon. There's nothing he can do. We can blow you to pieces here and now. Killing gym leaders isn't hard, you shouldn't be either. You have no pokemon."

"And yet you failed to kill Elesa!" Riven mocked. "Some 'real' trainers you are!" That's when the deranged laughter began. He bent down, obscuring his face from view as his hand took the Diancie stones around his neck off, placing them into his pocket.

"Now… answer me a question," Riven said, watching fingers tighten on triggers and pokeballs. "Followers of Sayre-"

A wave of dread spread, the air growing thick and heavy. The lighting in the gym seemed to dull, as if the light itself was being sucked away. In a flash of movement, he spoke behind them, placing a hand on the black-haired trainer's shoulder. "-Are you afraid of the dark?"

"What?! How did he-"

The lights went out, and a red eye glowed. A coarse, disembodied voice echoed throughout the gym, coming from every direction at once.

_Run._

* * *

_I wonder how much that's going to cost_, Gale wondered sourly to herself as part of a nearby building exploded from a missed hyper beam. Wind rushed into her face when Emile dove and weaved in between two buildings, briefly looking behind her to see the Garchomp struggling to stay afloat, with even more ice weighing it down.

"Ice beam, Yukiko! He should be easier to hit on the next dive! Don't be afraid!" She assured the ghost, who seemed absolutely terrified of the fire. Boagrius, on the other hand, borrowed a crazy streak from his trainer and hollered boisterously in laughter, launching powder snows and weather balls without a care in the world.

Emile flew past more buildings, just over the absolute mess that Will had made of the street. Lava cooled on the street as Quil spewed forth a scorching hot stream of flames, unsettling Yukiko further. "Shhh, it's okay Yuki," Gale cooed. "The ones down there are friends, just focus, okay?"

The ghost nodded nervously and her body began to shine a dim blue. Gale tugged on a feather twice. Taking the cue, Emile rose into the air and promptly dove again, lining up his position and the Garchomp's to be as linear as possible.

"Fire!" Gale commanded.

She felt the cold through the backpack, with frost beginning to form on the back of her jacket and seep through her clothes. She ignored it as a beam of ice traveled through the air, forking and curving directly upwards. The dragon seemed to panic, and in a desperate attempt to evade, jerked to the side. The beam struck nothing, but the dragon had fallen for the trap.

"Boagrius, weather ball!"

Grinning widely, the Castform let out a squeaky warcry and shot a blue ball of ice-infused energy out of his mouth, striking the Garchomp's right wing and encasing it in ice. It plummeted from the sky as the ice weighed it down and prevented it from flying, striking the ground with a sickening crunch. Even battered and probably broken in several places, the dragon refused to stay down.

"Oh, come on! Are you serious?! It just fell out of the sky!" Doing a fly by, Emile flew low and steady to give Yukiko a good shot and put the dragon down for good. She took it, firing a final ice beam at the dragon's sternum. It writhed and struggled against the ice spreading over it, fire rising from its mouth briefly before the ice completely covered it, freezing it solid.

She half expected it to break out of the ice and laugh at her, but it stayed down for good.

Gale exhaled in immense relief, dismounting from Emile as he landed in front of the frozen pokemon. Her hands and legs felt like toothpicks and her body couldn't stop shaking; she almost fell over from the feeling. Emile was even worse off, taking deep bird breaths so his heart wouldn't implode.

Boagrius shot out of her backpack, congratulating her with loud cries. Yukiko followed, doing revolutions around Gale, staying away from her despite wanting nothing more than to snuggle her trainer.

"We did it!" Gale exclaimed. "I mean, gravity helped but we did it! Hah, I can't wait to see what Riven says about this." She jumped for joy, exhilarated. "Beat that, dark boy!"

Walking over to the frozen dragon, she noticed something odd. She could have sworn that-

"Boagrius? Yukiko? Emile?"

The three pokemon looked at her oddly, asking her what was wrong.

"Where's the rider?"

* * *

Riven cracked his back and neck, feeling fairly exhausted. Slipping the Diancie beads back on, his stomach almost lurched again.

"Did you kill anyone?" Elesa asked, looking around at all the incapacitated trainers. "Just what exactly did you do? I heard the screaming but…"

The UFOs had taken most of them down, but the mercenary had dealt with the most problematic beforehand. They would need medical attention for broken bones, but not autopsies, at the very least. That was surprising, given the violence he'd demonstrated outside. Well, at least the ones that they found in the gym were alive. Outside was… a different thing entirely.

The gym trainers, on the other hand, wanted him gone. They all appeared like they'd seen the devil, and from the state of the gym when they shadow snuck in… The air was oppressive, heavy, and just felt twisted—evil, to be more precise. A gut wrenching feeling, one of the worst she'd ever felt, and then, all of a sudden, it was gone. Whatever he did, it didn't just scare the followers, it absolutely terrified her gym trainers, and most of the Sayre followers too.

Riven peered back at her, mouth a thin line. Elesa had enough impulse control not to back away in fright when he got near her, despite her trainers' gasps of panic. In a whisper, he shrugged, "Primal fears can do a lot of things to the human mind, make them see things that aren't there. All I did was exploit that with some theatrics, a rough stone to the ribs, and a twist. Painful enough to induce screaming. Unfortunately, it also frightens everyone else. And I _did_ goad them into murdering your trainers so they could see the hostages being alive as a way to assure their own safety, rather than expendable depending on what they wanted. Some of them are dead though. Their pokemon too. I just sent them, uh, elsewhere. The ones with assault rifles and the electric types were too dangerous. I'm not sorry for what I did."

For a brief moment, there was disappointment in his voice.

The UFOs wouldn't be happy about the dead followers, but they would have made things far more dangerous for everyone involved. A hailstorm of bullets could have killed pokemon, operative, gym trainer, and followers alike. He made the right call, but what consequences would arise from that weren't the issue right now. Especially not to Elesa.

"That's… We thought-" She gasped quietly, "we thought you did it because you genuinely didn't care. Had us ready to teleport in and stop you. But you did it despite knowing everyone would hate you regardless? That's… surprisingly noble."

"Nothing noble about it. I'm a mercenary," he answered simply. "People will hate me regardless. And don't get me wrong, I'm pretty indifferent to your gym trainers dying, honestly. Doesn't mean I should let it happen, either. I'm not a hero, but I also know practicality. Killing people in the gym would give those kids trauma, there'd be a stain on your gym, and getting the blood off the white walkway would be the definition of pain in the ass. I meant that comment about the janitors by the way. They're the real heroes. Still, Nimbasa's tourist attracting reputation is already going to be damaged from this anyways. No need to make it worse. We could definitely do with less emotionally damaged trainers."

"I-I…Thank you," Elesa said sincerely, giving him a beautiful smile. "Using the dark to your advantage… It's almost poetic. The brightest stars shine in the deepest darkness."

Taken aback, Riven stuttered, about to protest.

"Just take the thanks," she said, hushing him. "The way you went about it might have been questionable and slightly traumatizing, but if it _was_ all theatrics, then my gym trainers should be fine with time. But the good thing is that they're all _alive_ and well. Thanks to you and the UFOs. They were my responsibility, and if they died or suffered severe trauma… I don't know how I could face their families. Lancer's dead, and that's enough grief for me…" Blue eyes were crestfallen, glancing down at the floor. "So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I assume you don't get thanked much."

Riven was slightly stunned, taking a moment to collect himself. "Not much, no." He pursed his lips, shifting his weight onto his left foot. "Trainers can't lose faith in the gym leaders. You and the others… you're the pedestals of support. Don't break them. Kids are more malleable than adults. That also means they're more prone to giving into baser instincts, and they _don't_ want to do that. That's what you and the others are for, to ensure that the trainers aren't alone. Be their role models."

_Don't let your world become mine._

She smiled again. "That Gallade," Elesa recalled. "He was yours, right?"

He nodded, returning the smile. "He can teleport. I'm a tiny bit slower. Time was sort of important."

"I won't forget this, whatever your reasons." Her eyes shifted to a certain part of her gym. "Also, I'll forgive the fact that you blew a gigantic hole in my gym."

A tiny grin formed on her lips, and Riven held back a stupid giggle. "I was beginning to think you'd forget about that." He took off a glove and held out his hand. "Acceptable losses?"

"Acceptable losses," she repeated with some amusement, shaking it. The tone died as her smile fell and she walked towards the back of the gym, returning with a belt full of pokeballs. She stared at the pokeballs long and hard, as if assuring herself that they were still there. Turning away from the others, she finally let her tears fall.

Loss was depressing, and seeing a gym leader cry was heartbreaking_. _He'd never seen a gym leader cry before, but seeing Elesa sob in silence reminded him of things best left in memories and dreams.

_I'll let her deal with her grief. Losing someone you cared about isn't easy. Especially the first time._

He turned away from Elesa and walked over to the group of operatives in the corner of the gym, who were all mumbling amongst themselves pretty seriously.

"Any word?"

The blonde one, Pershing, glanced at the others and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes. "The UFOs stationed in Castelia all emergency teleported to the field office in Black City. Many of them need medical attention. Severely."

_Universe always finds a way, doesn't it?_ He thought darkly. "Did they get driven out?"

"They weren't fighting just Sayre followers," Pershing replied. "There were a bunch of guys in facemasks with guns and plenty of strong pokemon too. They were targeting the operatives while shooting anyone that got close. Some civvies are dead. They managed to liberate the radio station, but Jynx and Shuppet weren't stadium had a heavy trainer presence and then… nothing. It's like they turned and left. The injured were teleported to Black City as a safety precaution. The two other trainers that you said are friends of that girl and Lucia's brother are there too."

He sighed. "Long story short, things went badly, and the trainers went up and disappeared. Nothing but good news today…"

Riven's mouth fell into a thin line, suddenly very concerned. Enemies didn't just dip out like that, they weren't out of the clear yet. There had to be some sort of trick. "Radio them back and tell them to post fresh guys at the stadium and the radio tower. They might come back."

"Who's _they_?" Pershing asked, prodding. "I've had this really weird feeling that you know more than you're letting on, and it's bothering me—just slightly. Okay, more than a little. A lot. It would help if you told us everything you know now rather than before everything goes to crap again."

A blank stare was all the operative got, prompting another sigh. He turned away dismally back towards the others, holding his hands up. "Fine, but if this comes back to bite us-"

"It won't," Riven assured.

As they carried off the black-haired trainer from before, he smiled at Riven, in a way that made his skin crawl and his stomach jitter. Mouthing something, Riven read his lips, concern growing even greater.

_Check._

* * *

The fight in Nimbasa had winded down as quickly as Castelia had, with far less expected casualties than he predicted, so little in fact that Riven's paranoia had risen to a level that could only be comparable to that crazed sprint to Mauville a few years ago. Not good in any sense.

Streets were absolutely trashed, and ambulances sped up and down the seemingly battle torn street blocks as paramedics rushed to get injured to both hospitals and pokemon centers. An order came through to reconvene with Yates, who'd taken care of the Malamar and its trainer. Quite messily too, given that a good portion of the Malamar had been ripped clean off by Yates' Haxorus, who was already munching on the remains.

Whether that was acceptable or not was debatable—neither of which were Riven's concern, anyway. Efrain's gyro blades were far messier.

He checked around for Gale, Will, and Lucia; finding all but Gale amongst the large group of UFOs in the middle of the street. Flying somewhat low, Emile and Gale circled overhead two blocks away, acting as lookouts in case of a surprise attack.

Above, he could see an arching shimmer of lightscreens and reflects blanketing the rendezvous point—interlocking plates of shining pink and white coming together at one vertex at the very top of the structure, forming a tower of protective barriers.

"What's that?" Riven asked a nearby operative, who was feeding his Stoutland.

"Huh? Oh, that. Parasol lightshield formation. P.L.F. for short. It's a defensive measure based in cities to mitigate structural damage and weaken projectiles and long range beam attacks," he recited through bites of jerky. "Stacking of reflects and lightscreens turns even hyper beams into little more than peashooters. Also blocks ballistics fairly decently."

"I saw Steven do something similar."

"S-steven Stone?" The UFO stammered, nearly choking on the jerky. The Stoutland barked at him, urging him to chew carefully. "Damn. I've heard stories about him. Did he do it by himself?"

"Yeah, just his Metagross. He had a rotating ring of them that could cover an entire city square. Made a joke of a Mega Tyranitar. Left me speechless for a few minutes."

"Must have been a sight. Well, we don't have someone that strong in our ranks, but our strength is higher than normal in terms of the average operative. Most of us have six to eight badges under our belts or went into the military the moment we turned eighteen. We can't one man fortress like that, even if that would be undeniably useful. Together though, even the strongest hyper beam wouldn't do much. Property damage pisses off the superiors more than we'd like. God damn suits."

"What's its weakness?" Riven asked.

"Doesn't have one," the operative grinned proudly, and went back to his food. "Don't worry about it, merc."

Riven gave the formation a final, doubtful look over, narrowing his eyes at the top, where the plates converged. He shook his head and joined Yates, who was commanding several operatives to do sweeps of the area and checking in with another division in Black City.

"Finally back? God, you should clean yourself, you're covered in blood."

Riven sniffed his coat and shrugged. He'd smelt worse before.

"Well, at least I heard the gym was secured without any gym trainer fatalities. Good job. Some of the Sayre supporters were unaccounted for, however. Where did you-"

"Dumpster, by the Simisear coffee shop. They had assault rifles and their pokemon were too dangerous." Riven was still preoccupied with peering at the surrounding buildings, paying only half attention. "Had to do it."

Yates' face steeled itself.

"Are you going to arrest me?"

"Don't need to."

"Why?"

"Because you're going to be stuck in Unova for a long time," Yates replied, in a tone as equally as depressing as it sounded. "We shut down every port and airport, and long-distance communication to the other regions so this doesn't go anywhere. Whatever Sayre supporters there are on this region, they won't be receiving help from Sinnoh. That much is certain."

Riven could only stare aghast. "What."

"Six months, at the least."

There was a brief stare from Riven as let out a quiet, exhausted sigh and looked up into the sky, shaking his head. He muttered something about coats and snow.

"You're a lot calmer than I expected," Yates noted, with a raised eyebrow. "I figured your reaction would be explosive; mercenaries aren't known for level-headed attitudes."

"That's not wrong, I've seen people erupt at the drop of a hat. I guess I'm just tired." He scratched his head. "And it's less calm and more that I was already prepared mentally to be dicked over somehow. Was just waiting to see in what way and how badly it was going to suck. What month is it?"

"October."

"Swell," he remarked dryly. "I'd let out a string of curse words and as many variants of fuck, shit, and ass that I know of, but I'm a little tired. And thirsty, so I won't." He sighed one last time. "Damn."

Riven shuffled away from Yates like a Slugma, lethargic. Now if only he could hibernate for six months. Gale touched down in the distance, but he was too drained to go over and roar at her for trying to take on a dragon in the sky.

Speaking of which, where was it? She was smiling and stroking Emile's feathers, so obviously that dragon either left, or she miraculously took it down. Maybe it was better to avoid her lest she rub it in his face. Instead, he joined Lucia on a nearby bench, sitting down on the bench with some noodles the operatives had provided.

"You blew a hole in Elesa's gym," she stated plainly, picking at her food. He gave her a flat look. Well, less flat and more dead looking. "Did someone suck out your soul? You practically fumbled over like a zombie."

"I just got the news," Riven said irritably. Lucia gave a tiny, pity-filled "ah". "I'm stuck here for six bloody months, Lucia. And winter is coming. I've heard the stories."

"I've spent a few winters here," Lucia shrugged. "It isn't _that_ bad. Just get some layers on, keep to the towns, don't get caught out in snowstorms, and have a fire pokemon with you. You have Aine, so you should be good on that front. Only northern Unova gets snowed in to the point of being impassible. Icirrus was terrible though. It's kind of a good thing this whole situation rotated me out. It's always cold there. I forgot that anything besides winter actually existed."

"Yeah? Then forgive me and my war flashbacks, you didn't trudge through miles of snow and ice while getting run out of every encampment by fire-using dickheads with Arcanines. Forrina was nothing compared to that. Still, I wouldn't like to deal with Unovan winters, they'll suck regardless. And the xenophobia. Trust me, I do _not_ want to be here. People at the marketplace already were giving us odd looks. More Will and Gale though."

"You're fairly light-skinned," Lucia said, looking him over. "And you don't have an accent. In fact, yours is really out of place just about everywhere. It's more Unovan than anything, to be honest. Even in Hoenn you're an oddball. And nobody really cares about what region you're from when dressed like that. P.I.s dress like that and nobody questions them. Also, take a shower when you get back to the center. You smell like a slaughterhouse."

"I'll do that once I'm sure that this is all there is to this."

"Is that why you haven't stopped scanning the surrounding buildings like a Braviary?"

"I don't think this is the end," he admitted, eyes still scanning the buildings. "And these office buildings have some of the largest windows I've ever seen. And you can't see into them."

"The only people in there are those that work there, everyone was told to stay inside." She sighed. "I- Riven… Not everything gets worse. Sometimes when you think something is going to get much worse, it doesn't. I think you're just too jaded. Happens a lot, even to operatives. Just an effect of the job. I've seen that over the years. There are things you see that are just…"

She shook her head. "…Hard to handle."

He nodded, understanding.

"Maybe, Lucia. I know I'm a more than a little cynical, but I know what I'm hunting. This… it's too easy. The only semblance of organization was taking over the gym, but even that was hilariously easy to break up. Castelia also was mysteriously abandoned. This isn't like the Sayre followers in Jubilife, they'd risk their lives to carry the Tournament out. Don't you find that odd?"

Red eyes grew just a slight bit concerned. "Now that you mention it, I guess it doesn't make much sense. Now that operatives are here and in Castelia, they shouldn't be able to do much. Lightscreens and reflects are just about everywhere too. They abandoned their best chance at success. It does strike me as nonsensical, but I wouldn't worry too much."

Riven grimaced, swallowing with grim expectance. "No, I'm going to worry. Where's Will?"

"Getting food, said he was hungry. You should eat too. I'd call Gale over, but she's getting praised for taking down a Garchomp by herself."

A vein in his neck twitched. "She gives me headaches."

That little huff he did afterwards was just icing on the cake. Lucia had to giggle. Even under that menacing mercenary exterior, he was still Riven—in an endearing and dorky kind of way.

"She learns from her mentor, right?" She grinned, face hidden by a bowl of noodles. "Your unorthodox way of doing things can be inspiring."

"Efrain said the same thing, and it scares me. Universe likes to torture me in particular, so I doubt it'll let me die, but other people aren't so fortunate," he said. "I don't want to go through that again. Not a fourth time."

Lucia's smile fell. She looked down at the floor, mostly to avoid the pain of the past in Riven's face. She found herself doing that a lot with some of the older and more experienced UFOs.

"We live with those thoughts every day too, Riven. A lot of operatives die. This job is taxing, unforgiving, and dangerous… But I wouldn't imagine doing anything else. You just learn to live with it, even if it's hard. I've lost some friends out on the routes, and I still miss them. They were good people."

"They always are," Riven added. "That's the sad part."

He shook his head, swallowing.

"Enough about that, how are the UFOs going to handle _this_? A gym leader's pokemon got shot in public. And Baron kind of killed the kid. Might of made things worse but I'm a mercenary, so that won't be too much of a blow. Elesa's Zebstrika though… ouch."

"Tell me about it," Lucia said, exhaling in exasperation. "Going to be pretty wild in terms of media attention for the next month or two, assuming no incidents. And with the embargo on, the other regions are going to wonder what's going on. Six months is quite a long time to have every port and airport shut down. We can't really stop the internet, but if no one else knows anything it shouldn't leak out."

"Don't count on that. People are stupid, but they aren't that stupid."

"I'm not. Neither is the League. Unova is the region most able to deal with these types of threats. We're not going to let Sinnoh happen again."

"That's what worries me too," Riven muttered.

"Why?"

"Because they didn't choose Hoenn."

It would be the perfect candidate after all. The political climate in Hoenn was pretty much a deadlock between the Council and the League, and with the lax living attitudes of most Hoennites, rangers and gym leaders were usually enough when it came to peacekeeping. With the Magma's and Aquas gone, it was the region with probably the least amount of crime. Statistically, at least. There was no elite military organization like the UFO force, or the G-men from Johto. Weak and lax. An ideal target for destabilization.

But no. They chose Unova.

A lot could be said about a person. The way they dressed, carried themselves, spoke, acted, and even how and where their eyes and fingers moved. The same could be said for a terrorist group, depending on what target they chose and what that target's image represented. But targeting the strongest region?

_Even the mightiest can fall. Let us show you_, Riven mused, clenching a jaw. Lucia examined him briefly, but left him to his thoughts. She released her Mismagius and handed her the empty bowl, asking for seconds. The ghost eagerly took the bowl and floated over to the stand, startling some of the operatives.

People started to come out of the buildings, having gotten the all clear. They walked past the UFO checkpoint in the middle of the street, rushing home. They were horrified at the state of the streets, but didn't say a word.

The amount of people in a crowd was making Riven bristle, a little action Lucia noted.

"Calm down."

He ignored her, instead combing through the crowd with even more focus. "Watch the people coming out of the buildings for anything suspicious." Before she could stop him, he stood up and brought out Baron. "Baron, how well can you read someone's thoughts in a crowd?"

Red eyes blinked in thought. _"Not as well as I could when I was a Kirlia. Evolving dulled them quite a bit. If I was a Gardevoir maybe but…"_

"Try it anyway. If you pick up any hint of malice, let the others know, the barriers may protect from the outside in, but not from the inside out," Riven ordered. "We shouldn't trust civilians either. Could be decoys or the real threats."

Baron focused, sifting through multitudes of worries and thoughts of getting home and calling loved ones—a cascade of wonders about what was going on and what the UFOs were doing here. All of them seemed similar from what he gleaned in the river of thoughts, except for a stray whisper, in a corner of the street, beside Gale and a group of operatives.

Malice. Knowing. Intent.

"_Gale!"_ He called out, and Riven spun around to face him. Before he could even mouth a question, an explosion tore through the building at the edge of the street, blowing debris and dust in every direction. Riven had already readied himself to rush over, but stopped as he saw Emile blow away the dust with a powerful swipe of his wings. A Golurk stood in front of them, having tanked the blast with little more than a shrug.

A fire broke out inside the building and UFOs rushed inside to get the people out from inside, using their pokemon to douse the flames.

Riven's eyes narrowed, mind working on overdrive. The operatives were out saving people, as was their job, but his was to figure out why this happened.

_An explosion in a building? Random or planned? If they planned it, what good would that- _

He went silent as the UFOs pulled in the injured, mostly young men in formal attire. From the look of their faces, they weren't any older than twenty-five. Too many of them for what seemed like a corporate building. A majority of the crowd was on the older side, people between their thirties and fifties with nine to five jobs. These young ones… they stood out. Perhaps it was just paranoia, but he couldn't help but suspect them.

The crowd stopped, turning to see the smoke and dying flames. Riven gestured to Lucia, who'd already called out her Accelgor and Braviary, ordering the bird to do a recon in order to find any fleeing bombers. She met up with him, pistol in hand.

"Any ideas?"

"Only that this doesn't make any damn sense?" He growled, watching the paramedics tend to the wounded. "Why set off an explosion like this if they weren't going to use the injured as a way to get inside the barrier? That's the only logical explanation."

"A diversion of a diversion," Lucia concluded. "Twice the confusion. Enough to fool someone like you."

"Yeah," Riven admitted with a grunt. "That kid in the gym, he said something to me."

"What kid?"

"The leader of the hostage takers. Before he was taken away by the UFOs. He said _check_. I believe that's chess for you're-about-to-get-fucked."

"Generally speaking, yes. Now where's the mate?" Lucia said, red eyes growing in concern. The grip on her pistol tightened and her Accelgor bristled.

Baron teleported beside Riven, panicked. _"Everyone's thoughts are a mess, I can't get an accurate read right now. What do you want me to do? So much stress in the air… it's getting me anxious."_

"Anxious? Ah, distressed crowd. Natural jammer for psychics. They just keep getting better, don't they?" Riven chuckled. "All the psychics in the world won't help us here."

"_Riven?"_

He held out a hand. "Hold on…" He looked over at the end of the street. "Alright, if anything appears below us or comes from the crowd, deal with it. Right now go straight to Gale. She doesn't have any pokemon with protect. I can use Efrain to protect myself, so don't worry about me. Will should be fine and Lucia is here with me, just focus on Gale and see if any of the UFOs that got hit by the blast need healing."

Baron nodded and disappeared in a pink flash, reappearing a distance away.

Riven drew Efrain, slipping into Sword's Dance to prepare himself for any surprises.

Lucia began to ready the others when a loud crashing of glass was heard high overhead. Out of the adjacent building to the right, a figure jumped out of the twentieth floor, silhouette blackened by the sun. A white glow enshrouded its right hand as it fell and Lucia realized what its goal was—the center of the barrier, where all the interlocking lightscreens and reflects converged.

Everyone thought that the formation was impenetrable, and for most intents and purposes, it was. Unless fighting types could fly high enough to break it, and with just the right strike. Highly improbable in the chaotic nature of an attack, but an overhead drop onto it with no one to stop it… breaking it was definitely possible. Improbability wasn't as synonymous with impossibility as everyone seemed to think. And with everyone in place… well-

_Checkmate._

"It's going for the barrier! Ri-"

He was already on it, spinning a sword wreathed in shadows overhead. Energy pooled inward, turning the blade a deep purple as it began to rattle. He released it and swung downwards with both hands, unleashing a traveling cut through the air, just hoping he'd make it in time. She knew that he'd realized the weakness from the moment he saw the structure in the sun; he hardly missed anything, especially after feeling like a Rattatta in a trapped cage.

It was a bloody wonder how accurate that paranoia was.

The slash caught the attention of all the operatives, drawing their gazes upwards as the Shadow Claw tore through the air, advancing towards the figure.

Too late.

White, glowing hands made contact with shimmers and the protective formation shattered into pieces, every barrier dissipating into nothing more than shards of pink and white glass. A moment later, the shadow claw met its mark, slicing into the attacker in a spray of blood and shadows.

A Sawk fell from the sky, bloody and broken among the rain of gleaming glass.

"They're in the buildings!"

"Protect!"

"Get the civilians-"

What came next passed like a blur; a furious bellowing of orders, a storm of bullets, the whirring and odd clinking of shields made of protective energy, and beams that shook the ground and turned concrete to dust.

Efrain's protect disappeared as Riven caught sight of the Sayre followers and what appeared to be Singularity grunts up in the windows, holding rifles with pokemon snarling beside them. One glance at the ground and he could see injured operatives littering the floor, and that wasn't even counting the injured civilians.

Some of them wouldn't get up again.

"You take one side, I'll the other! Don't use fire pokemon!" Lucia called out to Riven, releasing Murphy. He nodded and brought out Haona.

The Absol snarled instantly as the smell of blood entered her nostrils. The humans in black had been ambushed. It didn't take much to figure that out once she spotted the attackers. Her trainer nodded grimly at her and threw Efrain like a javelin, sending the sword straight through a man's chest, disappearing a moment later.

There were more on the other floors, and Riven couldn't clear out three by himself. She shot an ice beam across the top and sides of the open windows, spreading ice to cover up the holes and break the humans' line of sight. Guns were dangerous, but they were worthless if you couldn't see the opponent. Even as a pokemon she knew that. After Forrina, it was recorded into her mind.

Behind her, electricity exploded into the building and screams rang out as men were electrocuted. A small blur of movement moved throughout one of the floors, dropping grunts and pokemon quickly and silently among flashes of green blades from a larger blue, Roland.

The surviving operatives had also joined in the fight, ordering their pokemon to fire back as they took cover. Soon enough, the entire street had turned into a delightful mix of a firefight, only with firearms and pokemon. Oh, and they had the height advantage.

_At least Gale and Bib are okay. And that stupid Typhlosion,_ she noted after freezing over another floor. Will and Quil were battling on the ground level beside a massive Haxorus and a blonde human's Arcanine as the grunts and their pokemon moved to the ground level. Casca unleashed a torrent of pressurized water into the open windows, shattering glass, walls, and presumably flesh judging by the agonizing yells.

_What a lovely scene._

Gale and Baron were flying in the sky on Emile and Kyne, dogfighting with other flyers. A Mandibuzz had gotten hit with Yukiko's ice beam, fell, and ended up a disgusting splat of red on the ground. The others that dropped out of the sky didn't end up much better, honestly.

Then the building where her trainer had run off too exploded as a wave of purple ripped through an entire floor, went out the other side, and trailed off into another building. Among the chaos, she had to snicker at the lead human in black, gawking at the extent of destruction. Lucia was dumbstruck too as another explosion followed, this time tearing upwards and downwards through five or more floors. That definitely got all the grunts in there, but left the building looking like it was about to cave in on itself.

The civilians began running _towards_ them.

"Wait! Stop, it isn't safe!"

"Get back!"

"Calm down!"

Someone sprinted into the center and held up hands, a wickedly curved smile on his lips. Light pulsed in his palms and there was a flare of light, too blinding to make anything out. Haona's fur begin to sting and the very cells in her body began to break down and rupture, but just as the worst of it came, a shadow stepped in front of her, and she was sucked into the false reality of a pokeball.

* * *

Lucia opened her eyes, ignoring the pounding in her head from being flung back by whatever it was that emitted that light. Her forehead was bleeding and the rib area burned like mad. Bruised ribs or worse. She groggily and slowly tried to get onto her feet, falling once more when her legs quivered.

Focusing her vision, she felt slightly relieved when she saw her fellow operatives on the ground, still breathing, if in as much shock from the blast as she was. Will and his team were still off in the distance, fighting something… and her pokemon were as well. What about-

_Riven._

He was on the floor too, coughing and spitting blood, whimpering in pain. A pokeball was beside him, and the visor was completely cracked on the left side. What appeared to be smoke rose from his body, and he couldn't seem to get up himself. His arms and legs shook, overtaken by muscle spasms.

_That light… whatever it was didn't hit us too hard. But him… it's killing him._

One of the civilians—or so she thought-walked towards him, still grinning widely. His hands were a light pink, shining brightly. An odd line of light forked down from his forehead down to his chin, with several running down his arms, in a pattern that looked reminiscent of a tattoo and oddly similar to the lines she'd seen on the azure sphere.

"Oh look. Did I hit you too hard?" He asked. "Have another!"

He released another pulse of light, and Riven screamed. He coughed violently, supporting himself on an elbow to release another glob of crimson onto the ground. "Really like screwing with plans, huh? We'd have gotten Elesa by now, but you… Like a wrench in a machine. An annoying pest. It's no matter though, we got you right where we want you. After all, the UFOs are _so_ predictable."

He tilted a head to see Riven weakly reach for Haona's pokeball, stuffing it into his coat, despite bleeding all over the floor.

"Tried to save your pokemon? How nice. Of course, you don't deserve them anyway. Losing a pokemon hurts, you know. But what's sadder than that? A team without their trainer, they just… shut down. Separate, go into the wild, become domestic… some even end their own lives, especially the loyal ones—the Absols, the Mightyenas, the Stoutlands. Just stop eating and die. No one would miss a mercenary anyway." He kicked Riven down, standing over him. He released a Hypno behind him. "Stop any of the UFOs from trying to shoot us. I want them to watch. Oh, I forgot. I'm Floette. Hello, mercenary. Have you seen this kind of power before? It's the future, and only those who deserve it and their pokemon will be blessed with it. Have another taste."

He held a finger to Riven's chest and pressed down, light glowing once again at the tip. Riven began to yell in agony, a sight which only made the operatives watching wince.

Lucia and the other drew their pistols, shooting uselessly at the human fairy as his Hypno effortlessly deflected the bullets with a Reflect. Growing bored, Floette knelt over Riven, and placed both hands on his neck, pressing downwards with glowing hands.

Riven writhed on the floor, trying for breath while the Fairy energy coursed through his body, sapping his strength to move. Jerking to the side for a second to dislodge Floette, he slipped a spiky clump of something into his mouth, swallowed, and managed to get a breath in before the strangling resumed.

Lucia felt like the ground had been swept out from under her as his hands went limp and his head rolled to the side, having lost the strength to resist. Riven wasn't breathing, just simply laid there while Floette checked his pulse and nodded decisively, smiling to himself. When Roland came to her side, she tried to charge, but was thrown back as he and the Hypno launched them back with a psychic.

_Is he really dead? Riven… he's…_

Floette tried to stand up, but desperate wheezing, a large inhale of air, and a strong hand stopped him from doing so.

"Huh?!"

Riven smiled through bloody teeth, still desperately trying to breathe. "Max revive. Surprise you fucking asshole."

A knife went through Floette's neck.

At the same time, a shadow extended from behind the Hypno, shifting in form and thinning against the light. Lucia grinned darkly when Efrain flew out the other side and into the back of the Hypno's head.

"Exploiting type weaknesses? Such a fucking dick... Well-" Riven coughed again, watching Floette's eyes bulging when the knife moved deeper. "I heard fairies just _love_ steel." The knife came out of Floette's neck and was immediately buried into his gut, followed by a kick that shoved him off of Riven.

He got up slowly, blood shooting out of his neck and running down his hands. His skin began to glow, drawing more and more energy inside. Floette was screaming, yelling at Riven through the bleeding about Sayre's goals and legacy. He raised a hand to unleash the dazzling gleam from before, but was met by a volley of pistol shots, taking at least a dozen rounds to various parts of his body.

He fell slowly to the floor, a bloody dying mess.

Only the glowing didn't stop.

"Fuck… Lucia!" Riven called out, crawling away from Floette . He waved a hand, slashing the air furiously. "Get away! He's going to explode!" He tried to reach for Efrain, but found himself too weak to do so. His crawling slowed, cursing his legs as they felt like lead.

Lucia sent her pokemon to fight further up ahead before turning her attention to the other two operatives behind her. "Fero, Sabi, get the others the hell away from here! Find some cover!"

"And what about you, you're going back for that mercenary? He's half dead!"

"Go!"

"Roland, get me over there!" Her Sceptile nodded fiercely, picking her up and quickly dropping her beside Riven as he used the buildings to head over the other end of the block. Floette's body continued to glow and shine, enough that it started to burn her retinas. She propped Riven up on a shoulder, noting that he was passing in and out of consciousness, and ran over to a building whose shadow was being cast on the floor. With every step, he whimpered from the pain, despite having no superficial wounds.

"I'm sorry, Riven. I know it hurts."

"Just… keep going. Don't worry 'bout me..."

Swallowing thickly, Lucia picked up the pace, trying to block out his grunts of pain. He looked like hell and probably felt like it too. She'd never thought she'd see someone _vomit_ blood.

Down the block, Will's eyes widened as he saw Lucia carrying a limp Riven away from Floette's body. Riven had explained what happened to people who tried to use up too much power, and how devastating the surrounding explosion could be. One look at the Mauville power plant's giant hole was all he needed to run a mental picture.

_If she doesn't get him to safety, they're both dead._ Abandoning all thoughts, he was about to channel a quick attack into his legs in a bid to reach them both regardless of what anyone saw. A strong hand held him back, throwing him on the floor. Yates stood in front of him, shaking his head.

"Stay. Here!"

"That's my sister! Let me go! She's going to-"

"Kid, no! You can't die too. Your sister wouldn't want you dying too! Stay here!" Yates glanced back at the dead body, which at this point looked about ready to explode. "Protects up!" He ordered, shoving Will back into his Typhlosion.

As light engulfed the street, Lucia stabbed a blade into the ground and dropped into a shadow, not caring where she went.

* * *

When the light faded, a massive crater remained where Floette had been. The surrounding buildings and the concrete had been peeled away, immolated and turned into slag. Cars were reduced to metallic heaps of parts, thrown against the destroyed remains of the buildings. A glowing crystal sat in the center of the crater, shining with swirls of colors. When the operatives refocused their vision and the protects came down, they were shocked to see nothing but blackened stains where some of the grunts and the civilians had been; they weren't just blown clear, they got vaporized.

"That was quite a light show. We did warn him, what an idiot."

They turned around, pointing their guns at a white-haired man with magenta eyes. He held his hands in his pockets, expressing disgust at the smell in the air. Something about him was off, and it was more than his abnormal appearance. He waved back at them. Magenta eyes watched as Gale and Baron landed, narrowing slightly.

"Are you a Sayre follower too?" Yates demanded, not for one second easing up.

The man chuckled, as if hearing a funny joke. Still, he said nothing, instead choosing to smirk at them.

The operatives began spreading out, surrounding him but still keeping a considerable distance. Their pokemon did the same, not making any sudden moves in case he had any tricks up his sleeve. He noticed, but slipped his free hand back into his pocket.

"What's your name?" Yates asked. "And-"

"-What do I want with Nimbasa?" The man yawned. "That is what you were going to say?"

"How did you know that?"

"I know what all of you are thinking," he said matter-of-factly. "None of it is going to work, especially that little maneuver of yours." He pointed to a random operative in the group. "Hey, Mackenzie, how's that little girl of yours? The one that wanted to see Elesa perform today? Your eldest turns sixteen next week?"

The operative froze, steeling himself. The mysterious man rolled his eyes and shrugged easily.

"I told you, I know what you're all thinking."

"You're an esper," Yates concluded. "That's how you know. Telepathic type. Must be useful in your line of detestable work. Is terrorism fun for you? Is that what this is about?"

"Terrorism? How petty. That changes nothing, what I'm after you couldn't possibly understand. You've never met an esper like me before. No one has. I don't have to tell you anything, I just have to show you that there is nothing you can do." He brought out a hand, and clawed his fingers inward. At the same time, a signpost bent inward on itself, contorting horribly as it packed into itself, as if being crushed by an invisible force. Magenta eyes had taken a blue tinge, hinting at psychic power.

Silent gasps came from the operatives, and their pokemon seemed more than enough confused from seeing a human bending iron and steel into a ball with his mind. Usually only Alakazam did that, and even then it was offputting. Human espers were weak telepaths at best, and telekinetics could do no more than lift a ball or a desk a few feet. The most powerful human espers known were much stronger, obviously, but nowhere near _this_ level. Psychic power like that was only ever seen in pokemon, and strong, at least victory road level. For a human to have this… it was likely a continuation of Team Rocket's work, or some form of genetic experimentation to amplify an esper's power. It could certainly explain the white hair and odd appearance—if that was the case, then it was more than just regional safety at this point. Should the Plasmas, Rockets, and Sayre followers work together, that would be a combination that neither operative, trainer, or nontrainer would want. More specifically, the training world would implode on itself—first from the Sayre followers, then the Plasmas, and finally… the experimentation of the Rockets.

Yates held his jaw and composure as the esper gave him a knowing look, tapping his forehead with a finger. "Excellent deduction, Yates. It seems someone can put two, three, and four together." He gave a bow. "I'm Loberia, the white esper."

Gale's eyes widened and Loberia snapped his attention to her, smiling. "Ah, Gale, is it? You seem to know my name. I wonder how you got hold of it before-hand? Now, I'm guessing that you and whoever else is in league with you are the ones who tipped off the UFOs that something was happening. Snitches. Ruined our plans really, but we'll make it work regardless." He gestured to the crater. "That test run was immensely informative."

"Test run?! That was a human bomb!"

"Exactly as I said," Loberia huffed, rolling his eyes again. "Test run. Little project of ours that still needs some refining. He was a fool regardless, not worth crying over something worthless. He was an avid believer in someone who's dead. Don't need crazy like that. No harm done, right?"

"Innocent people are dead, and your own as well. Do you care nothing about them?"

"They're beneath me, so it doesn't matter." He chuckled as he read Will's thoughts. "Nice thinking, kid. I'm an asshole?"

"Pretty much," Will said plainly. Quil bristled, exhaling flame. "Textbook definition. Major dick."

Loberia couldn't help but laugh, but the UFOs were as stone-faced as ever. Pokemon snarled at him, and pistols clicked in anticipation.

"Now, I wasn't supposed to show myself to you, but I grew a little bored of watching pawns get torn to pieces by all of you. And, I'm very, very pissed about something."

Baron reacted and swung upwards with a bladed elbow as Loberia teleported beside Gale and grabbed her by the arm, holding her in the pathway of the blade. Baron halted and cursed when Loberia grinned and returned to his original position, holding Gale in his grip.

"I've unfinished business with y-"

Gale twisted around his arm, elbowing him in the diaphragm and stomping on his ankle with as much force as she could muster. Loberia grunted as a knee came up and struck him in the mouth and nose, followed by an uppercut to his ribs. He tried backing away, but was met with a kick to the stomach that sent him lurching back. Baron rushed in, green blades glowing pink.

Both Baron and Gale were held in their place as a psychic force prevented them from moving. Loberia looked angrily back up at Gale, eyes glowing a bright blue. He turned his attention to Baron first, struggling against Baron's own psychic, managing to break through and launch the Gallade back where the operatives stood and into a car.

Now eyeing Gale, he wiped the blood from his mouth and nose, nostrils flaring. "Didn't know you could fight. Such a pity it won't help you." He moved her closer to him, looking straight into her eyes—blue lined magenta into light gray. "You took down my Garchomp," he hissed. "Froze him solid after he fell from the sky. You _bitch_. Did you know he's dead? Did you know you killed him? Or did you not bother to check, just like all the other trainers? Unlike your frail, meager bodies, a dragon is deserving of respect, and he was no different. He was _mine_."

"Says the one who abandoned him mid-flight," Gale bit out, laughing in his face. "That's... pathetic. Followers were right, you don't deserve your pokemon." Emile was getting ready to fly over, as was Kyne, but Gale signaled them to stop with a shake of her head.

_Stay back. Please._

Loberia grinded his teeth together and with a flick of the wrist, a shifting blade of psychic energy formed. It changed from a straight edge onto an undulating edge with sickening curves. "I was going to kill you quickly, but now I see you should suffer. Then you can see my pain!" He thrust his hands forward, impaling Gale through the stomach with it, an expression of utter satisfaction as she whined silently from the pain. He pulled it out from her, letting her drop to the floor with a push.

Emile and Kyne charged with a cry of panic and fury, closing in with Brave Bird.

Loberia simply stood there and waited. When the birds got close, electrified webs came down from atop a building, capturing both birds and shocking them into the ground. They landed near their bleeding trainer, losing their strength the more electricity flowed into them.

Clapping, the esper laughed at how easy it was, and how horrified the operatives were. But that kid in front of the large, imposing operative… his expression was the best. He snorted like a fucking asshole. "Oh, was that your friend? Well, she's dying now. If you got an ambulance here she _might_ just survive. Not that I would let you anyway. I want you to watch her die, dear William."

Will clenched a fist, skin turning white as he snuffed the beginnings of flames and exhaled steam. Quil was equally as enraged as he was, and Casca saw the state her trainer was in, settling into a stance as well. Baron limped up to Will, crimson eyes hurt and angry.

_Get me to her, Will. I can block out his influence from reading your mind. He's stronger than me with his psychic, but even the best psychic can't focus with fire coming at them. Cover each other so he doesn't isolate one of us. Surprise him._

Will and the other operatives ordered their pokemon forward, careful not to aim their attacks at Gale. Loberia side stepped most of them easily, but once they got close a wave of psychic energy pushed them back repeatedly, holding them at bay. It wasn't damaging, just extremely annoying. Quil shot a plume of fire at him, but the very air the fire traveled in was simply swatted aside with a shove of an arm.

"Man, fuck psychics," Will said, eyeing Gale on the floor with concern. She held her hands to the wound—which were stained a deep red—and breathed slowly. She looked up into the sky, glassy-eyed. "Hold on… We're coming. Just hold on. Riven's down at worst, and now Gale…"

Psycho cuts clashed and sparked as Baron and Loberia crossed blades, being the only pokemon that could get through the telekinetic wall of go-fuck-yourself that the esper had set up. Baron was stronger physically, overpowering the human and driving him back. Inversely, Loberia's psychic was stronger and constantly kept Baron back with momentary holds of psychic when he got too close.

Baron began to understand why Riven hated psychics. Is this what Aine felt like? Never being able to get close to do anything meaningful? God, it was a dick move. _And_ utter bullshit.

Will was right. This guy was an asshole. Even worse, though—a _cheating_ asshole.

Didn't matter, since he was close enough to get what he came for. Baron flashed next to Loberia, feigning another spinning psycho cut, instead aiming to get him away and to the right. If he had any sort of combat training, the reflexes themselves would prompt him to do it on well… reflex. Baron's guess proved true as Loberia stepped to the side to avoid the first slash and rolled backward to avoid the overhead smash, just as Baron had predicted.

Baron turned on a heal, picking up Gale gently and teleporting her over to the safety of the operative side. Immediately he begin to apply heal pulse, grimacing at the amount of blood he could see from the wound in her stomach.

Loberia smiled and laughed to himself, pointing a finger at Baron. "Oh, you tricky Gallade. Your trainer has been teaching you some dirty things. You fight almost like a dark type." Energy pooled into a palm, and he directed the glowing palm at Emile and Kyne, still trapped in the electrified webbing. "Save her, but can you save them? I can fight like a dark type too."

Casca and Quil tried a last ditch effort of hydro pump and flamethrower, but the end result was the same. The water and fire was simply blown to the side, leaving Loberia completely unharmed as a psybeam charged at a helpless Emile and Kyne.

A rainbow colored beam of destruction shot out of his hands, ripping the concrete and distorting the air as it traveled. The attack howled as it crashed into something and bent, forking outward to the sides.

A blood soaked mercenary stood before Loberia, extended hand blocking the psybeam as it traveled around him, destroying the building behind him as well as the arms of his coat, leaving him completely unharmed, as if the move had no effect on him.

Which it didn't. The force of it was still there though.

"Did he just… stop that psybeam with his _hands_?" Mackenzie gaped. "Who the hell are these people?"

"You wouldn't believe it if we told you," Will said, gesturing for the pokemon to get ready. "Now that he's here that guy's fucked."

Loberia backed away, eyes glowing a deep blue. Riven wasn't fazed, lips curled upward in a slight snarl. The psychic bounced off him, and Loberia shook his head furiously in complete disbelief. "No… one of them? You're not supposed to exist! The Rose's saw to that!"

Riven didn't say a word-not even a growl- as a rising darkness seeped from around him, contrasting with the light of day. It touched the repelling psychic barrier, dissipating it with ease. Loberia held his head, groaning at the dark influence flooding his mind. The Elgyem that clung to Pershing's pants let out a piercing shriek and all the psychics around the operatives fell to the floor, grunting and hissing from the aura.

"The hell's going on? The psychics are going nuts. Is it because of him?"

"I've heard about this from a friend in Kalos. When a legendary went berserk over there, the psychics did too, all hit the floor and starting screaming in agony. He said it felt terrible, just like right now. Something… evil. And from the looks of that thing, it probably is. Everyone's going to think we've gone insane."

They recalled their pokemon, partly in fear that it would cause them to go berserk as well. White-haired dickbag didn't have that luxury, fortunately enough. Small act of god, it seemed.

A knife emerged from Riven's coat, quickly becoming enshrouded in a pitch black aura. Traces of white light shone around his feet as quick attack improved his movements, closing the distance between him and the esper. He stopped momentarily, halted by a psychic force.

Magenta eyes glowed blue, with a white pupil in the shape of a sun. Miracle eye.

The dark aura increased, engulfing Riven and reforming into what looked like the appearance of a black demon, with horns and wings. A red eye looked back into Loberia's own and a night slash carved through an entire wall and most of the floor; its shockwave continue along across the building, ripping a deep scar through it that dropped the jaws of the operatives.

Scrambling as his psychic attacks did absolute shit to Riven, he brought out a pokeball, bringing out a Heracross. It saw the distressed state its trainer was in and charged, horn extending outward. Riven simply side-stepped it and gripped the horn with black claws; he lifted, orienting his body to take advantage of the Heracross' weight, flipping the bug onto the floor with enough force to crack the ground beneath them. He turned away, as if considering a dual bug and fighting type was no threat.

The Heracross attempted to charge Riven, but was tackled to the ground by Quil, and with fangs of fire, Quil bit into the exoskeleton, unleashing a flare of flames from his mouth.

The air smelled like burning chitin.

Riven once again leapt forward, reaching out with blackened claw. Loberia's body flashed in preparation to teleport, but a clawed hand gripped his wrist, and the teleport fizzled uselessly.

_Can't teleport a dark type_, Will recalled. _But_ _Riven… is that the Nightmare?_ Only made sense, really. Dark types were usually very strong physical attackers, and if the same logic applied to humans, then that meant they were pretty damn strong physically. Not as durable as say, a fighter, but strong enough to cause serious damage. The only downside was their durability and frailty, something Will doubted Riven had going for him. If anything, he'd ran out of juice soon. And when that happened… bad news. Until then, all he had to do was pummel psychic bastard's face into the fucking dirt with extreme prejudice.

And Riven _hated _wasting time. A crazy Riven? Even less so.

Loberia desperately tried to break away from the demon's grip, but screamed as he crushed the bones in his wrist. "Play quite rough, don't you? Women must love you."

Riven responded by trying to stab a longer knife into Loberia's side, struggling against the psychic affected by the miracle eye. The knife broke skin, but didn't penetrate deep organs. A crackling was heard and Riven back away when lightning exploded where he was standing.

Blonde hair and eyes as blue as the sky stared down at Riven from atop a building, a Luxray by his side. He wasn't smiling as he usually was, but looked rather displeased. He noticed the operatives and their pokemon slowly surrounding Loberia, and with a movement of the head, ordered him to back off. Breathing labored, Loberia disappeared with a teleport, reappearing beside Tesla and promptly vanishing as an Alakazam teleported them away.

Darkness receded and flowed away into nothingness, revealing a weak looking Riven underneath, barely able to stand on his two legs.

Riven watched as Baron held healing hands over Gale, and he muttered something under his breath to himself.

_I told you… and you didn't listen. Keep her alive. Please._

He reclined against a wall, finally giving in to his body. Quil came over to him, picking him up and hoisting him up onto his back.

As he carried him back down the ruins of the street, the sounds of sirens could be heard in the distance.

* * *

**This took ages to come out because real life has been hitting me hard. And by hitting me hard I mean work, all STEM classes, having to rewrite this multiple times because of assorted mishaps when falling asleep without saving the bloody thing, and generally just trying to tailor the chapter the way I want it.**

**Also, Dark Souls 3, Gears 4 beta, and Overwatch ate a hell of a lot of time. DS3 in particular. Sorry this took FOREVER to get out. I'll probably release the next chapter in a few days, since it'll be shorter, with the one after being longer.**

**Will look through this for typo's later.**


	64. Falling Winds

"Huh, you do heal fast."

Riven blinked and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, then focused on the man sitting in a chair in front of him, idly reading a volume of Trainer Monthly. An Elygem sat on the chair beside him, hissing lowly. When they traded glances, its eyes narrowed while it gave a shrill shriek that sounded like a sneeze and a hiss.

It also made Riven's head pound. He made an obscene gesture at it and it screeched back, making it worse.

"Can you not? My fucking head," Riven said, wincing. "Why is that thing out of its pokeball? And in a hospital room? The walls echo!" He peered up at the man, still dressed in operative uniform. Suddenly his location registered and his incredulity went and killed itself. "I'm in a hospital again," he realized with deflating irritation, sinking slowly back into the bed. _I should reserve a bed specifically for me in every hospital of every town I visit from here on in. This is getting ridiculous._

The operative mumbled something about a section in the volume about new combination moves and folded the page to mark his spot. "Do you have something against hospitals? They kind of save people when they're almost dead. Like you were. And I can't really return him," he said, gesturing to the alien psychic. "He's assigned to me and he stays out for as long as I'm on the job. So what's your deal with hospitals? Besides the needles, nobody likes needles."

"Nobody likes dying either." Riven huffed and hissed back at the Elgyem. "As for why… I can practically consider hospitals home."

The operative's face twisted slightly, thinking about that and wincing. "How many times?"

"What would be an acceptable amount of times so that you stop counting?"

"Uh… ten?"

"Ten? Heh, I wish."

The blonde nodded once and stopped, blinking several times. "Damn. I remember I got shot once. Don't quite feel like repeating that just yet."

Riven shrugged as the two shared idle stories of getting beat to shit numerous times. "Pershing, was it? Oh, that's right, only UFO that wasn't a cuntbag at the time. That other guy was a dick. I also can't remember anyone else with an Elgyem that irritating."

It screeched again.

The operative set the magazine down with a flick of the page and nodded. "Sorry about him, he doesn't take to strangers very well. Name's Allen. I'm not really sure if it's a good idea to tell you that but since I'm going to be glued to you for a bit I suppose it's easier than saying my last name all the time. I know your merc name is Prime, but if you don't want to tell me yours that's fine. 'Anonymity' and all—I get it." He shrugged, and focused his sight on Riven's eyes. "Heterochromia though, did you hide it so you could blend in? It's pretty noticeable. Sorry if that sounds weird, but I've never seen a heterochromic before—don't take it the wrong way."

Riven looked at Allen oddly and rubbed his eye, wondering why it wasn't itching.

"The nurse removed your contact so it didn't slide into the back of your eye, in case you're wondering."

"Ah," Riven said. "It's a bit irritating, but yes, it's easier when people don't turn heads because your eyes don't match. So you're Allen then… Alright. Why the hell are you here?" Riven asked, scowling. He did a quick scan of the room. Allen pretended not to notice. "I don't need your protection."

"It's less about protection and more about me watching you in case you go insane and try to kill someone. Watching you isn't fun either, I'd rather be out doing something else, but for now you're the immediate priority… or so the higher ups say. All my days of leave are out too, unfortunately, so I can't blow this off. Still not sure why they didn't get someone else to do it, I'm a gentle guy, wouldn't harm a Yanma." He did a pathetic little wave of the hands, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

Riven almost rolled his. While it was obvious that the UFOs didn't quite trust him, especially after a display like the one he'd shown, it was still ridiculous that they'd only put _one_ guy on him. And with just a psychic too. Maybe it was because Allen was more likable than the other operatives he'd come across? The rest just treated him like they would any run of the mill lowlife mercenary. Understandable but still fairly rude.

At least the guy was agreeable, he'd probably stab someone if they put an operative with a stick up his ass to watch him. Allen was good, for now. Still, being curious and in a hospital bed, he figured he could do with some prodding.

"Do you think you can take me?" He challenged. "Especially with what you saw?"

"Considering you were and still kind of are suffering from blood-loss based anemia and looked like a sneeze could knock you over, yeah." Allen held up Riven's pokebelt and smiled warmly as the latter frowned very deeply. "I also have your pokemon while I have all of mine. Oh, and I have a gun. If it bleeds, I can probably shoot it and if by some odd chance you _did_ disembowel me with a stray scalpel, getting shot would kill an already anemic person pretty quickly. I'd say I'm in the clear."

"Damn." Riven clicked his tongue. "You thought this out fairly well didn't you?"

"Yeah," Allen said, pretty proudly too.

"And you practiced."

"Not particularly." At Riven's look, Allen's shifted. "A bit. Maybe."

A knowing smile came from Riven and he looked up at the ceiling, surprised to see that there weren't any pokemon themed pictures on the tiles. There usually was. He was further surprised to see a juicebox get placed on the bed, an act which the blonde operative just pointed to, urging him to drink it.

"Juice?"

"Juice has sugar." Allen held up a finger. "You haven't eaten anything since and sugar is a diuretic, should help with the anemia and general blood deficiency. The doctors didn't even know where to damn start with your blood type, no one even knows what the hell would be compatible with you. Good thing your body is something else entirely, otherwise you'd be in a tight spot. Just be glad they're not feeding you that tasteless jello and pasta."

"Looks like I don't have to slash my wrists after all then," Riven agreed and took the juicebox, draining it in a few moments, apparently unashamed to ask for another. Allen chuckled to himself and whispered the Elgyem something about a vending machine. It disappeared and reappeared a minute later, holding several juiceboxes in its arms along with other assorted candy bars. Riven dug into them quickly, slightly appeasing the hunger he'd been feeling.

While he was destroying a chocolate bar, Allen couldn't help but snort."They always assign me to the problematic ones, don't they?" He remarked wryly, partly to himself. "You wouldn't happen have a metal bat and a catering for acting on whims, do you? Because if you do-"

"No," Riven replied flatly, opening another candy bar. "I prefer sharp objects to blunt ones. Why, did they assign you to a stubborn girl that makes questionable life choices—probably doing something inane and nonsensical and refusing help because she's irrational and doesn't think? Did I get it right?"

Allen eyed him dubiously. "Sure you're not psychic? How did you know it was a girl?"

"Because it wouldn't make sense otherwise, and my wrists are still intact, so no, no psychic here," Riven deadpanned. "Also, you look like the type of guy that'd get assigned babysitting. It's your personality."

Allen's frown deepened and he looked towards the Elgyem in horror, as if wondering if it was true. The damn alien nodded furiously.

"Heh. What's her name then?" Riven sighed when the operative hesitated. "I'm sitting here in this bed, feeling like ass, and so weak that you can confidently take me, so entertain me at least. I really don't want to read Trainer Monthly."

"Ree… Her name's Ree and she's uh… _spirited_. I guess," Allen said, scratching the side of his cheek. "Telling you what she's doing would be a bit of a breach of trust though."

"But I don't give enough of a damn to give enough of a damn," Riven reasoned, finding the logic sound. He chucked the juicebox into the trash bin in the corner of the room and smirked when it went in. "This is all for the entertainment factor. Completely fine. I'll probably forget about it in a day. No worries."

Allen seemed to consider it a bit, but a raised eyebrow from Riven and the absent death of another juicebox talked him into it. He started wondering if maybe he was a little too easy to get talked into things.

"Uh, she had… 'unsafe' relations with a member of the opposite sex and well, decided that training was apparently a _really_ nice fad to get into when women get… you know. Turns out it's not as easy as she thought and things happened. Then I had someone teach her how to shoot a gun. She's also impulsive and nearly beat a man to death with a bat and literally _stabbed_ a guy in a hospital—who she actually put there for… killing one of her pokemon. _And_ _then_ tried to assault a guy in the middle of the Plasma protests in Castelia for doing something to her sister—who is currently undergoing operative training now." Allen took a _very_ deep breath. "She's, uhm- a handful. I'm still not sure I should be telling you this but I need someone to listen to me bitch about things. Today stressed me out."

Riven was silent for a moment.

"You poor bastard."

"Tell me about it." Allen sighed. "She's not a bad girl, just not prone to thinking things over too well. I hope you don't give me hell either. I'd really appreciate it if you didn't."

"Depends on what your superiors tell me once they find out I'm awake and not dead to the world. I bet they haven't overlooked the fact that I killed some people either. Can't wait for the moral arguments about that. I assume they have questions?"

"Hell yes they have questions. I have questions! Like how you can do that… thing with the darkness and the claws and the- how _do _you do that?"

"I'm a wizard."

"I don-" Allen scowled. "You're an asshole."

"I think that much is known already, Gale gives me enough shit for it alr-"

Riven's train of thought evaporated as the color left his face and he almost leapt out of the hospital bed. Allen shoved him back down, gripping his arm before the IV tore his vein apart.

"Calm down! You're going to destroy your arm!" Allen reasoned, holding down what could best be described as a weakened superhuman. While weak, he was still much stronger than he looked.

"She got stabbed, I need to see her. Now."

He tried to get back up but Allen held out a palm, urging him to settle back down. The operative blinked in confusion, contrasting the image of the confident, smirking mercenary with the one he was seeing now—worried and afraid. They were like two different people. "Uh… she's..."

Riven settled back into the bed, voice going very soft. "She's not…?"

"No, not dead if that's what you're wondering. God damn, your Gallade managed to heal her enough to let her hold on until the paramedics got to her but… she underwent massive hemorrhaging. The bastard _forked_ and _curved_ the blade. She was bleeding everywhere and they had to give her transfusions just to keep her alive. She might still be in surgery. I don't know yet. Just calm down and get up _slowly_, an IV needle can completely destroy your arm if you don't remove it first, and I don't want to get blamed if you do something reckless."

Allen backed away when he saw Prime go very quiet, staring straight ahead at the door. In his eyes, a deep, seething hatred welled up, and his nostrils flared. The deep blue color of his right eye held a coldness within, and his jaw was set hard enough that his teeth grinded against each other.

"I need to see her," Riven insisted, removing the IV from his arm. He aimed to stand up, and Allen debated whether to stop him a third time. "Don't, Allen. I'm not like that girl you were assigned to or anyone you've dealt with. If she dies, I _will_ go after that bastard. And when I do, I'll tear down the skies, the seas, and the earth to make sure he dies. Even if I have to make you move to do it."

"I don't disagree with you on that," Allen managed, holding out his hands to calm a furious mercenary. "You're not a regular trainer and I can see that, but you can't run through a hospital and demand to see her while she's still in surgery, wait a few hours until she's out. And also… Yates is expecting you. They won't let you through until you come out with everything about what the hell happened back there. A man turned into a damned crystal and you became some sort of black demon. They're sure as hell not letting you walk out of here without more information."

Riven stared at Allen for a brief moment, who was pleading with his face. He shook his head and exhaled, trying to calm the nerves and anger and hatred, all the while fighting the worry of whether Gale was going to live or not. His anger faded momentarily and all he could do was stare down at the floor, crestfallen. Powerless, again.

"Prime?"

"Can you get me some clothes to change into, at least?" Riven ground out, throat dry. Allen nodded at the Elgyem, and it disappeared in a flash. Riven sat back down on the bed, running hands through his hair, all the while cursing silently under his breath. _Not her too. Please not her too._

The Elgyem returned with arms full of clothes—a white shirt and sweatpants, each with a pokeball logo on them. Allen handed him the clothes as Riven stood up, using the bed to right himself.

"Do you need help?"

"I can change myself," Riven insisted stubbornly, dismissing Allen. He slid out of the hospital gown, and when Allen saw him, his eyes widened in shock at the sheer amount of scars just on the back alone. Multiple lacerations of varying sizes were carved into skin, healed but still scarred over, marking the locations were he'd taken a knife or worse. A large cross shaped cut ran from shoulder to just above the hip, and judging by the appearance of the wound, it was far fresher than the others. Possibly a pair of large curved blades, and the smaller scars revealed what looked to be bites and stray slashes from claws. When Prime turned back around, revealing the front, Allen had to wince and look away.

He'd never seen someone with a cut from pectoral to hip like that. And the shape of it… Scyther. For sure. He'd seen pictures of the wounds from friends in the forces in Johto and Kanto. Messy and horrific were just the start.

_Good lord…_

Riven peered down at his exposed upper body and his mouth fell into a thin line, as if remembering each individual scar. "I'm used to physical pain. It just hurts for a while and leaves you scar at worst. I have quite a lot, as you can see, but-" A shirt went over his head. "It's the other kind of pain I don't know how to deal with yet. The one in here."

"I don't think anyone can ever deal with that kind of pain, no matter how many times they've been through that. If it means anything, I'm sorry. About your friend, Gale. Why did you bring her into this?"

"She wouldn't let me not," Riven replied, changing into the sweatpants. When he was done, he sat on the bed, slumping down like a wilting flower. "I think we both know what stubborn girls are like. I can't ever seem to say no, she's just-" He seemed to smile sadly at a memory, but it fell quickly, revealing painful memories best left alone. "If I lost her… I- I don't know. I've had enough." He sighed quietly. "I used to think she was just a nuisance, like a weed. And then, slowly… she became a very good friend. She's done a lot for me, a lot more than I realized. I must not look very mercenary right now, huh? Surprise, surprise."

"No, not at all. I figured there was more to it than that, mercs don't usually go out of their way to help official forces—it was really odd. But forgive me for sounding surprised but you were _worse_? I saw your remove a sword out of someone's _spine_."

"At least he kept his balls," Riven more or less nodded. Allen's face scrunched together in horror. "In all seriousness though, I probably would be in worse circumstances otherwise. I was a mess. Climbed out of a shithole and didn't know what to do when everything suddenly wasn't shit. Thought everyone was my enemy and would honestly murder anyone that tried to remotely hurt me. I was a teenager, though. She was a large part of why I got better. Taught me that trusting people wasn't so bad after all."

"Well... Sometimes, even weeds grow flowers," Allen added, smiling to himself. "Were you a trainer before?"

"Briefly," Riven admitted. "Before things happened and then I found something to do. That led to what you see now, and while I liked training, it didn't speak to me too much. I'm just too used to… conflict I guess." He swallowed and inhaled shakily, steadying himself. "Enough about that though, I don't want to tell you too much. What about the wounded in Black City, and the other two trainers with them? Castelia? I at least want to make sure they're alright."

"The operatives and the two other trainers are fine. There was a lot of injuries from the fighting, and I don't know the full extent of the injuries your friends sustained, but they were large enough to warrant hospital attention, so just hope it's just fractured ribs or something. As for Castelia…" Allen trailed off, giving Riven an uneasy look.

"What?"

"Well, we were hoping that you'd tell us. Because we have no clue how any of what happened is possible."

"Why, what happened? They came back?"

"I'd say tried, but what happened was just downright confusing and made me scratch my head more than once. See Yates, he'll tell you."

"But I'm asking you, Allen."

"I… Look, this isn't some favor, or sharing stories. I bet mercenaries have a lot of them, but this is serious, and Yates wants to know. He's my superior, Prime. If I ask questions, you won't answer them. Maybe you don't _want_ to answer them. So I prefer if you told Yates and save yourself one more explanation. It's a drag, right? And it's a little dull hearing the same revelation twice, I want to prep myself for the big shebang."

He opened the door, holding it for an astonished Riven—who gawked in silence, tilting his head with a puzzled expression. A hand rose in disbelief, and a mouth hung agape. "Allen?"

"Yeah?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you are way too much of a likable bastard? I bet they knew, didn't they? Sent you here to warm me up and spill, and now you know that I know that you know. And I'm going to do it anyway." He stuck an accusatory finger at Allen, and put it down when he couldn't muster up the douchemanship to call him out for it. "Normally, I'd dislike you for abusing your friendliness like this, but it's surprisingly difficult. Maybe you're the wizard."

The operative was completely stone-faced. That is until a giant smile spread on his lips and a tiny chuckle escaped him—the closest to shit eating Riven had ever seen from an official. Then Allen cuffed him.

Damn his charisma.

* * *

Normally waiting rooms in hospitals only had a few people in there outside of epidemics or incidents, waiting for relatives or spouting nonsense about feeling ill but really only just there to get access to morphine. He'd been in a hospital so much that he started to recognize run of the mill junkies.

This time, however, a room full of men and women in black clothing and badges awaited him. All of them had coffee. Probably relocated the injured from the day's events to the larger hospital in Nimbasa, which treated people exclusively. Riven presumed this one was the smaller one that also sported a pokemon center on the lower floors. Upon seeing Allen enter with Riven trailing behind him, they stood up at once. A table had been rearranged as a makeshift interrogation table, and the civilians had been asked to go elsewhere.

Abusing military power? Maybe. At least they were being heavily reluctant about thinking of using their weapons, and since they had no pokemon out, they must have been wary of a fight indoors. It could have been because he was also dressed in regular clothing and was as limp as a wheat stalk, being viewed as non-threatening. Will was off in the corner, sitting beside his sister, trying not to make eye contact.

Riven took his seat slowly, massaging his forehead with a palm. He exhaled and gave Yates a very tired, "Wanted to see me?"

No-nonsense as always, Yates' expression was stern and controlled. "You look younger than I thought."

"Really? Because I usually get called an old man." Riven stroked his hair. Half of it was white. Allen allowed him to put his contact back on, respecting Riven's decision to remain unknown. Well, the UFOs had probably already matched his face with the trainer records of a certain Nathan of Kalos, since he had synced his pokedex with the region's databases in the center in Castelia. He'd be damn surprised if they _didn't_ know who he was. "What did you want?"

"That information you gave us was falsified. There was no planned Plasma protest," Yates declared, hiding steel between his words. "Because of that, seventeen operatives and twenty nine of their pokemon are injured, with eight others dead and ten of their pokemon also dead. Not counting the gym leader's lead pokemon. We were ambushed repeatedly—this has never happened before, and all of it was because of a lack of information, or in this case, _wrong_ information."

What? Falsified? How…? Riven's eyes narrowed. "Falsified? Elaborate."

Yates was handed a file from one of the operatives, and when he opened it, he flipped a picture over to Riven. The image was of a middle-aged man wearing the signature Plasma uniform, shouting into a microphone. "Bensen Lavern, leader of the current Plasma organization, fighting for the banning of training and pokemon abuse through nonviolent means."

Hah, nonviolent. Right. _Hold on, what did he just say?_

"You know the leader of the Plasmas?"

"We keep tabs on potential threats, yes."

"Then how the hell did you not stop him, get information out and find out why the Plasmas are working with Sayre followers? And then make him cough up the plans? We had two weeks to prepare!"

"That's the problem, Prime. When you came to us with the information of a Plasma protest scheduled during Elesa's tour, it certainly made logical sense. They have protested at large events before, and Lavern went missing when we tried verifying the information—thus, we assumed that he was in on it. Until a few hours ago. The agency was spammed with calls from Plasma supporters, denouncing any and all affiliation with the incident. Fervently. There was no scheduled protest and many of those under him also said that he was in a financial situation… of sorts. Desperate people will do desperate things if pushed that far."

Yates intertwined his fingers and set his hands down on the table. "So, either you purposely led us into a trap, or your violent methods of interrogation did. Both of which cost me good men and women. Was that the plan? A mercenary helping us for no charge apart from protecting these so called 'interests', it's so… strange."

A snapping snarl came from the mercenary.

"Oh, so now I'm a double agent that fed you false information which killed your men and somehow I got something out of this? The same people who put my friend, and yes, I won't lie, she's my friend—in the fucking hospital, who is still in surgery by the way!—almost killed me, and almost killed Elesa? Sure, that's fucking plausible, Yates, I'd believe it if I was drunk, high, _and_ a lunatic."

"Excuse me, sir, but I think the information could have been spread deliberately," Allen interjected, all but restraining Riven with a hand on his shoulder. The guy looked like he wanted to stick something sharp into Yates' eye and twist somewhat roughly. Starting something in a hospital waiting room would be ill-advised, and everyone had bags they could practically _carry_ under their eyes. Hell, he wanted to go straight home and sleep for half a day, thank you very much.

"I mean, it certainly makes sense why they would do something like that. The Plasmas don't exactly announce their protest dates randomly, and from the way Prime-" He glanced at the man in question, who was snarling at Yates while also paying attention with half an ear. "-uh, operates, he would have picked up the falsified rumors. Word gets around quick in the underworld, I assume. Maybe they were counting on that and were hoping an undercover operative picked it up and reported it in. Prime did instead. So, if anything, it's not about whether he gave false information, but more that the enemy is more intelligent than we think they are, right?"

_Allen, I could kiss you_, Riven thought in his mind.

Yates seemed to consider it, nodding his head. "We'll have to see if Lavern turns up, but your analysis could be correct, Pershing. But that delves into another matter, one that is of more pressing importance at the moment; what your original aim is and what it has to do with the power you displayed out there."

Riven remained static, and refused to budge when Allen gave him a subtle tap on the shoulder.

The lead operative waited for a long minute, noting that the mercenary had no interest in sharing, or was heavily reluctant. "You, that man with the fairy abilities, the leftover crystal the size of a man, and an human esper powerful enough to rival an Alakazam. What's the correlation? You knew and refused to tell us. That was information that could have saved lives, and yet you selfishly held onto it. All those good operatives and civilians, dead because of your greed. And that girl, your own friend, desperately clinging onto life because you didn't have the decency to share vital information."

Snarling resumed, and Riven's fists clenched together. "And even if I did, what good would that do? I had no idea they had those people with them! And while we were there, I was bleeding all over a rooftop, hanging onto Lucia, hoping you'd send dark types after that psychic piece of shit, and you didn't. So I had to do something. The reason she's dying isn't me, it's you."

"Why would we send our pokemon against an enemy of unknown capabilities, at the end of a four way street? There was debris littered around the street, and a psychic with the power to crush a car can easily use them as weapons. We also care about our pokemon. We also didn't know if there'd be another ambush or if he had help, which he did. An electric type atop a building and at least another Galvantula hiding amidst one of the floors. Tell me mercenary, how does that work out for the ones that don't have the height advantage?"

Badly. An electric type with the height advantage was near untouchable, a lesson Riven had learned from the brief skirmishes with Lirans in the past. Lightning bolts were fast, deadly, and precise, and shooting from below hardly ever worked. Having to fight against electric types on sloped terrains with the height disadvantage was akin to suicide, or at the very least, an extremely difficult fight.

"Why didn't you keep shooting then? He couldn't possibly block all the bullets alone."

"Have you ever seen what a powerful psychic can do?" Another operative, Lacroix, said. "They can deflect bullets back at you. I lost three friends like that in the Sinnoh crisis following the Champion's tragedy. They were sent over to Sinnoh to help stop the madness when the rangers couldn't manage alone. A trainer ordered his psychic to kill a boy for not being 'strong', and when they shot, the psychic simply had to flick a finger. Then they were all dead, precise shots to the center of the head, more precise than any human could manage. Alakazams and powerful psychics have their own way of being dealt with—they're as dangerous as dragons on the list. He could have killed us all, and your friend and her pokemon were in the way, too risky."

"His psychic also affected even you," Yates noted. "From what I observed, you… hybrids have abilities as well. Perhaps the esper's wasn't an ability, but he had Miracle Eye, no doubt about that. Sending our pokemon to fight him could have meant death. And yours… it's Dark Aura, isn't it?"

He didn't even need Riven to look at him to know he'd nailed it on the head.

"I've read reports of sightings of the Kalosian legendary bird, Yvetal. Eyewitness accounts claim that his presence was like being in the midst of a pit of 'dread, anxiety, hatred, despair, hopelessness, and evil.' Not unlike what we all felt from you. The day Yvetal was spotted, psychics went haywire wherever it flew, and their powers caused untold property damage and injuries to trainers and nontrainers. A jammer for psychics. The only reason you stood a chance against this… Loberia, was for that reason. What are you? What is _really_ at play here?"

After more silence, Yates exhaled in exasperation. Straightening his shoulders, he looked straight into Riven's eyes, and neither flinched. "I hoped we could come to an accord, but it seems you've no interest in it. I heard once from a mercenary that his favorite saying was, 'I did what I had to do', because it let him sleep at night after doing something horrific. He lied to himself. Have you used that excuse before, Prime?"

"What are you getting-"

"Gale Serna. A foreigner from the Hoenn region in league with a foreign mercenary that has already racked up a killcount of eleven people and numerous pokemon in a single day. She's currently in surgery, but if need be, I can make it so that they refuse her medical attention outright. Without it, she may not survive the night. Unless, of course, you come forward with the information."

The other operatives in the room gasped, and some were stunned. There were whispers from the others in the back, clearly not fine with that decision. It could have been just a ruse to get Prime to comply, but the situation was tense, and was about to escalate.

Will fully expected Riven to snap and destroy the handcuffs but instead he gave a tired groan, complaining about how handcuffs hurt the wrists and chafed terribly. Whether it was confusion through audacity, he didn't know. Riven slumped into the chair further, like he could give less of a shit.

"Yates…I'm bloody tired, my head hurts, and I've only eaten chocolates and juice. I need solid food, maybe a good burger. Now, you're threatening not to save my friend's life, the friend of a mercenary who doesn't exactly share her morals, that's a bad idea. See, if you let her die, I'll stop holding the crazy fuck in my head, and trust me he's much better at using these abilities than I am. Then he'll paint the walls of this waiting room red and as I've said before, think about the janitors, they really don't want to clean this up. Oh, and he'll casually remove your spine as well—the dude's fucking crazy, and the worst part of it is that he's a part of _me_. Don't get me wrong, right now I feel like puncturing your neck full of holes but I'm frankly that damn tired. So I'll ask for you not to make threats that can backfire _tremendously_. Take what's mine and I'll destroy what's yours. And you have _a lot_ of stuff to lose. By the way, do they have something crunchy? Like chips? I want something crunchy."

Allen's palm met his forehead hard enough to leave a mark.

Riven awkwardly rubbed his eyeballs the best he could and simply watched wryly in mild amusement as Yates and the other operatives looked positively bamboozled by the casual mention of annihilation followed by… something insignificant. The situation was serious, obviously, but he'd learned from his time in Kalos that sometimes audacity combined with a threat of mutually assured but casually reluctant destruction worked just as well as a threat of mutually and very seriously with extra emphasis assured destruction. All in the delivery really. They'd seen what he could do, he was pretty sure they wouldn't want to test whether he'd carry out what he said he'd do.

Which, while sounding cool, wasn't very plausible, given Allen's explanation. He seemed to catch on too, but didn't say anything, thankfully.

And plus, this way was _hilarious, _situation be damned. It would be hours before Gale's surgery would be done, and even with the worries twisting his stomach in knots and his seething hatred for that white-haired esper fuck, screwing with the straight-laced Yates helped ease his frayed nerves a bit. Riven noticed Will in the back fighting to contain a shit-eating smirk and Lucia shook her head in disapproval, no doubt trying not to burst out into one herself.

Yates righted himself, blinking several times. "Are you intentionally screwing with me?"

"I wouldn't intentionally do _anything_ with you. Although, it seems you like wasting peoples' time with empty threats that really don't make any logical sense. If you let her die, not only would you not get any information out of me, but you'd make an enemy of someone who, for your current knowledge, can turn into a _fucking demon._ All the while I lose arguably one of my best friends in the process, and when I do, you'll lose everything too and the guys out there win. In what way, shape, form, and situation does that work out for anyone besides both our enemies? You claim yourself to be a protector, but you act like a villain. Too bad you're terrible at it, I've dealt with people far worse than you. Your threats don't scare me either, no matter how many guns you have pointed at me. After all, I've nothing to lose. My death wouldn't matter here. But theirs would. You won't take my shit, I won't take yours. I still want something crunchy."

_Don't threaten my friends, I'll bullshit you up, down, and sideways if I have to._

"Mercenaries," Yates muttered under his breath. "_Fine_. I don't want to let her die, but I will if needed. You're right. Neither of us want either outcome to happen, because for now, we're allies." The head operative sounded like he was reading a speech made by someone he detested. Lack of sleep was making itself known. "Let's make a deal then. What do you want in return for the information? Besides bloody chips. Someone get him some."

Riven smiled and peered up at Allen, who was still recovering from the sheer incredulousness of the situation. He sighed, and asked Riven what flavor he liked, then left the room like a beaten Lillipup. A strangled argh came from outside as he went down the hallway.

"Firstly, I want you to assure that Gale will receive all the medical attention she needs. She will not be a bargaining chip, used by anyone, got it? Secondly, what I'm going to tell you cannot leave this room, which means you nurse, need to leave."

The nurse eavesdropping in the back gave a tiny little squeak and with a stern look of disapproval from Yates, rushed out of the door.

"If there are ops in here that you don't trust with a secret, bring a psychic in that knows amnesia and wipe their recollection of memories for the past few hours. Allen's annoying Elgyem can probably do it."

Yates agreed, albeit reluctantly. "Now that that's out of the way—basic question, what are you? No snarky remarks. We made a deal. Are you a product of some kind of experimentation? The Rockets delved into genetic experimentation before, I wouldn't be surprised if someone picked up their research."

"Rocket research? No. If someone stuck needles into me I'd notice. Although the Rockets may have tried human experimentation, I can tell you with complete certainty that I wasn't made in a lab." Riven paused as he rubbed his chin. "I'm not a hybrid of a pokemon or a person. To put it into perspective, I look like a human, I talk like a human, I act like a human, but in biology, I'm a pokemon. I have all the strengths of a pokemon, and their weaknesses. That's why that dazzling gleam had me coughing up blood like I'd been shot, and why your psychic locks are absolute garbage against me. I didn't become like this, I was _born_ like this."

It took a moment for it to register for the operatives, but instead of the usual utter shock other people had, most almost puked their dinners out. Alright, that was not the kind of surprise he imagined. What did they think he me-

Good _god_.

"Oh for fuck's sake, it's not what you're thinking," Riven denied, pretty disgusted with the prospect himself. "Shit…_ no_." Lacroix was as green and as sour as Wepear berry, no doubt having seen or encountered some kind of pokephilia in the past while on a job. Allen wasn't the only tormented soul in the force. Alas, another poor bastard.

Even Yates gave Riven a dubious look, and Will let out a muffled snort, clearly amused. Lucia knocked him on the head. This was serious… or so she thought. The misunderstandings were really diminishing the sense of urgency.

"I- let me word this so you- Fuck." Riven tried organizing the thoughts in his head so that whatever came out of his mouth didn't sound like the beginning of an innuendo or worse. "My parents weren't pokemon. They were human, but they were also like me. But I'm not like you, because I'm not from around here."

"You mean there's a region where humans have developed pokemon like traits?" A younger operative asked, blinking owlishly at the prospect. He joked, "where do I sign up?"

"Unless you have impossible technology, no, there isn't," Riven replied pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "This is going to be a bit hard to believe. But I'm not from around here _anywhere_. From any place on this current earth."

"Oh, so you're an ali-"

"Monroe… there are no aliens disguised as humans, for the last time," Yates clarified dully. "Slugma are also not extraterrestrial either, for that matter, please stop."

"Take off that tin foil hat, Monroe."

"Fuckin' Monroe…"

Yates held up a hand and told them to quiet it down. "So you're not from around here, where are you from? Unless you _are_ an alien." He looked at Riven oddly. "That would be confusing, but given the circumstances and the amount of _things_ that have happened in recent years... Grumpigs flying might be next."

Riven smiled.

"I'm from the past, half a million years ago."

There was a long drawn out silence… And the operatives took a _synchronized_ swig of their coffee, probably hoping it was alcohol. A few of them were even disappointed.

"How rare are espers in the world? Statistically?" Riven asked.

"Less than a half a percent. Truly powerful ones like Sabrina, Lucian, or Olympia of Kalos are even rarer than that."

Obviously, he knew that already but points needed to be made.

"And human espers powerful enough to crush cars and have the necessary mental power to use psycho cut, at the very least?"

"None that we know of."

"Now think on that and just humor me, for a little bit, even if it sounds outrageous, and it does—I know. But we can do things others can't," Riven stated simply. "You saw what_ I_ can do. Back where I'm from, there were clans—ruling bodies similar to Kanto's back in the Feudal Era, that generally more or less only consisted of people that were their own typing. I didn't know it at the time, but mine was made up of people who were considered dark types. There was one in particular, the Curians, from their capital city named Curianos, that could be thought of as seers. Psychics, obviously. You wanted to know your odds of success in a battle? You went to them. They produced few warriors but the ones they did have had exceptionally powerful psychic abilities. Not unlike our white-haired shit eater esper. I never saw one, but I assume they were like Alakazam or a Metagross. Not to be messed with lightly. Loberia… that guy wasn't born here. I don't know how powerful offspring between someone like me and regular people turn out, but he knew what I was, and for all intents and purposes, all traces of my time are gone. He's a Curian, no doubt about that."

"Assuming… this is true, how did you get sent here? If you didn't have the technology required?"

"While I don't know the intricacies of it all, I had a more scientifically acquainted friend investigate it. Apparently, it involves the Sinnohan legendaries. The biggest fish of them all. _Those_ legendaries."

Skeptical operatives suddenly weren't so skeptical. He knew they'd read up on Team Galactic. What they wanted to do was borderline world breaking. Not many knew of Arceus and the two lesser known Palkia and Dialga, but those who did knew they were very much real, and their powers were in a league so removed from regular pokemon that they could practically be considered gods.

"They did something half a million years ago that broke time and space, opened up cracks in the world and the only place they led was to the future, because they basically altered the past and made it so that humans never existed."

At more skeptical and confounded looks, he held up a finger to let himself finish.

"For a hundred thousand years humans were extinct on Earth, but all of a sudden primitive people sprang up all over. _Your_ ancestors, not mine. Backward, but very much human. But also not pokemon. You lost your abilities and your strength, but kept the intelligence. Arceus changed humans to be a completely different species altogether. Ripping through time and space though? Not just every moment in time but every fraction of every second? They might be the most powerful beings we know of, but they're not precise enough to cover all holes. And there _were_ holes. Lots of them. Some of us fell in. I did." Riven nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. "I got here five years ago with no knowledge of technology, the world around me, or what happened. I was a stranger in a strange land, one where pokemon and people worked together. And there've been others in the past, some faded into obscurity, others legends with powers that couldn't be explained and thought to be just exaggerations. They're not, just like those Sinnohan folk tales aren't. People and pokemon were one and the same."

A pause.

"That place I come from? That fucked up shithole? You know why it was like that? Neither do I." Darkness trailed and curled around his fingertips. "A nearly thousand year war for reasons I'm pretty sure I don't even have the slightest about. I can assume though. I was part of a clan that everyone hated. Not because we were assholes, but because we were something else. Dark. Evil—I guess. They feared us for the same reason every one of you is secretly fingering that trigger. Fear. It was all fear. And so they killed us, and we fought back. For one thousand… fucking years. Maybe just because of typings. Horrible things can happen when an entire people are afraid of something. Given my abilities, it was no surprise they made us out to be monsters."

There was silence. Allen had returned some time ago, and he simply placed the chips on the table. "What clan were you from?"

"Cerul," Riven answered sadly. "Our leader tried to make peace with our enemies. And they violated that peace and committed a genocide against us. Just a few men with powerful fire abilities burned our entire city to ashes, along with everyone else. Blast burn. Nothing survived. It was stupid and foolish and hopeful. That man was my _father_. Want to know my real name, Allen? Riven Cerul; his only son. Some lucky son of a bitch I am, right?"

He smiled in pity and no one said a word.

"I was seven. Just a kid. Lost everything, even my parents. Then I joined up with the remnant of the Cerul army and then I lost that too, including someone I looked up to and my best friend. Not counting everyone else. "

Will's pocket felt heavy, reminded of whose knife that originally belonged to. He didn't want to think about it.

"Just as I was about to die to a bunch of Arcanine, I fell into a rip in time and ended up here, a worthless soldier that didn't know how to do anything but fight. But this world, your world, is much better than mine would ever be. Say what you like about my intentions now, those don't matter. What does matter is that I don't want this world to go down the metaphorical shithole either. I like it here, I got _better_ here. The gym leaders, Gale, my pokemon, Will… I've met people I don't want to lose. Not again."

Yates collected himself and glanced at Lucia, who was staring at the floor, blinking repeatedly. Will had heard the story before, but every time Riven told it, there was so much pain in the words that he couldn't really imagine it, couldn't see what that was like. He'd lost Nez, but that was a personal pain, not like _that_. No one could imagine something like that, there hadn't been conflict on that scale since the Kalosian war, and most of the wars fought never lasted that long. No one really _knew_.

"Why would this world become like that?"

"Because history repeats itself if you let it. Not exactly the same, but close enough. Just like it almost did today, and we're not even sure if it's the end yet. That light in Driftveil, how old were the ruins there?"

An operative pulled up a tablet, searching up the information. She held it up and scrolled down the page, looking up archaeological reports. "Twenty two thousand years, approximately. They've hailed it as an amazing discovery, and after that lightshow it put on, said it was unlike anything they've ever seen before."

Riven chuckled and shook his head, opening the bag of chips with a ruffle of fingers. "Twenty two thousand, the magic number. What they found was a sphere. That isn't the first one to exist. I found one of those in Granite Cave on Dewford—a blue one, as blue as the ocean with glowing white glyphs on the surface. Every sphere is identical and only vary in color. The spheres also seem to have some kind of memory storing ability, like a camera taking a video." He saw Will turn his attention to him. "I thought it didn't do anything apart from that, until Will and I got stuck in the desert and thirsty, hungry, and dying we found some ruins guarded by Claydol. The sphere reacted and opened up a spear with a red sphere like fire in the middle. And then Will touched it. What happened afterward? Let him show you."

Will tensed as every operative practically flung their attention on him. Standing up precariously, Lucia led him over to the table with a comforting hand on the shoulder. He gave Riven a look, seeking approval. Riven dipped his head and closed his eyes as Will held up a single finger. Fire shot out from the tip, flaring embers up towards the ceiling and scorching tile. He stepped away and slowly, bright orange flames engulfed his wrists and legs, burning away clothing and bathing the room in heat and light.

"He was born in Slateport," Riven said to awestruck operatives, gobsmacked when they glanced at Lucia as if asking whether she knew. "This civilization that left those ruins was global, they spanned the entire planet and now they're gone without hardly a trace save for the ruins. Because they found a way to revert humans to what they once were. Want to guess what happened?"

"A second purge," Lucia mentioned grimly. "_He_ didn't have to eradicate humans entirely… just the civilization that knew how to bring about the old world. He was trying to prevent it from ever occurring."

"And now Singularity is trying to figure out how they did it. with no idea what they're getting into and for who knows what twisted reason either. From the looks of today, they're getting damn close." Riven threw a chip in his mouth. "History tends to repeat itself. And you know what they say…"

There was a loud crunch and a pitying, hollow laugh. Riven smiled viciously, picturing Arceus sitting on a golden throne made of unanswered prayers and promises, just waiting.

"Third time's a charm, right?"

* * *

Riven had walked out of the waiting room more tired than he ever could be. Not one of the operatives dared stop him, even Allen back off. Lucia and Will knew where he was headed, and decided to be elsewhere. Yates had returned his pokemon without hesitation and promised to keep him updated on any situations that arose. He'd also given him a secure line from which to call for help, if needed.

It was thoughtful, but the entire conversation had been draining, and left him a wreck. A failed prince turned mercenary. Ironies were the universe's favorite.

He waited in front of the operating room, releasing his team. The Castform subtly asked for Gale, to which Riven replied with a sad smile. Haona rested her head on his knee and whined softly. Aine was silent, sitting in a chair in silence. Baron saw the outside of the room and stared at his hands, as if cursing his own ability to heal, wishing it were better. Riven waited until morning with them, stroking Haona's fur to calm his nerves. No one slept, no one moved. When the surgeons left, they were bloody and exhausted from a long and arduous procedure. A stretcher came and took Gale away, barely giving Riven a chance to get a glimpse.

He stopped one of the lead surgeons before he left.

"Is she alright?" He asked, eyes heavy with fatigue.

The surgeon lowered his facemask and frowned. "Are you her traveling partner?" There was an audible exhaustion in his voice, and he seemed saddened when he saw Riven's pokemon look up at him with the same look of concern on their faces.

"Yes."

"I see. I'm not going to lie to you. She needed blood transfusions. A lot of them. The wound she had was curved and forked, designed to cause as much damage as possible and bleed her to death. Most likely purposely missed most of her vitals for a slower death. Whatever sick degenerate did this, I hope he pays."

"He will when I find him. He won't get sent to the hospital, he's going to the morgue," Riven growled through gritted teeth. The surgeon didn't even try to argue that. "Is she dead?"

"No, thankfully. We were told a Gallade used heal pulse on her, and targeted her intestines first from the looks of it. Smart pokemon." He noticed Baron sitting in a chair, clenching green fists so hard he thought they'd break. "She would have had enormous damage to her organs if it hadn't, but she still suffered some nonetheless. With time she can recover from it with some complications but the immediate issue is that she bled so much that she went into hypovolemic shock, we had to pump more blood into her if we wanted to save her. Multiple transfusions and drugs to raise her heartbeat as well. Suturing the wounds took hours from the way the blade entered and as a result she's… I'm sorry. She's in a coma, we're not sure if she'll wake up."

Dejected, Riven's jaw clenched, nodding. "When she's there, can you let her Mightyena and Fletchinder out? They might want to be with their trainer. The others are too big."

"Of course."

Riven slowly let go of the surgeon's hand and turned to his team as he walked off. They'd all been with Gale for years, and she was like their second trainer—a mother figure of sorts, and as such, developed a strong sense of trust and affection towards her. As strong as their connection to their own trainer, even.

Baron cursed loudly, and his horn dulled, reflecting his inner mood. He stood up and demanded to be returned, with Aine following suit and Boagrius requesting it as well. The only one who stayed was Haona, crestfallen and sullen. She nudged Riven's hand.

_Let's go see her. _

Riven came to the main desk as a nurse entered information into a binder, keeping track of new entries and patients. "Excuse me, miss. Do you know where Gale Serna's room is? She just got out of surgery."

"Yes, she did," she confirmed. "Who are you, may I ask? If you're not family, I can't let you in, she's still very weak and in no condition to be disturbed."

He remembered what she'd told him about her father and her lonely upbringing, shaking his head. "She doesn't have any family. Her father died years ago. No siblings or uncles she knows of."

"Then who are you-"

"Please," he pleaded. "I want to see her. I _need_ to see her. She's important to my team, she's like their second trainer. And damn it... she's important to me too. Please let me see her."

The nurse looked stunned, and recognized that pain in his eyes, that worry. Working in a hospital made it so common and yet it was always heartwrenching to see. What she saw in him…

"Room 456, fourth floor, right side of the building past the elevators. Take care of her."

Riven gave her a melancholic but thankful smile. "She's always taken care of me. Thank you."

The nurse smiled back, and wrote two letters onto a piece of paper.

_S.O._

* * *

When Riven saw her, laying in that hospital bed with a breathing apparatus on her face and IVs running through her arm, he felt a wave of guilt grip his heart like a Kingler's claw. Evie sat at the side of the bed, whining painfully as she licked Gale's fingers. Vizi sat perched on a chair, too saddened and furious to offer so much as an indignant breath of flame at Riven. He came to Evie's side, stroking her fur like he did to Haona.

She gave another sad whine and licked her fingers again.

He slipped on the translator headset over his ears, nodding at Evie.

"_Will she be fine?"_ She asked lowly, synthetic voice trembling. _"Why isn't she waking up? Why?"_

Riven seemed to hold on his answer, unsure whether how to answer. How could he answer? Evie didn't understand, she had to have hope, even when he didn't. Even when he was so jaded he knew that she'd probably die right in front of him, because that's what always happened to his friends. Dying while he lived. And so he lied. "She'll wake up soon. She was hurt badly, Evie. She'll wake up soon."

She whined again.

"_Make him pay,"_ Vizi said angrily, flaring fire between her feathers. _"Make the one who did this pay. I'll burn him until nothing's left when I evolve. I swear."_

"He will pay," Riven declared. "If she doesn't wake up, I'll tear apart land, heaven, and seas to find him."

Gale had been one of the reasons he'd gotten through Kalos. She'd taken care of his pokemon and not just that but… her entire presence had changed him. Just having a traveling partner, someone who liked his crazy ideas and listened… it felt nice. It felt just like those times with Yanine, Kasaic, and the others around the fire—before the loss and the hunger and the cold. She was the string that tied those broken pieces of him together, the glue that made him forget about that painful past.

And now she was dying.

He waited several days until an entire week went by, leaving the room only to retreat to the pokemon center, eat, and shower. The doctors came in and asked him whether he'd like to take her off life support, but each time he refused, foolishly clinging onto that hope that she'd open her eyes and everything would be fine again.

In that week, the followers had made an announcement that they'd return, setting up a list of rules for the next tournament and goading the UFOs to "try something smart again". Yates had informed him to watch for a woman with black hair, gray eyes, and a strange marking on her face. She'd faced the operatives at Castelia by herself and blew past them, with bullets bouncing off of her like she was made of titanium plate. Another one of those mercenaries, probably. One from the city of steel. She hadn't killed any of them, but likely did it as a show of force.

On the other hand, Nimbasa largely returned to the way it used to be. The field ops had somehow managed to swipe whatever happened under the rug, and just how made Riven wonder. It's like the populace had completely forgotten. Tourism was back despite the construction of repairs, and Elesa's gym remained open, even with the loss of her lead pokemon.

Things more or less hadn't changed, and communication to the outside was still cut off.

Will and Lucia had left for Black City to check on the other operatives as well as Amy and Seab, who were still recovering in the hospital from minor injuries and some broken bones.

So far things had been quiet, but it'd be a long six months, maybe more or less depending on how quickly the other regions noticed. He gave it another week or two before things would start getting out of hand; a missing person's report here, a murder there. Soon trainers would start traveling in packs and murder rates would rise. Then the centers would start emptying.

Even when they won they lost.

He stared at Gale from his seat, wondering if he'd get to see her wisecrack again, and feeling like shit when the thought of never being able to registered in his mind. He'd warned her, and she hadn't listened. Isole had warned him, and he still couldn't stop her. Could the same happen to Will, or Seab, or Amy?

He didn't want to find out.

Then the door opened.

Beneath a doctor's garb and a facemask, a man held a bouquet of beautiful flowers, eyes as blue as the sky and hair that shone like gold. Knives flew into the wall beside him, with one impaling a rose in the bouquet, pinning it to the door behind him.

Tesla smiled, and set the flowers down on the table, unfazed.

"Hello, Prime. It's been a while, nice to see you again."

* * *

**I said this was going to come out in a couple of days. I lied. I had finals and internet at my place of residence had been cut off abruptly. And there's a huge freaking fire blocking off the exit from the freeway, so I had to get the hell out of there before it got worse. Breathing in ash is bad news. So no net for me until I moved back home. This also was meant to be shorter but I ended up extending it, so here you go.**

**Poor Gale, much sad. Riven really does care.**


	65. Trades

Riven stood at the foot of Gale's bed, both hands holding sharp steel, glaring Tesla down.

When he spoke, he snarled. "Move closer and you die. There are no pokemon here to protect you," Riven warned. "What do you want, Tesla? What are you doing here?"

The blonde's smile seemed to wane, if only slightly. Despite how one-sided their previous encounter had been, he also knew that the mercenary was something of a force in hand to hand combat. From the way in which he spoke like a protective Mightyena, he wasn't eager to test whether he could fight him there and then. Tesla remained rooted in place lest another knife fly at his face. Blue eyes remained completely carefree, however. He clapped both hands together, a laugh escaping him. "Ah, Prime. I mean, Gray… What do you call yourself these days? It's been so lo-"

Steel flashed with one sharp motion. Blood dripped onto the floor.

Tesla stood in place, having caught Riven's knife mid flight with his right hand, bloody fingers on the wickedly sharp edges. "Merciful gods, these are _ridiculously_ sharp. What are you trying to cut through, steel?" He flipped the knife in reverse with a pained wince and tossed the knife back to Riven, shaking out his bleeding hand. Tesla was a bit disappointed with Riven's lack of reaction. "Oh, come on. Caught a knife mid flight and not even a slight bit impress-"

Another knife flew at Tesla, this time embedding itself into the wall where his head had been. The blonde stared at the gleaming metal as he settled back in place after deftly moving his head to the side. _No jokes, no wisecracks, no smile. No attitude. Looks like Loberia really screwed up._

"Try to deflect again and I will attack you. Stay on topic and answer the question," Riven warned again, pulling two new knives from underneath a coat. "Did you come here to finish her off? If you did, we _might_ have problems."

Tesla sighed deeply and shook his head. "No, I didn't. I came here to talk to you about what happened with the girl, among other things. Why so hostile, I'm not Loberia. Easy…" He held up his hands, as if coaxing a rampaging Rhyhorn to calm down.

"You're my enemy," Riven scoffed, rolling his eyes. "In case you forgot, because of _you_, the bastard who did this to her is still breathing. I think being hostile is entirely appropriate in this situation."

The blonde pursed his lips and swallowed hesitantly. Really felt like prodding a snarling Houndoom at this point. "…True. I did save him. Although, I don't condone what he did."

"As if that makes _everything_ okay." Riven's glare intensified, and Tesla could almost feel the seething hatred from there. He wouldn't be surprised if ice started forming around the room from such a look. Certainly felt that way. "I want to rip your intestines out right now. But I don't want to do that in a hospital. Especially not when she's here in the room."

"And I agree." Tesla gave the bed-ridden brunette a curious glance, ignoring Riven's growling to pause and stare. "Ah, she's quite pretty… And from the look of Loberia's nose after their encounter, she's a scary fighter. Do you care about her?"

"Don't ask questions you already know the answers to. You know I do," Riven answered seriously.

"How would I possibly know that?" Tesla asked, slight mirth in his eyes. "I can only infer so far."

"I've come here every day for the past week, from afternoon to night, leaving to the pokemon center to sleep. You came here wearing medical garbs and got the room number from following me in disguise, I assume. Obviously you don't know her name to have gotten the room number that way, or else we'd be having this discussion far earlier in the week. That's the only reason it took you this long." Riven trailed off, somewhat dully. "You had to follow me, learn my schedule, and then stalk me to see what room I went to. You're not a doctor, so standing around would get you unnecessary attention, you had to be discreet. Standard procedure, isn't it?"

Tesla swayed on his feet, smiling at Riven. "That was fairly quick, was it that obvious?"

"No, I actually just guessed."

There was a loud snort before Tesla put his non-bleeding hand on his chest, "Loberia didn't give me her name, sorry. I had to improvise. Hope you're not weirded out by getting stalked, it's fairly common in our work, right?"

The black-haired mercenary grunted like a dog.

"I figured one of you or your lackeys would be here, seeing what would happen in the aftermath and what the UFOs knew. I didn't expect anyone to directly approach me, especially not you or another member of Charaph."

A whistle came from the blonde.

"Even know the name of our group, huh? That gut feeling I had when someone kept trying to interfere with our plans in Kalos was true then. I'm glad it's you, though. Running circles around the authorities was getting a bit boring." Tesla shrugged casually. "But I'm sure you don't want to hear me talk about our previous scuffles. I also don't feel comfortable having knives pointed at me. If you will."

He twirled a hand but knives refused to come down, drawing another sigh from Tesla.

"Let's talk outside then," he suggested instead. "Walk with me."

And he expected it to work too, from the look of disappointment when Riven didn't budge an inch. It looked like he was about to throw a knife too. But he didn't, only scoffing sardonically.

"Why would I go walk with you? Outside? There's probably someone on the rooftops or on the street waiting for me to leave with you, holding a rifle or just eager to sic their team on me. And leave her here knowing Charaph is in the area? Do you _think_ I'm retarded?" Riven asked incredulously. "No."

Another frown appeared on Tesla's face, and he stopped trying to goad him.

"I tried asking nicely… What's her prognosis?" He asked seriously, face going rigid. "She's been here a week. Either Loberia did more damage than he thought, or it's graver than that. Since you're still here, you don't know how to fix it or are unsure of _how_. It's bothering you, feeling helpless like that."

Riven met Tesla's gaze as mismatched blue and brown glared into sky blue. "She's in a coma," he answered obviously. Nothing else really needed to be said.

Tesla nodded dimly, crossing his arms. "And if I told you I had a way to help her wake up, would you walk with me? Better than staying here and hoping for her to miraculously do so. This isn't a fairy tale. Listen to my proposal or sit here for another two weeks until you slip so far into denial that she'll never wake that you'll go insane. You don't want to pull the plug when that happens. Something like that… It'd disintegrate whatever fragile stability us mercenaries have."

Riven gave him a flat look, not wanting to accept that but knowing that Tesla was right. Still, there was a degree of suspicion underlying it all, given Tesla's nature. Mercenaries were crafty. After all, he was one. It was part of the trade, and so was lying. "I still don't know if you have people waiting to kill me outside. Or if the method you're about to propose is going to work at all, if not outright screw me over."

"That's a fair concern, but you don't have to worry about that. I came alone. And without my pokemon. See?" Tesla indicated the lack of pokeballs whatsoever. "My boss isn't exactly available because of that communications and trade restriction the officials pulled. So technically…" He grinned. "I don't have to listen to him this time either."

"How convenient," Riven added sarcastically, hiding his own thoughts.

_Just like in Kalos,_ he remembered. Again, Tesla's behavior didn't make sense. If he had stalked him, he could have threatened Gale's life and gotten him to do whatever he wanted. He could have had men wait until he was leaving for the pokemon center to jump him. Or had him shot. Now he just wanted to talk? Made no sense—which was actually the way most things were when it came down to it. Proceeding with caution was the best option, since he had no idea what Tesla's intentions were. This guy didn't operate on conventional "you're my enemy" logic.

A mercenary like that was dangerously unpredictable. Scratch that_, every_ mercenary was dangerous and unpredictable. You could expect a trainer-or a ranger - to seldom go back on their word. They suffered from pride before reason. A merc, on the other hand, could promise you the moon one second then drag you into a boiling pit of acid the next. Or they could spare you for no reason at all.

He was still skeptical of Tesla, but really… what other choice did he have? If it didn't work out, he'd cut him to pieces and go about his way. There was a small part of him that still held hope for Gale, and even despite being so small and insignificant compared to the jaded cynicism he'd accumulated over the years, it was more overbearing than anything. Such a tiny, powerful speck. A gem among the sand.

Hope was frightening.

"Are you sure it's going to work?" He asked, giving Gale's unconscious form a look of concern. "That it'll wake her up?"

Tesla pursed his lips. "Well, I can't _assure_ you that it'll wake her up definitively, but I believe it could. There's a good chance. A very good chance."

"So you don't _know_?" Riven questioned, patience wearing thin.

"Uncertainty is always present, Prime. You can never be fully sure of something. I don't quite know how comas function and what will allow people to wake up from them, but this is the best chance you-no… _she_ has. If you care about her enough, you'll give it a chance. All you have to do is hear me out," Tesla proposed again. "It's a beautiful day outside, and the Ferris wheel is open! I'm not asking you to trust me, just want a chat is all."

_I really don't like this_, Riven grimaced. Maybe it was just paranoia returning, but if Tesla did have a way… He had to try it. It was stupid and probably a really bad idea, but damn it, he had _hope_. The last time he had hope he'd joined a significantly smaller army to fight against one of the greatest militaries in the world. Hoping to win too.

That'd gone over well.

_I'm an idiot._

"Wait outside then," Riven conceded. "But I'm going to get someone to watch her, at least."

"That's fine with me," Tesla agreed, bowing slightly. "I'll be outside the hospital doors. See you there, Prime. Please don't sic a UFO dog on me either, please. We're both above petty tricks like that, they're no fun."

"Hey," Riven called, prompting a questioning glance. "What happened to all that talk of putting on a hell of a show in Hoenn? Three years and it never happened? You're quite shit at promising things."

He grinned. "Gave you one last week, didn't we? There was a little delay, but you had fun." He left with a wave, closing the door behind him.

"Right," Riven muttered. Picking up the bouquet of flowers, he moved them closer to Gale's bed and removed the knives in the wall. Taking out his holo caster, he dialed a number on the pad, waiting as the phone rang.

"Hello?" Came a confused voice from the other side. "Who's this? If it's more telemarketers trying to sell me Lapras skin balm I'm going to-"

"Allen?" Riven asked, interrupting the latter's tired.

"Called me by my first name? What the f…? This is an official number, who is thi- Wait, I know that voice. Is this Prime?" Allen guessed, bewildered. "How the hell did you get my number?"

"I asked Yates for it?"

"Did you _ask_ or did he _give_ it to you? Because there's a strict difference."

"He gave it to me, actually. Said you were always willing to help people in need. At least I think that's what he said. What I understood was, 'if you need a glorified sitter, use Allen.'"

"You know, sometimes I hate that man."

Riven could hear that Elgyem screeching in agreement from across the phone. Sounded like a dying Ponyta.

"This is going to become a running joke, isn't it? Some punishment for being so _damn_ lovable? And nice. And amazing. And handsome."

"Don't gush yet. Think about it this way, you're a _big and strong_ babysitter. And uh, I kind of need your help." Riven held in a nervous laugh. Allen sucked in a breath, waiting for the gut punch. "I need you to watch Gale for me. For a few hours, maybe. Bring your gun and your team."

Allen let go of the breath he'd been holding, somewhat relieved that it was just guard duty and not something insane. Disappointing but he wasn't complaining. Maybe he'd get to finish that novel he'd been putting off. "Oh, that's not so bad. Wait. Why? Are you expecting-"

"I'm going to do something stupid," Riven cut in. "Again. For the hundredth time. Really stupid. You wouldn't like it at all if I told you. And if Yates found out, I'm facing jail time for sure, but I might have found a way to get her to wake up. I need to do this. Can you watch her? If you're not busy and are still in the area. I'd owe you, even if you handcuffed me last time."

"Really, something illegal again? Well, you aren't exactly a pillar of the law so it's expected but... Today was my day off, and now I have to put on pants…" Allen trailed off, frowning up at his Beartic. He sighed, damning his inability to refuse. "Okay… I'll do it. But whatever it is, make sure you don't get yourself killed. I don't want to tell your girlfriend that you went and killed yourself to find a way to wake her up. I'd really appreciate it if I wasn't a part of a tragic play's plot, because this seems to be going that way."

Riven didn't get the reference but he felt a slight bit relieved. "Thanks, Allen. Ignore the blood on the floor. Oh, and the knife marks in the wall. I… got frustrated?"

"Nope, I'm not even going to ask," the operative said to himself. "I'll be there soon. Now where did I leave those pants…?"

The call ended as Riven pressed the end button. Warily, he opened the blinds with a finger, watching for any long sightlines that they could use. They were fairly high up, and the only building in sight was a story shorter. No rifles at least. That wouldn't stop a determined attacker with a flying pokemon, but he hoped Allen would be enough.

Taking his pokeballs and a potion from his trainer bag, he released Aine from her pokeball. She blinked down at him, her mood falling as she saw Gale's unconscious form on the bed again.

"Aine, can you watch Gale? I know it's depressing but… There's someone else coming to watch her too, but I'll just feel less worried if you're here too. I'm going to do something right now that might get her to wake up again. It might be dangerous. If something happens, push the red button near the table, it'll call the doctor in. Watch her, yeah?"

The Blaziken nodded in understanding and gave him a low cry, telling him to be safe.

"I will, thanks." He turned and gave her a grin. "Hopefully there won't be any new fireworks, right? Or else you might see me here in a bed again and we'll have to add to the tally."

Taking a seat on a chair, Aine seemed to chortle, and waved him good bye.

"Oh, right. There's some cards there on the table. In case you get bored. Allen's coming later so play with him too. He gets bored easily."

* * *

Tesla waited idly by the exit of the hospital as he said he would. He kept his face hidden with a hat as he watched Riven exchange a few words with a less than pleased older blonde man at the entrance. While he wasn't in uniform, it was fairly easy to tell that it was an operative.

Kicking off the wall and tipping his hat up, Tesla greeted him with his uninjured hand. "I thought you were about to set him on me. Did you call him here to watch the girl? I already assured you nothing would happen to her."

Riven hmphed. "You could assure me all you want that the moon is going to fall into the Earth, and even though I know it won't, it wouldn't make me believe you or increase how much I trust you. Which pretty much comes down to—_not very_."

Tesla frowned again, and motioned Riven to follow. The day was indeed nice, with clear skies and large white clouds scraping along the blue. A cool breeze blew along the streets of Nimbasa and the sun shone overhead, vibrant and warm. It almost made Riven forget that his friend was currently mentally degrading in a hospital bed. Then he remembered and the day wasn't so great anymore.

Talk about dissonance.

"I'm glad this part of town was untouched," Tesla began, taking a turn to the right as the street light turned red. "It was always the nicer one. And has a much better view than the other part, even if it's smaller. Have you been out of that hospital, by any chance?"

"Not really." Riven eyed him with a twisted expression. Somehow, seeing a known and dangerous mercenary peer around at shops like a wide-eyed child was more than unsettling. He even went and tickled a Lillipup that a child held in his arms. That made Riven's face contort.

Halfway down the street, Riven directed his attention toward him, snapping his fingers in irritation. "Stop getting distracted, this isn't a damn date."

"Oh, I know," Tesla assured. "I was just wondering what your annoyance threshold was."

Riven's brow furrowed hard enough to slash paint off walls. "Well, we're outside now. Start talking, it's not like people care much about what two random people on the street are talking about. I'm not here to watch you pretend to look at shops. And I'd appreciate it if you don't lie to me from here on out, I'll know. First, some questions."

Tesla pouted but straightened out. "Okay, ask away."

"Those rumors of the Plasma protest. Your job was to spread those rumors, wasn't it? The UFOs were the original aim all along?"

"Hmmm…. I wouldn't say they were the original aim. We never planned to kill anyone, just… discredit them a little."

"Then why all the theatrics and explosions?"

Tesla sighed. "Killing Elesa was also never part of the deal. I advised against involving those lunatics. Things got out of hand rapidly. Plans don't always go according to… well, plan. Some improvisations needed to be made."

"You let a bunch of loose cannons out and are just now regretting it?" Riven snorted. "Your boss is more stupid than I thought."

"Oh no, it's quite genius really. Efficient, but horribly frustrating to deal with. You can't control these kids at all. The entire reason everything blew out of proportion last week was because they went and got ideas. Bringing the Tournament back was something we definitely didn't want. It would go against our interests both. As you know, now everyone is stuck here for the next half year. Perhaps more if things get worse."

Tesla grimaced, shaking his head at the prospect.

"They're here now though, so we'll have to deal with what that entails. Their little obsession with the idea of what a 'real trainer' is seems to be very infectious. Especially among the higher echelons of the trainer scene. Nearly every trainer has lost a pokemon or two at that point. Sympathy and stupidity seem to have trouble discerning one from another among teenagers."

"You're going to get rid of them? Why bring them here in the first place then?"

"How hard is it to destroy a building from the outside with a bomb?" Tesla asked randomly, pointing to a large residential building in the distance. He visualized it exploding.

"Not very hard with a big enough bomb," Riven answered. "Or pokemon. A Voltorb works fine."

"True, but now take the same bomb and instead put it inside. That building is done, and for far less effort. Just from the mere difference of the bomb detonating from within. See what I'm getting at?"

Riven scowled, thinking about it.

_Taking them down from the inside by trying to pose as their allies…_ Singularity was the Sayre cult's supporters and thus automatically commanded respect and confidential information like member names and locations. Information went up, not down. Not only would they give those up willingly, but they could be systematically eradicated in one fell swoop if all known members were hunted down by their own superiors. Those kids wouldn't know anything about how the underworld was and just how badly your own supporters could throw you under a train.

Cyrille was a good example. Ungrateful shit.

Regardless, the best way to get rid of an idea was to discredit it. Or alternatively, kill everyone who supported it and wipe it from existence. Brutal, but only possible if you had access to every members' knowledge. And Singularity _did_.

So that's what that was.

His expression went grim and his lips became a thin line as it came to him. Tesla grinned as he saw the realization in Riven's face.

"Your aim wasn't to kill the UFOs, it was to get them involved to limit the damage. You covered the downsides of your plan by knowing how the UFOs would respond and used them to your advantage—carried out what you wanted, kept the Sayres in check, and still let you get away. Using the enemy to tie up the loose cannons. Planned to get rid of them all too, so there wouldn't be any messes left for Singularity to clean up—innocent people be damned because the UFOs would get them out first. That stupid guy you gave a sphere to, he was a distraction and an oblivious test dummy to see just how much the spheres can affect a normal person. You brilliant, horrible assholes."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're smarter than you look?" Tesla laughed. "I thought you were the brooding, kill it with force type. It seemed that way back in Kalos. Although, I shouldn't be surprised since you're a mercenary yourself. Who taught you what you know?"

"A certain red-headed woman with a control obsession," Riven sneered. He noticed Tesla's smile slip. "That goes by a certain name… Rose." Looking up, he searched for signs of recognition in sky blue eyes but found that Tesla had a pretty tight control over his expressions. "Know the name?"

"Afraid not, I'm not some special demon child like you or Loberia." He didn't look at him, only focused on the Ferris Wheel in the distance, humming a tune. He still had that perpetual smile on his face, and it made the other mercenary a slight bit aggravated. Too casual, like he was so damn sure Riven couldn't lift a finger to disprove him.

"Bullshit," Riven called. With a quick grab, he pulled Tesla's bandaged hand out of his pocket and sprayed it with something, drawing the attention of some people around them. Some of them cocked a head in confusion.

They gave the two men _that_ kind of look, but promptly turned away when Riven snarled at them.

Tesla winced at the stinging in his hand, pulling it away quickly. He focused on the pink object in Riven's hand. _A hyper potion? Why would he-_

"Tch."

The wounds from the knife he'd caught earlier closed nearly instantly, leaving healthy skin in place of torn and bleeding flesh. He closed his hand in a fist and frowned at the black-haired merc, a smug smirk plastered on his face.

"Medicines and status effect items don't work on regular people," Riven recited. "A full heal can't so much as remove the paralysis in a finger for regular humans. A hyper potion can barely heal a paper cut. But for us, they _do_ work. And your cuts closed up instantly. Along with that insane reaction time… You're Liran, aren't you? There's only one place I've seen reflexes that good. And you're obviously not a Kanton ninja."

There was a small moment of silence as Tesla seemed to look over Riven in a different way, like examining a new and formidable foe, but it was quickly destroyed as he beamed energetically. "Using a potion, now that was inspired! If you were a trainer you could make it to the Elite Four with that brain."

"Unfortunately, I got involved with your lot's business in Petalburg first. Thanks," Riven scoffed. "I assume you know what I am."

Tesla held up both hands, disappointed that he hadn't been able to keep it hidden for very long. "Since you know already, there's no point in denying it. You're Altean. Yes. But not just any, you were a part of the Remnant army."

"We were the few that were left at the time. Makes logical sense I'd be. Everyone else just become nice little piles of ash," Riven snorted. "Back in Kalos, you said, 'it is you'. How did you find out, assuming you knew all this time."

"How often do you visit hospitals, Prime?"

"Visit?" Riven cackled in self-depreciation, "I _live_ in hospitals. I keep score of how many times I end up there."

Tesla blinked, eyeing the cackling mercenary somewhat oddly as he continued to laugh at himself. "Well, There was a blood sample collected nearly three or four years ago. It was analyzed by one of our recruited scientists and determined to be a perfect match of dark type DNA mixed with human DNA. They thought it was a genetic experiment like Mewtwo, but quickly ruled it out to be something naturally occurring. Obviously it baffled them. No one knew who it belonged to."

Riven stopped laughing. Considering the time frame… probably Oldale or Lavaridge.

"When I saw it I knew what it was, and that it had to be a Remnant soldier. Of course, I wasn't sure. Uncertainties… like I said. And then, while perusing a rare antique shop in Lilycove, I saw two brilliant blades made of black steel. Those dark blue edges were unmistakable. Altean black steel. Magnificent weapons."

Tesla smiled to himself as Riven went very still. "Resistant to psychic influence, and able to cut ghosts. When I saw them, I had to ask—no, pleaded to know where the man had gotten them. They were in perfect condition, with not a hint of misuse. Whoever had them was meticulous in taking care of them. Strangely and coincidentally similar to the amount of care you give your knives. They were quite new as well, no signs of age. And the insignia… the Remnant symbol. I couldn't contain my joy knowing that one of you ended up here, and in my living lifetime."

Riven stared down at the floor sourly, recalling how he'd lost the paired blades. "By any chance, how did this collector find them?"

"He bought them off a fisherman who caught a Sharpedo near Slateport. Apparently, it swallowed the entire case they were held in whole. Inside was a bow and a few arrows, strangely along with a fishing rod."

"Never did get to use Sam's fishing rod…" Riven mumbled to himself. "Did you keep them?"

"I bought them off the collector. Quite expensive, believe you me. I even had custom scabbards made for them."

Riven fidgeted a little.

"Why are you so interested in the Remnants. Or me? Alteans in general—whatever. Lirans worked for the Roses. You killed us."

Frowning, Tesla shook his head. "Aren't you a mercenary too? Don't you get it? We fought you, we killed you, but we didn't hate your people, Prime. My ancestors and our clan did fight in the Remnant period, and while it may have appeared that we were indifferent or otherwise dismissive of your little army…"

He smiled, remembering something vividly. He snapped out of it and left Riven furrowing a brow at the statement. He was still waiting for him to finish. "Let's go to the Ferris Wheel," he said instead. "We can talk in there."

"Stop changing the sub- Wait. You mean… go inside the Ferris Wheel?" Riven squinted so hard his eyes nearly closed. "Isn't that…"

"What?"

Riven's jaw moved uncomfortably. Tesla blinked.

"No… no. Not the Ferris Wheel, let's pick a building with a high skyline because I'm not getting in a cart with you. No."

The blonde merc frowned deeply. "I already told you that no one is going to kill-"

"Oh, this has _nothing_ to do with killing," Riven said, making a face at the prospect sharing a cart with him. "Think about it."

He did.

"It's not g-"

"Yes, _it is_," Riven insisted. "Extremely. I said _no_."

"Tsk, building it is then," Tesla agreed with a huff. "Snow cones, at least? Think of it as a peace offering."

"I don't care, just… anything other than the Ferris Wheel."

* * *

Rawst-pecha was an interesting flavor, Riven noted as he sat on the rooftop of an office building overlooking the city, feet dangling over the edge. Tesla was sitting next to him, eating a Sitrus fruit punch cone himself.

"Just so you know, bribing me with sweet things doesn't make me trust you more," Riven added while breaking down the ice with a plastic spoon. "I appreciate it, but I'll still put a knife in your lung if you try anything."

Tesla ignored him for the most part, taking a bite of the treat. "Do your friends know you worry excessively over trivial things and have an unhealthy amount of paranoia?"

"Yes, and talking with an enemy that tried to kill me a week ago is not 'trivial'. Fully warranted right now. Down there on the street, what were you going to say? There's no one but us up here. Not being a cryptic shit would be nice too, by the way."

He was here for Gale, but he couldn't help it. Riven still wanted to know about what the old world was like, especially from viewpoints that weren't his own. There were a lot of things the generals and officers didn't tell scouts and lowly foot soldiers like him. Even his typing and abilities had been seemingly forgotten, forming a separate personality within that was prone to intense acts of violence. His parents also seemed highly secretive now that he remembered; they were always shunning him away and obscuring their correspondence. What else hadn't they told him?

The blonde let out an exasperated breath, picking at the ice. He looked up at the sun in the distance—it was nearly sunset and sky was beginning to turn a brilliant orange, signaling the shift from day to night. It gave him a feeling of melancholy as he watched it begin to dim and wane.

"The Remnants and the Alteans… people of the dark. The Roses called you evil, the Curians feared you, and everyone else shunned you. Tragic story." Tesla slipped into memory once more, smiling widely in reminiscence. "I don't know about the Raksas or the steel people, but my clan? We _admired_ you."

Riven's eyebrow nearly hit his hairline. "Admired?"

"The dark is free, it always has been," Tesla said soberly. "Electricity… fire… water… All of it can be used and manipulated freely, constantly shifting forms. Our entire existence as a clan was based on people using us for their own goals so we could survive. We were content with it, going where we pleased. And without jumping into others' problems, we didn't know what to do with ourselves. It's like we had no other choice. We became who we worked for. Our goals became theirs and we were used for centuries. Our freedom was just something we thought we had, even though we pidgey-holed ourselves into that willing manipulation ourselves. Funny little freedom we had."

There was a crunch of ice as he took another bite.

"But the dark? The dark just is. It's the absence of light… a nothingness. It shouldn't _exist_. But it does, and its children don't care what anyone thinks. They live by their own rules. They're what we couldn't be. Living creatures hate the dark, despise it, all for being unnatural. And throughout history the story has been the same. Absols and many creatures of the dark were hunted down to near extinction because of what they were. Because they felt wrong. Most are still afraid of them. And your clan wasn't different. Every single time the dark fights back, refusing to give in to those that hunt it, despite being backed into a corner, yet never truly striking out. True to yourselves and your beliefs to the very end. There aren't many that can say they'd do that with the same circumstances. That's what made you special to us, and why I love dark pokemon."

He glanced at Riven.

"The entire world was against you and for nearly a thousand bloody and terrible years the Alteans fought. Just when we thought they were finally gone, the Remnants popped up, like a spiteful afterthought. It seemed fitting, really. And we thought you'd get crushed within a month. Boy, that was wrong."

He beamed as he remembered, surprising even Riven with the enthusiasm. He was like a giddy child remembering when he got his first toy.

"Oh, they were magnificent fighters. Such a small force and yet caused so much destruction and chaos within the Rose clan. Supply lines cut off, fields sabotaged, entire outposts slain in the middle of the night without a single sound. In one-on-one combat and sheer skill your soldiers were worth ten Rosans. Maybe twenty. Just swords, arrows, tactics, and Mightyena. Fighting a Remnant soldier was an honor for us. I was only able to bring down two of you. I was nearly killed by one of your officers—a woman. We pulled back at the last second, but she let me live. Then bowed and kissed me. I was a bit confused, in two different locations."

"What did she look like?" Riven asked as he cringed. He had a feeling.

"It was a little hard to tell with the leather and armor she had on, but when she took off her helmet, she was quite the looker. I think I fell in love for a few months. Why do you look like you're about to throw up?"

"That was Yanine. She was my CO," Riven answered, running a hand down his face. "She had a habit of kissing worthy opponents, had a weak spot for younger men, as well as undressing in front of me."

"Lucky man. What happened to her, if you don't mind me asking."

"She died in front of me," Riven scoffed. "Stabbed through the stomach by one of your clan. It was at Nimva Plains, I'm sure you heard of it."

"…Ah. Yeah, I heard. Pyrrhic victory for the Remnants, I believe."

"Hold on, wait. How god damn old are you, anyway?"

"Fifty three," Tesla replied with a gigantic grin on his face. A grin that was situated on a guy that looked about as fifty three as Riven did. "I came here about thirty two years ago. I was a kid soldier back home, probably like you."

The black-haired mercenary carefully and very deliberately kept his face still. Isole did tell him they aged slowly. It made him wonder how old the people in his time were if they had white hair and wrinkly skin. Five hundred? Maybe more?

"Why didn't you use the Nightmare?" Tesla asked curiously. "It would have made your battles much easier. And more fun for us. You might have even won the Rosans, given how skilled your average soldier was compared to the average Rosan. Our higher ups considered sending Pulses after you." At Riven's questioning glance, Tesla held up a hand and electricity sparked out of it. "Like Nightmares, only our supermode is with electricity. That's what we called them. The Rosans were Cinders. We hardly ever got to fight all out, kind of depressing, really."

"I see." Riven eyed him dully. So this guy was genuinely battle obsessed. Granted, he couldn't exactly reprimand him for it either. Fighting was all he knew how to do too. "They never told us we had dark abilities. They also told us not to hate you, but kill you all the same. Don't give in to emotion. Think rationally and kill quickly."

Tesla looked confused for a second, but then he frowned. "Repressing your nature? In war time? We always thought you Remnants were insane, not stupid. This… this is both. Why?"

_Because we were idiots_, Riven retorted in his mind, scoffing audibly instead. Tesla blinked a couple times, then sighed as Riven shrugged.

"Prime, do you want to know why your kind was hunted?"

"I've stopped wondering, honestly," Riven replied dispassionately. "Just tell me."

Tesla frowned sadly. _They didn't tell you anything, did they? Poor boy._ He brought out a small bag from behind him, opening the flap on the front. Rummaging through it, he pulled out an object in his enclosed hand, but instead of revealing it, he faced Riven once again.

"The objects we've both been competing against each other for, do you know how they work?"

Riven couldn't see the relevance behind the question, but he answered anyway. "Some kind of weird, crystal energy technology. Someone I know mentioned that that kind of technology can't even be analyzed by modern day science at this point in time. It's similar to the time flowers found near Rota in Kanto, apparently."

"It does seem that way. However, do you think that this ancient civilization just _happened_ to come up with such a technology? And happened to be in constant communication across the world?" Tesla suggested. "Do you ever wonder why are there so many espers in the world? There have been a staggering amount of Curians that have come to this world. More than any other clan or typing for that matter."

"I mean sure, but we didn't have technology like that in our time. Our cities were tiny compared to the ones here. All the great cities we used to hear about got sacked and destroyed multiple times. Even the city of steel wasn't that impressive. I know sure as hell we didn't have computers. We lived in a stone age in comparison."

If anything, the steel clan's city was little bigger than Lilycove. He'd only ever seen the outside of it from a far off bush and binoculars, but it wasn't that great. There also weren't any instant communication devices either. Assuming everyone was already born with different type abilities, they also had no real need to develop spheres that would change a regular person; mainly because there _weren't_ any regular humans.

And then Tesla opened his enclosed fist, revealing a small yellow stone. On it was glowing helix that pulsed with bright hues of red, green, and blue. It shrunk and grew repeatedly, reacting to his hand as thin yellow circuits of light spread throughout his palm. His eyes held a golden tint, as if seeing something other than the city and sky in front of him.

"It stores information like a computer does, operating on the network of the planet—the energy that flows through all living things. Just like the spheres-but not as advanced- it shows memories and events, among other things. Reacts only to the recipient it's assigned to. Unique. Made in our time. Touch it, see for yourself."

Riven took the small stone, surprised as the helix disappeared and the light that surrounded it faded. Sitting in his palm, it looked like an inert yellow stone. Just like the one his mother had given him… "The Lirans had this the entire time?"

"Only a select few had them. As did most of the clans," Tesla answered, taking it. "My brother gave this to me. It was on his body after a skirmish with the Remnants. Our father gave it to him."

"Why's this important?" Riven asked. "They might be coincidentally similar. They still do drastically different things. Hard to believe they're connected."

"Just because they don't seem connected doesn't mean they aren't," Tesla smiled ruefully. "This is a prototype of the spheres from the ruins. These were the precursors. Throughout history, Origins have popped up in different time periods everywhere." His smile grew wider. "The psychics were the ones responsible for fabricating these stones in our time. There's reason to say that a Curian, or someone else, introduced them to the civilization that existed so long ago and made them into what they are today—wonders of technology. But that's not all. See, the Curians didn't invent them. They couldn't figure out how to make them work as intended."

He grinned widely. "The Alteans did."

"But we were-"

"Warriors? Warlords? Soldiers? Yeah, you were. But before the war… before the death and all the misery it wrought, your clan consisted of scientists and researchers, living in seclusion. Everyone but your clan seems to remember it well. But I guess they needed to forget about that to create the living weapons needed to fight back once things got nasty. That's where the warlord trend started, and the Ceruls rose to power, blah blah."

Riven's eyes were focused, mind racing with questions and realizations.

"I only know a bit about what happened thanks to the records back home, but it's enough. The dark clan found the answer in the energy opposite to that of the world's. A kind of inversion that exists parallel but not quite in the same location. Darks and ghosts draw their power from there. Do you know what that is?"

"Tsk, I can see it," Riven replied. He traced the sky above with a glance. Nimbasa had less colors due to being a center of entertainment-and thus a positive outlook- but there was always negativity somewhere. "Looks like the northern lights, but with emotions and negativity instead of pretty gases. It's… disorienting. After last week, the lights were everywhere. Then they kind of fizzled out and disappeared. Others are faint, but they're still there. It's weird, that doesn't really happen."

"Ah, yes. That would be the UFOs' handiwork. Amnesia is such a useful move."

Riven turned to face Tesla, eyes wide. "You mean…"

"The operatives wiped _everyone'_s recollection of what happened? Bar a few individuals but yeah, they do that. Limits social unrest, but it only leaves their memories hazy—easy to control. Doesn't eradicate them though. Other regions have argued against mass amnesia usage, but Unova prides itself in a strong police force. Makes you wonder if people should give up their freedom in exchange for protection, even if it includes protection from themselves. Heavy, heavy themes, really."

After this, a talk with Yates was definitely needed. Riven growled at Tesla again. "You were counting on this."

Tesla smiled again, laughing cheerily to himself. "Regardless, the war began because of these." He rolled the stone in his palm. "The Curians saw the development of these spheres and manipulated the heads of other clans to attack the dark clan and steal their research. There were always resentful feelings between the Curians and the Alteans. It just needed a spark and a little bit of mind control and voila! They only needed to start the war and let the hatred run its course. Eventually, the Roses would eliminate poor little Altea and the Ceruls in time, with a bit of psychic prodding here and there."

The blonde merc was surprised to find Riven in mellow, somber acknowledgement rather than full blown rage. He supposed it made sense given that was a long time and a literal world ago.

"So we abandoned that way of life to fight. Because we had no other choice," Riven surmised bitterly. "Just like a bloody cycle… The grass clan tried to help us and got torched. The Roses weren't the ones that started it… Those Curians controlled the world. And we got fucked, just like the dark always does. Should've known, psychics are bullshit."

"They couldn't control God though," Tesla said cryptically, holding up a finger. "They could only stall the inevitable. Those stones were important enough to start a war over, according to them. Looks like they never had time to finish the research. Or maybe they did. Maybe that's why we're here. Who knows?"

"They knew it was coming?"

"Psychics can see the future, Prime. When they peered into the future, they saw everything they feared—a black void of nothing. Not death, but nothingness. The entire future of every human on the planet was nothingness, all destined to be erased. Wouldn't you be scared too?"

Pensive, Riven rested his chin on a hand. Certainly it wasn't mere coincidence that Tesla had a stone too. He had to ask Isole to see if she had one… and possibly Nera. He hated the idea of talking to her again, but now there was no way he was just going to let the thought simmer in his brain and potentially drive him insane.

"My mother gave me a stone also," he said after a moment. "It's black, looks like yours. Might not be a coincidence."

"Oh?" Tesla raised an eyebrow, interest piqued. "Your parents must have been important. Mine were, somewhat." He noticed Riven's right eye. Specifically, the color of it. "Hmmmm. Not every Altean had blue eyes, now that I think about it. They were a sign of strength and intelligence in your culture." He grinned knowingly. "Might be worthwhile for you. If you still have it, and your abilities have grown enough, reach into it. It'll leave you drained to unlock it, but be careful, you may not like what you see."

Riven thought about that, gut twisting as he thought about the day his mother gave it to him. She looked… happy. But sad too. Like she didn't know what to feel. It felt like a good bye, he guessed.

Both men sat in silence as night came, one in deep thought while the other idly swung his feet over the edge. An awkward aura hung over them as they had no real idea where to go from there. They were enemies and yet… not. It didn't even make sense to be talking right now.

"You mentioned a way to get Gale to wake up," Riven began. He swirled a finger. "Before all… that."

"I did," Tesla nodded. "But first I need something from you."

Riven scowled.

"Like what?"

"I want to make a truce with you."

_Here we go. _"I refuse," Riven replied instantly. "Not after Singularity's tried killing me more than four times. All this just to offer me a 'join me' deal? Fuck no, you're out of your mind."

"I'm not asking you to make a truce with them," Tesla corrected, rolling his eyes. "Or the rest of my group. If you see Loberia again, feel free to poke him full of holes with those little knives, or sic your Gallade on him. I won't stop you again. I'll just have to make my plans around that fool rather than have him involved in them. I'm asking you to make a truce with _me_."

God damn, this guy was full of surprises. Warily, Riven tilted his head slightly, "what kind of truce?"

"Help me get rid of the Sayre followers and be a little more… reluctant to deal with our operations for the next half year. Inevitably, they're likely to try and take Castelia again, whenever it is the UFOs least expect it. When they do, they'll no doubt try to bring the Tournament back. My boss is counting on this, but I don't agree with that. This is why I'm asking you."

"That's it?" Riven frowned deeply at him, running a hand through his hair. "You go behind your boss' back, and if I help you eliminate the Sayres, that'll just smooth over your plans without putting the blame on you at all. You're actively manipulating me and you know it."

"It's this or your friend's life," Tesla reminded, drawing a growl from Riven. "Which do you value more? Letting a girl you care about waste away is even worse."

_Oh, you cock._

"Don't jump the gun with the emotional prodding, Tesla. Try it again and I'll throw you off this roof," Riven warned.

Damn him. Damn it all. Getting manipulated was annoying. First Nera and now this. Fucking circumstances.

Helping Tesla and his shady goals wouldn't work out very well in the long run. Of course he didn't know what the hell he was planning, but it couldn't be good. Riven seriously doubted that Tesla was trying to undermine his boss, especially with how easily loyalties shifted with Lirans. They really were representations of just how quickly lightning and electricity could adapt and change. That didn't make trusting them any easier at all.

He sighed in exasperation.

"I accept," Riven said apprehensively. "For her, not you. I'll deal with the repercussions later. Tell me how to wake her up."

They shook hands, coming to an agreement. The blonde smiled and dug into his pack again, this time pulling up something Riven didn't expect to see.

Another sphere. It had the same characteristic circuitry patterns running along the entirety of the sphere, but this sphere was a hazy silver color, like staring into a thick mist. A pulsating silver light emanated from it, drawing Riven in like the deepness of the azure sphere had. Tesla breathed as he refocused himself.

"Sorry, visions."

"What did it show you?"

"See for yourself."

As soon as the sphere dropped into Riven's palm, the world seemed to blow away—swept away in a sea of white. He saw nothing but a blinding white void until pictures and images started to swirl and form in his mind rather than his eyes.

He stood inside a large antechamber dimly lit by torches. Around him were people kneeling and bowing, uttering silent phrases in a language he couldn't understand. The first thing he noticed were the clothes they wore; they were similar to those worn by the people he saw in Dewford, but these had different markings, resembling talons and winds as opposed to waves. And they were _chained_ to the floor.

Walking invisibly among the people, Riven stopped near an older man who remained knelt in front of a podium, where light from a giant hole in the roof above shined through. In the center lay colorless spheres with the same markings as Tesla's. Riven craned his neck to examine them, but heavy breathing and a low snarling caused him to instinctively back away. The light from above obscured the shadows behind it. He couldn't see in this darkness, mainly because he technically wasn't using his eyes.

Glowing yellow rings and deadly yellow eyes shone in the dark as a massive dragon emerged from the darkness, bright green scales gleaming in the light of the sun. Riven froze as he saw Rayquaza's eyes focus on him briefly before watching the humans in the antechamber bow in respect. The old man held a multi colored chunk of what appeared to be crystal in his hands, offering it to the dragon.

Rayquaza lowered its head, eyeing the man for a few seconds before devouring the chunk. A mighty roar resounded throughout the antechamber, forcing Riven to cover his ears. The action did nothing to diminish the sound, and he was forced to his knees from the call.

A flash of intense light erupted as Rayquaza's rings grew and changed in size, glowing even brighter than previously. The glowing light spread, forming a crest on its head and interconnected rings down its body. The horns on its head and jaw elongated, forming spiked protrusions below the jawline, with translucent streams of flowing light emerging from the tips.

Riven stood there stupidly, entranced by the dragon's appearance and the sheer respect it commanded. He'd never seen a legendary pokemon this close before, and that transformation... Well, it was breathtaking. Just a memory wouldn't do the sight justice. Everything felt _real_. Too real to argue with.

Then the dragon reared its head back. Riven took another step back.

A green aura surrounded Rayquaza as it growled, building as the growling got louder. Energy swirled and illuminated the dark antechamber with green light, flaring as the dragon roared once more and a blast surged upwards into the sky. The force of the blast nearly blew away the people in the antechamber, and Riven could feel the destructive force of the winds; it was definitely strong enough to blow away a house, and that was just a tiny shockwave of the attack. Suddenly, white wisps of energy left Rayquaza's body, traveling into the spheres below. They reacted, lighting up in bright silver light as they gained their power.

Then the world around him shifted back to Nimbasa, and Riven found himself staring dumbstruck at the city below, as if in disbelief he was back. Cold sweat poured down his face, and he felt his heart beating like he'd just run a marathon.

"Holy _shit_."

"Quite the memory, isn't it?" Tesla grinned. "Couldn't believe it myself. Only it was worse for me since- well, it happened in the middle of Sky Pillar. The ground there isn't nearly as stable as it is in that memory."

_So the spheres are charged by legendary pokemon…? Best to think about this later, when my mind isn't mindblown to shit._

Just seeing Rayquaza transform like that made him an incoherent mess already. Anything more and his head would explode. "Singularity went to Sky Pillar?" He managed instead, swallowing to wet his dry throat. "Trying to capture Rayquaza?"

"Nope. I went to Sky Pillar myself. Heard something relating to this sphere business could be located there, according to some riddle. I found this sphere there, hidden in a room that was already partially caving in. Those Claydols guarding it were particularly ferocious, let me tell you. Azazel even had trouble with them. I'm the only one that knows about it. Quit worrying."

"And now you're giving this to me to save my friend? Why?"

Tesla didn't respond, electing instead to give him a cheeky grin. "That doesn't matter, right? I'm manipulating you, remember? Can't tell you everything." His grin fell slightly, settling into a happy smile. "What's her name? This girl you care so much about?"

"Gale," Riven said, cradling the sphere in his hands.

"Gale?" He laughed. "'A strong wind'. How fitting." Tesla stood up and dusted himself off, breathing deeply as he felt a breeze picking up, noting the irony itself. "She's lucky, you know? She's going to experience what others can only dream of. Then she'll understand. Teach her well what it means to be an Origin, yeah? See you around, Cerul. And remember the deal!"

Riven recoiled as he heard the name come out of Tesla's mouth, jumping to his feet as the blonde stepped off the building and fell to the street below. Electricity engulfed him as oriented himself mid-air, kicking off the side of the structure to surge forward onto another building's roof. Dusting himself off again, he took off a shoe and pulled out a pokeball, summoning his Hydreigon. Flying away, he waved back, beaming once again.

Shaking his head, Riven watched the shrinking form of the dark dragon in irritation.

So he did have pokeballs. That damn blonde Weavile.

* * *

When he walked into the hospital room, he found Aine asleep in the corner of the room, huddled into a ball of beige and red feathers, her face on her knees. Allen was lightly snoring in a chair, his head drooping to one side. Cards were lazily spread out on a table. Looked like Allen lost.

With a nudge, the operative groggily opened his eyes. "No… the Lillipups need me…"

Riven raised an eyebrow, watching Allen bemusedly while he recovered from being sleep drunk. The look of realization on his face was made evident when he nearly jumped in his chair.

"Shit! Prime… god don't do that. Wait, you didn't hear what I just-"

"Yes, the Lillipups need you. I understand," Riven replied with a barely contained smirk.

Allen grumbled but otherwise noted that the mercenary didn't look any different. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, yawning. "You're not dead or dying. I guess that means things went well?"

Riven more or less nodded. Honestly, it was really unclear how he was feeling about that chat with Tesla. He was also confused as to whether Tesla was an enemy or a bizarre ally. Even less certain were his intentions, which apparently not even his employer knew of either.

Made things hard.

"So that means I can go?" Allen asked, looking very hopeful despite trying to hide it. "I'd really like to go to bed."

"I could tell from the snoring."

"I do not snore."

"Sure, you don't." Riven snorted. "Go home then. Thanks for watching her."

"No problem," Allen said, stretching as he stood up. He patted Riven on the shoulder as he turned to leave. "That Blaziken of yours… when did you teach her how to play cards?"

"I didn't," Riven laughed. "Gale did."

"Oh." Allen's face fell. "Well, I hope she wakes up soon. She was a good girl. Nice too. See you around."

"See you."

The door clunked closed as he left. Riven prodded Aine awake and dodged a reactionary punch as she realized who it was. She gave him a hug full of warm feathers, and he smiled back at her.

"Aine, can you wait here for a moment? I'm going to need your help getting out of the city quickly. Somewhere rural and out of sight."

She tilted her head quizzically but didn't question it, nodding instead. She watched as Riven pulled out a pokeball, releasing Baron from the ball. The Gallade scanned its surroundings and instantly became downtrodden as he saw Gale again.

Riven placed a hand on Baron's shoulder, smiling.

"Hey, stop blaming yourself. There was only so much you could do. Even the best healers in the world can't heal something that serious so quickly. Besides… I got an idea."

Riven smiled brightly, and Baron looked up at him, eyes hopeful. He pulled out the sphere from his pocket, bathing the room in silver light. "Baron, I need you to take her to a location outside the city. Aine and I will catch up soon. Take her east to route 16. There's a lot of people resting there so take her somewhere remote and out of sight. Careful not to move her around too much, she's still recovering from the surgery."

"_Okay. Riven… will this work?"_

Swallowing, Riven frowned. "I hope so." Walking over to her bed, he began removing the IVs and medical equipment on her, making sure nothing was still inserted in her arms. Once he made sure, he directed Baron over.

The psychic's eyes lit up a bright blue as he used psychic to gently lift her off the bed and into his arms. Baron looked to Riven one last time. His trainer gave him a reassuring nod, and with that, Baron disappeared in a pink flash.

Catching up to them took a few minutes as Aine carried Riven throughout the city, hopping from rooftop to rooftop until they reached the route gate. Entering the route, Riven ordered Aine to do something that would get Baron's attention.

She stood there for a moment before grinning and launching herself in the air. Spinning mid jump as she did so, flames sprouted from her wrists and legs, forming a spinning ball of flame in the dark sky of the route. The fire increased in intensity as she used flare blitz, appearing as a giant firework, lighting up the previously dark route in bright orange light. Fading flames remained in the air as gravity began to work, bringing her back down to earth.

Aine landed on the ground with a thud, eyeing an incredulous Riven with amusement. He meant something that would get Baron's attention, not the attention of everything within the next two miles. Seconds later, a slash of pink energy shot up into the air some distance away into the forest, revealing Baron's location. Aine grabbed her trainer and with a leap, reached the destination, snapping a poor tree in two from the force of the jump.

Riven dismounted, slightly jarred from the rough landing. Baron had gently set Gale down in the grass, being very careful not to disturb her too much. Dressed in the white hospital gown, she almost looked like something out of a fairy tale.

A grim fairy tale, perhaps.

Kneeling down to her, he brought out the silver sphere, unsure of what it would do to her in her state, and how her injuries would react to it. Would they reopen? Or would they heal? Would it bring her out of her coma?

There was only one way to know.

And so he shakily took her right hand, enclosing it around the silver sphere. The three backed away, waiting.

For a few moments, they watched as the sphere began to glow in her hand, white lines spreading up her arm.

Wind howled forth, and she woke up in screams.

* * *

**So there's the new chapter. Not much else to say.**

**On another note, Pokemon go released and I went to a social event near the beach yesterday. There were so many people using it that the service was pretty garbage though, which sucked but hey, it was fun. Pretty amazing stuff, I really recommend it. Met a lot of awesome people and makes the experience so much better. **

**Going to go to other parts of the city to some of the Charmander nests and hopefully catch some Dratinis. There's a Bulbasaur nest at my local park, so that's going to be fun. Can't imagine living in a rural location though, must suck for those of you that do, heh.**

**I'm Team Instinct too. All you Valor and Mystic people can tear at each other, we'll pick up the pieces afterwards, just you wait. Still waiting on gen 3 and 4 pokemon though. Id camp out at a Torchic nest all day if I could.**

**Happy hunting!**


	66. Gusts

A blood-curling scream came from Gale's mouth, gray eyes fluttering open as agony erupted the moment the silver sphere sunk into her skin.

Wind rose and blew around her in an instant, launching Riven, Aine, and Baron back with a gust strong enough to bend trees. Sharper currents of air began to swirl and roar around her, with several razor winds shooting out into the surrounding forest. Bark flew like leaves as trees were sliced to pieces, with stronger and healthier ones being chipped nearly in half from the winds. Some fell over completely.

Inside the whirling tornado of razor-like wind, Gale continued to scream, muffled by the howling. Her entire body felt like it was cutting to pieces, shredded like paper as the winds seemed to rend flesh and blood, even slicing into bone. Pain unlike anything she'd ever experienced caused tears to flow down her cheeks, instantly blown away from the speed of the gusts.

And then it stopped.

Gale lay on the floor, her breathing labored as she curled into a ball. The pain was completely gone, as if it had never been there. Her hospital gown was in tatters, her hair was blown in every direction, and suddenly it felt like she was in a freezer. She shivered in the night air, feeling the coldness of the grass on her exposed skin.

Sitting up, she was speechless as she saw the destruction of the forest beneath the light of the moon, with felled trees and shredded grass strewn about in multiple directions. Giant scars were inflicted on the barks of large trees while dirt was kicked up from similar scars etched into the ground. It was as if a tornado _had _been there. A commotion was heard and before she could react, Baron appeared beside her, picking her up and teleporting her away to another part of the forest.

Riven and Aine hid behind a tree as several trainers crashed onto the scene, ordering their pokemon to use flash as they surveyed the area. Several cries were heard and light illuminated the forest, scanning the trees like spotlights.

Riven clicked his teeth, knowing that Aine's attention grab from before had drawn a little more than she bargained for. With the equivalent of a wind bomb going off, it was no surprise they got here so fast. Back in the temple, Will's inferno was mostly mitigated by the room and the stone walls. Had he been in a forest, he probably would have taken half the route with him.

One of the older trainers knelt on the floor, seeing traces of blood on the grass. His eyes widened in horror.

Others arrived as well, stricken at the damage. The route was generally peaceful with mild mannered pokemon and otherwise tired trainers, so the forest was usually tame. Strong and violent pokemon weren't common.

A younger girl held a baby Sewaddle, assuring it not to be afraid. "My gosh… Did you guys hear that?" She cried, frantically looking around. "It sounded like a girl screaming. Did someone use twister here?"

The older one grimaced. "I don't know… That scream made my skin crawl and whatever did this sounded like an explosion… God, did a girl just get killed here? There's blood on the floor, looks like it leads into the forest."

The trainers present noted the thin blood trail and exchanged concerned looks.

"I heard some things happened at Nimbasa… You know… Sinnoh stuff, I think."

"Shit, really? Get a UFO over here. Or a ranger, something! Anyone have a Stoutland? Maybe it can track whoever did this."

"No, but I have a Watchog. He can track just fine." A smaller kid with dirty brown hair brought out the pokemon, and it instantly began sniffing the ground.

"Get anything?" The kid asked. The Watchog cried a few times, directing its head in Riven's direction. "Over there? Hey, is someone hiding behind that tree?"

Light focused on the tree Riven and Aine were hiding behind. He had to tear his eyes away as the light assaulted his retinas.

Riven nodded at Aine, swallowing tensely. Dropping low to use the shrubs as cover, they slunk back to another set of trees. He didn't want the UFOs to find out about this—or worse, the rangers and even more clueless trainers. The last thing Yates wanted was for this to get out of hand, and how would he explain to them that Gale had just evolved? They'd sooner believe he'd just committed murder. He also didn't have a convenient Hypno on hand to wipe everyones' memories with.

Running was the only option.

"Aine, knock the tree down. When we get airborne, shoot a flamethrower down, extra flashy. Bright fire, high heat, spread it out over a distance and leave it unfocused. Divert their attention so they don't see you before we're gone."

Blazikens stood out like a sore theme in Unova. Actually, any pokemon from another region did, considering how isolated Unova was with its pokemon species. Whereas other regions had a mix of pokemon that used to belong to other places, like Pidgeys and Mightyenas, Unova's trainers-bar the rare Absol- almost exclusively trained region native pokemon.

Aine allowed her trainer to latch onto her she held him with her left arm. Gripping him tightly, fire blazed in her legs as she pushed off the floor and sent a furious fire-fueled kick into the tree's trunk. The force of the blow and the fire that followed completely blew the trunk over, knocking the tree down towards the approaching trainers. They yelled as it came down, dodging out of the way. They scrambled once Aine jumped high into the air, spewing a spreading torrent of flames from her beak onto the ground below. Purposely making the flames brighter and stronger to have a better masking effect, she ignited the grass and part of the tree line, creating a wall of fire that both impeded passage and sight.

With the trainers below watching in contempt, she jumped away further into the forest.

The Blaziken landed in a part of the forest with thick trees and dense foliage, obscuring much of the ambient light of the moon. If anyone tried tracking them here, it'd take a while. Both Aine and her trainer hoped there weren't any Ariados or Galvantula in this part of the forest. Especially with it being this dark. Baron walked out from behind a tree, sighing in relief as he used a weak thunderbolt in his palm to light the way. Since he evolved, his usage of the move was rather garbage offensively, but it had utility in being a poor man's flashlight.

"_I would have warned you they were coming, but I was too bothered by the screams."_

"You're not the only one," Riven concurred. "Even scared me."

"_Is she okay?"_ Aine asked, concerned.

"Let's find out," Riven said.

The Gallade held up his hands as Riven walked past them to find the tree Gale was hiding behind. _"Wait, Riven! Wait! She's kind of-"_

His attempt to stop his trainer failed miserably as he heard a small squeak coming from behind the tree. A palm met his face.

Gale blinked several times in a daze, wrapped in strong arms, her face resting on a shoulder. The only thing she could see were the dimly lit faces of Aine and Baron peeking out from the corner of the tree, and the darkness of the forest.

The embrace was warm, but Riven held her so tightly it was like he was afraid to let go. Like the hugs she used to give to her dad, when he would leave for days. Slowly, she returned the embrace, chuckling.

"I'm dead, aren't I? You're actually hugging me willingly."

She felt the hug tighten on her shoulders.

"No, you're not dead," he said with a small laugh. "This is really out of character for me, I hope you know that."

"Mmm. I guess being dead is nice," she said. "If things like this happen. A caring Riven, what a prince Charming."

He broke the embrace with a sardonic scoff, instantly returning to his usual self. "I told you, you're not dead. I'm just glad to see you're alive. Hold on, look at me."

_She didn't grow any feathers, did she?_

"It's too dark. I can't even see your face." She emphasized this by reaching for his face with her hands and nearly jabbing his eye.

"Hey, stop reaching, you'll… that's my nose. Can you just- just look up. Not at the bloody sky, I'm in front of you. And no hands."

She listened with a huff, directing her eyes in his general direction. He inspected her with a curled lip. They were usually a mild grey, but the irises had grown lighter and oddly more steel colored. Frankly put, her eyes were off-putting, like watching a storm tearing through a plain from afar. Aside from that, she appeared no different than before, except for the tiny fact that he could make out her navel.

And her hips. And most of her exposed legs.

One grunt of realization and a small choking noise was all it took for Riven to instantly peel his jacket off and tear his eyes away fast enough to pop them out of their sockets. When he put it on her, she shied in embarrassment.

"I was wondering when you'd notice. It's dark so I can't see but I know you can… this dinky thing doesn't cover anything as it is and it's all ripped up… I can feel breezes in places. Why's it so cold out anyway? Did the temperature drop? I checked the forecast and it said that it wouldn't be so cold…" She shivered in place, hoping that Riven could also give her a pair of pants and warm socks, but he couldn't do that in the forest. Her feet felt like blocks of ice.

He rubbed his chin, looking at Gale bemusedly as she tried her best to stretch the coat enough to cover her legs as well, all the while complaining under her breath about short girls having an easier time with men's clothes. She was only four inches shorter than he was. It made him snort.

"Stop laughing at me. Uh… Riven?"

"Know what? Since your feet are freezing, we should get back to the hospital. They'd probably wonder how a girl who's been in a coma suddenly got up and left through the window on a floor that high up." Riven began to walk. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

Bewildered grey eyes and windblown hair remained rooted in place. She looked like a brown-haired Tangela. "I was in a _what_?!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't remember what happened?"

"I mean, yeah, I uh…" She clapped a hand to her forehead, thinking hard. "Oh." She frowned deeply and glanced away, her voice growing very soft, like a Skitty that had just finished destroying a sofa. "I pulled a you."

Aine and Baron nodded in agreement behind him.

_I should probably be more offended by that. _"Yeah," Riven said flatly. "Loberia stabbed you with a psycho cut and then you went into surgery. And barely survived. So yes, you pulled a me." He pointed to the region near her waist, where the scar would presumably be. Gale almost instinctively went to check the area herself, but Riven coughed to remind her that she was still mostly half naked.

"That was yesterday right?" She asked, shaking her head. Pressing on the area through the coat, she winced. "Still stings..."

"Gale. If it was yesterday, you'd be in _intense_ pain. Walking around like that especially." Riven exhaled, holding her by the shoulders in case she went limp. _Deliver it straight_. "You've been in a coma for a _week_. And still would have been."

Her blinking increased and she twitched her feet, shuffling in place. "But I… my pokemon, how are…?"

"They're fine, but… they were afraid you were going to die. Understandably so." He hesitated, knowing she'd tease him for it. Screw it. "So was I."

"Awwww." She grinned, doing exactly that. "Don't gush. Would you miss me?"

"Pft. Who else would level out my crazy? You're like a therapist."

"Will could do it," she suggested. "Has enough crazy in him to match you."

"He is less of a tease than you, but he's more annoying and ridiculous." He snorted, waving a hand. "Besides, he's not nearly as nice to look at as you a-" His palm met his face when he realized it slipped out. "…Fuck I said that out loud."

He saw Gale's expression of rising incredulity and suddenly he was very, very glad it was dark. Otherwise he might have ordered Aine to set him on fire and not stop until he was effectively erased. He felt like sinking into the floor, through the earth, and out the other side. Preferably into the nearest giant ball of burning gas. There were other words he could have used and were more appropriate given the compliment, but if he did say any of those, he'd walk in front of a train himself.

There was an awkward silence as Gale's disbelief turned into hysterical laughter, but quickly stopped when her cut began to burn. "Ow, ow, ow." Riven held her up as she curled inward from the sudden pain.

"Don't exert yourself so much, you might've gotten operated a week ago, but it's still there. Take it easy."

"I know but… you're just… three years in Kalos, able to talk down a whole room full of operatives and criminals, and you're still such a huge _idiot_! It's hilarious!"

"Now that's just degrading," he said, miffed. "I'm trying, alright?"

Even though she couldn't exactly see him, she knew he was grinning like a Sableye on a sapphire binge. Then she noticed some liquid running down her arms from the inside of the coat. She smelled it. Smelled exactly like what she thought it was.

"Riven, where are your arms? Grab mine so I can know."

He did, questioning what she was going to do this time. Her hands came up to grab his forearms and upper arms, gasping as she felt blood on her hands. He reflexively pulled back when her fingers traced the cuts on his arms. There was a lot of it on her palms.

"You're bleeding… a lot. The jacket is cut too. Wait, that part of the forest that was ruined… did I do that? Riven, why _am_ I in the forest? This isn't a hospital bed. What did you do to me?"

"Things," Riven said as he quieted her down with a finger, seeing lights moving through the trees closer to the main path. Probably the group of trainers from before. "Before I answer that, we need to go. Some trainers are getting nosy, and you need clothes. I'll explain when we get there."

* * *

When they arrived back in the hospital room, Riven found the storage closet with the white clothing replacements that Allen had given him. Gale put them on, but they were a size too large for her. She shrugged it off, sitting slowly back down on the bed so she wouldn't agitate her wound.

"Okay, start from after I got out of the surgery. I went into a coma and then…?"

"You were in a coma," Riven repeated. "The doctors kept telling me that whenever I was ready, that I should consider giving up. I was getting desperate." He looked away but Gale called him back sternly.

"What did you do, Riven?"

He exhaled and ran a hand through his head. "I... met with Tesla. We made an agreement."

She sputtered, gaping. "You met with the guy that almost killed you and whose work buddy almost killed me? In the same city? In _a_ city, in fact! That's-that's incredibly stupid. Even for you. That's going to backfire and you know it, why didn't you kill him? Or call the UFOs on him?"

"I didn't know whether he had surveillance on me or not. He's a crafty fox. And plus, he had the only way to bring you back. Wasting your life for a measly chance at taking out one guy? I couldn't do that," Riven explained sincerely. "You thought I was kidding about people dying around me, Gale? If I had to watch you take your last breath after ordering them to pull the plug… I think Tesla's right, I'd go ballistic. I'm tired of losing people. I don't care how much danger I was in, I just wanted to be able to do something for once."

He slumped his shoulders and gave her a look. That look he always had, a mix of judgment and impassivity. Gale hated that look.

Hands balled into fists as she figured what he was about to say, what he was about to do. About to push her away again. "Riven, if you're going to tell me about how it's dangerous and you don't want me to come because I almost died, please don't. I hate it when you do this, I hate it when you-"

An understanding smile stopped her in her tracks, leaving her a stricken mess as she felt tears forming from the guilt of having her friends worry. Deep down, she wanted to prove to Riven that she wasn't a liability. She didn't want her story to end on the plains.

"I know," he said ruefully. "I can't stop you. Or your dreams, even if they're crazy and straight out of a stupid novel. I know people are going to get hurt, and for the longest time I did all this stuff, hid for three years because I wanted to keep you all locked in a box where you couldn't get hurt, away from me, because losing people hurts. A lot. And it never gets easier. I was a selfish prick, but I'm trying not to be." Another rueful smile he didn't really feel. "If I didn't let you do this, I'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world. I'm always in the hospital, so if I gave you shit for it, I wouldn't have the right to tease Baron for being unable to keep it in his pants. I'd be just as bad. I only talk like I'm above everyone."

"I noticed," Gale managed. Tears fell silently from her cheeks as she stammered, managing a quivering smile as he descended into a goofy grin. "You're an idiot. A stupid, crazy, and dorky idiot who I'll follow even if it kills me. Now you don't have to be the _only one_ going to the hospital. We can do stupid things together."

Riven agreed, scoffing. "I wouldn't advise more trips to the ER than that—but sure, let's go with that."

"Thank you. For not pushing me away."

"You never did," he replied.

Gale beamed as she went beet red, then went strangely quiet as tears began to settle, playing with her thumbs. "Hey… Remember that time in Lavaridge, after the festival? You asked me why I stayed?"

He looked up at her, the memory coming quite quickly. That exchange he did remember quite well. Pretty much called him out for being a paranoid ass. "Yeah."

"Why did you stay?" She echoed. "Could have left me here and taken out the bad guys. You always do say that I'm just a piece of gum, maybe this could have been your chance to get rid of me. And you let one of them get away. Was it really worth it?"

"Worth it to me, that's what matters. I don't care what anyone else thinks," he said truthfully. "As for why I stayed, well- orphans have to stick together, don't they? And you're my traveling partner, it'd be bad on my record if I'd just abandoned you. Now if it was Will…"

Riven rolled his eyes and gave a sly smirk.

Gale smiled brightly, accepting that answer with a small chuckle. She was surprised when he threw a small bag of berry flavored snacks at her. Her face lit up, the ironic reversal of the situation not lost on her.

"And I'd like to think that I'm becoming a decent human being. With feelings that aren't murder, hatred, and vast amounts of brooding." At Gale's twisted look, he reddened. "Okay… a _more _decent, uh- acceptable… human being. I'm not _always_ a dick. You know that."

"That I do," she said, popping a candy into her mouth. "Just most of the time. So, how did you wake me up and what does it have to do with the fact that it leveled part of a forest and left you, Baron, and Aine bleeding? With them bleeding far more than you."

Man was that weird coming out of her mouth. Usually she was the one that was questioning bizarre happenings, but it was like she was completely fine with it. Chewing innocently, she settled further into her bed, waiting expectantly.

"I turned you into an Origin," he answered blankly, as if that was the most obvious statement in the world.

"A what?"

"Basically, into Will."

She stopped chewing and lost color in her face. Horrible choice of words. He scrambled.

"I mean _like_ Will, not exactly Will. I'm sorry I gave you that mental image, blue Jolteons scare me too, Gale. Look-I, fuck, let me start over. Tesla gave me a sphere, I think it's a flying type. Or wind, I don't fucking know how this works with people. You didn't sprout wings, but you sure used aerial ace. And maybe hurricane, or gust, or razor wind? God damn it, I don't-" He threw up his hands, then shrugged his shoulders pathetically. "How do you feel?"

Pursing her lips, she held up a hand. "Airy."

"Airy," he deadpanned. "Really. What wonderful choice of words."

"What do you want me to say?" She demanded with some scrutiny. "Flippant? Breezy? Feathery? I can pull out a thesaurus if that's what you're looking for, Mr. Cursive girly handwriting." He cursed that letter. "I feel fine, and just a slight bit lighter. Also tired, like I've been in bed for an entire day."

"You were in bed for entire _days_. Plural," Riven reminded dryly. She threw a candy at him, but he caught it in his fist and ate it. She looked disappointed.

"Apart from that I feel pretty fine. Except when it happened. That wasn't so fine."

"How badly did it hurt? That scream made some trainers think you were dying. Scared the shit out of me, after I got blown across a clearing with cuts along my arms, of course."

She remembered how terrible it felt and got a chill, shaking her head as vivid waves of pain registered in her mind. They quickly fell away as she reflexively ate another candy to forget about it. "Felt like I was getting ripped apart. Like my skin and muscles were getting cut and ripped off in chunks from the winds. Did Will feel like that too?"

"He got burned alive," Riven stated simply. Gale frowned. "Honestly, I'm more surprised that both your clothes survived an inferno and tornado fast winds. But mine can't seem to handle three weeks without getting torn to hell. As for me, I was born this way, so I don't even know how becoming a dark type would feel. Sudden onset depression? Or instant insanity and violence? Not sure."

"So… I'm like you guys now? What does that mean, exactly? You've said it before, but now I really need to know."

Riven scratched the side of his head.

"Err…. Naturally, you'll heal faster. Your body is more durable and a lot stronger than normal—more intensive training in the future for you. And let's see… oh and you get all the strengths that come with your type, alongside all the weaknesses. You know that already, though. Might have to consider it more deeply, now that you're one of us. Those differences become readily apparent, trust me."

She thought back to the sudden chill. "How cold was it outside?"

Riven checked his holo caster for the temperature reading. "Twenty seven degrees outside."

"Celsius?"

"No, this is Unova. Fahren. They're backward, remember? How to metric?"

"Oh, well that's still pretty cold." She thought about the implications of that and went white as milk, with her lips twisting like she'd just bitten into the most sour berry she could find. "Oh my god, it's going to be winter, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is," Riven said wryly. "Ice weakness. Which means you _suck_ in cold temperatures. No feathers to protect you from losing heat, either. Double suck."

"Hurray," she said sullenly. "Do you know anything about wind-flying-whatever people? Apart from what you already tried to tell me?"

Riven smiled villainously in a way that made her uncomfortable. "Discovery is always its own reward." He spread his hands over his head in an arc. "It's an adventure, remember?"

Her glare could split steel.

"Ass... You change me into a superhuman but give no pointers on how I control these abilities so I don't kill someone. Those trees got decimated! How am I supposed to control it? Do I just-"

She held out a hand and a blade of wind the size of a small child slashed cleanly through a nearby chair and left a nasty gash in the wall. The blow-back had also disheveled her loose hair and Riven's own. Once again.

"Uh, minor side note," she laughed uncomfortably, "ponytails from now on."

"A brunette Amy," Riven noted. "How grand. At any rate, you'll need to know how to control these abilities, because they can and will kill someone. You saw what Isole could do. Will's fire went out of control and he left some guys burned to shit. They deserved it but still. Considering you weren't born with it, it'll take some time to get the hang of, but you learn fast. I think."

"Don't you have control issues with yours too?" She pointed out. He waved a hand.

"Now that's a _completely_ different thing. My type inherently has control issues with going overboard. I'm also not all that right up here. You're pretty sane in compariso. Mercy and not-killing-it-until-its-unrecognizable are difficult concepts to understand when going Nightmare mode, especially since it has its own sentience. Thank you military training, split personality is wonderful. When it comes to general destruction though, you elemental types are much worse than me. Everyone blows shit up, but you guys can do so much worse. You blow shit up and continue to blow shit up afterwards without even trying. Tornadoes are _terrifying_ and some pokemon make those casually."

"Great… that's comforting," Gale remarked, frowning at her hands. She recoiled when she shook her hand out and a breeze picked up. Then covered her hand in a desperate bid to stop it. The breeze just picked up. Felt nice though."Gah!"

"Just leave it be," Riven advised. "Avoid thunderstorms and if you're thinking about going anywhere, take double the layers for the cold. You'll look like a Torkoal at the cost of being nice and cozy. If Isole is anything to judge by, the cold is going to fuck with you pretty badly. She was _melting_ in Hoenn. And me? Too much light hurts my eyes and I noticed I burn easy. Desert really sucked. Peeled for days."

"That's gross. How do I go about controlling these abilities then?" She asked again. "I mean, who do I talk to? My pokemon? Emile? Kyne? Vizi? They're birds but... I'm just a human. Can I at least fly if I master it well enough? Oh, maybe I can become the next White Sun!"

Her eyes lit up brightly, sparkling at the thought, only for Riven to come in and burst her bubble with a giant, metaphorical needle. She really took to that Bakoto story.

"I doubt it, you don't have wings. And there are no more wars, so no White Sun for you." He brushed off her glare as he effortlessly crushed her dreams. "Honestly, I'd seek Will's help. He did it on his own and formed his own style, but that's with fire. And since Quil is a professional arsonist, consulting him was probably easiest. Your type is a bit tricky. Birds generate gusts with their wings, but you seem to be able to do it with your mind. Or at will, like a telekinetic. So maybe psychics are the best way to go?"

Gale noticed that Riven also had no idea what the hell he was talking about. He seemed to agree.

"That's not helpful at all," Gale complained, moping. "I'll get the hang of it soon, I guess. Where are Will and Lucia anyway? Are they at the center?"

"Actually, they went to Black City to see the wounded operatives and check on Amy and Seab. I haven't called him to check. I should in the morning. They're probably asleep right now. Speaking of which, you should go to bed too."

"Me?" She scoffed. "I've been in bed for days! It's you that has to go to sleep! You look like you kissed a Haunter!"

_Actually, he always looks like that..._

"And your eyes are bloodshot."

"I blame the flashes those trainers used," Riven said through a half yawn. "And the wind from Aine's jumps. Irritates the hell out of my eyes. I'll just go to the center then, tomorrow I can bring your pokemon up. They'll be happy to see you. Now rest, even if you don't want to. Try not to kick up any twisters in an enclosed area. If you have to, say a Pidgey got in, made a ruckus and that you had to chase it off with a broom."

"Riven, there are no Pidgeys in Unova."

"Really? Oh fuck that's right. Taillow then. God I need some rest. See you tomorrow, my brain is shot." He yawned, heading for the door.

"Wait," Gale called. He raised an eyebrow, hand on the door handle. She cackled like a Totodile. "Want to switch? I'll sit here while you sleep it off on my bed. I'm not sleepy at all so it's okay. We can pick up my team tomorrow. I bet the doctor's face will be priceless!" At the arched eyebrow, she whined. "I just woke up from a coma, let me have my fun. _Please_?"

Riven wore a flat expression before a huge smirk snaked its way up his face. Then he fell face first onto the bed and nearly sank into the mattress.

Orthopedic, god bless.

* * *

When the doctor did walk in, he found Riven dead to the world on the bed. Glancing to the side, he had to pause and do a second take as Gale waved back at him with a smile. Dumbfounded, his brows furrowed and he took off his glasses to clean them on his coat.

Then rubbed his eyes furiously. He was still trying to process if what was going on a result of being in the hospital for a full day without rest, or if he was asleep and a Musharna was using dream eater on him.

"Weren't you in a coma?" He asked, blinking in confusion. "And what is he doing on the bed?"

"I woke up!" Gale said cheerily, raising her hands. It was a bad decision as it made her wound sting. "Ow… Uh, he was tired, so I let him sleep on my bed."

The doctor sighed as he straightened. "Miss, we need to check you over again, just to make sure whether you're in a good enough condition to send home. Surprising recovery speed, almost like this gentlemen here last week… Curious. Although, I do warn you that you shouldn't leave Nimbasa and go out training again until you're sufficiently recovered. Your injury was serious enough already. If it reopened while in the wild, it wouldn't be pleasant."

"I understand, thanks."

He frowned and watched Riven sleeping soundly on the bed, breath rising and falling. "Are you his traveling partner?"

Gale nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"Well, he seemed quite dedicated to you. He's been in the hospital since you got here. Every day for mostly the entire day."

"He better have." Gale smiled to herself. "Guess how many times I've had to take care of him. He gets into more trouble than anyone I know. About time he repaid the favor, hah!"

The doctor smiled sincerely. "Can you wake him up then? We'll have nurses come in to take some blood and see how you're doing shortly. Since you can walk with only mild discomfort, you should be able to leave by today. We'll give you some painkillers to lessen the pain of the wound, how does that sound?"

"That'd be great," she nodded. When he left, Gale unceremoniously shoved Riven awake. For the first time, he didn't try to punch her. Too tired, most likely. He groggily stared at her, too lethargic to move. "Doctors need you to move, since you're not a patient."

Riven turned on his side, settling his head back into the pillow.

Undeterred, she eyed a water bottle in his trainer bag and smiled. After waking him up with half a bottle's worth of water to the face, and getting checked on and cleared, Gale and Riven headed out the hospital to the center. He was still grumpy about the awakening.

When they arrived, Gale released her team(except for the bigger birds). Evie's tail began to wag furiously as she whined, rubbing her snout against Gale's side in her happiness. The girl laughed from being licked on the face one too many times, and wrapped the Mightyena in a large hug, missing the feeling of soft fur. Vizi also gave a low cry to direct Gale's attention as she hopped over. Gale stroked warm feathers, cooing at the falcon. Yukiko reasonably maintained her distance, looking positively ecstatic to see her trainer well again. The icy ghost shook in place from wanting to tackle Gale, but knew not to.

The interaction made Riven and his own team smile. They'd given Gale their own displays of happiness, and after she'd lectured Baron about blaming himself for not being a miracle worker, Baron did as well. After Gale's team had sufficiently calmed down, the two trainers and their pokemon sat idly in the room, finding themselves at an odd impasse.

Nimbasa was… well, relatively normal. The same feeling of positivity overpowered the looming sense of dread and people happily walked to and fro from the Ferris Wheel and the Carnival district. Really, it's like last week had never happened. "Sudden gas leaks" had become a convenient excuse.

Gale broke the silence when she asked, "What agreement did you make, Riven? With that Tesla guy?" She tilted her head, gray eyes narrowed. "Didn't drag yourself into another mess like Kalos did with that Nera woman, did you?"

"Hell no," Riven refuted instantly, "all he wanted was… an agreement to slow down in pursuing Singularity. Not completely, but to be less… _enthusiastic_ about it. He also wanted me to focus more on the Sayre cultists. That's not something I'd disagree with, considering things will get worse if we leave them unchecked. Tesla knows that too."

"Didn't they bring them here?" Gale pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, but they soon found out that unstable teenagers make for very unreliable pawns. Prone to acting out, if you will. Tesla advised against it, but it is what it is."

Gale understood the meaning after a moment, scoffing in disgust. "Oh sh- Does that mean we got used?"

"Just about," Riven confirmed with a sigh. "Obviously, he was a cryptic fucker and when I called him out on his very apparent manipulation- Argh, let's just say he hung your life over whatever lasting doubts I had over his intentions. No clue what the hell that guy is thinking or planning, and he's impossible to read. I also don't know whether he genuinely has ulterior motives, or it's just a front to be ahead of me. I'd call him an idiot, but he's clearly not."

The whole thing felt like a dance—one that he was participating in with a broken leg and no ability to dance _with_. Kind of similar to his dancing skills before Kalos, actually. They were so pitiful that he more closely resembled a wet dish rag with feet.

"Sounds like you're thinking too hard," Gale concluded, "you might come to the wrong conclusions like that. Maybe that's what he wants you think? Throw you off and keep you from guessing the real thing?"

Riven rubbed his forehead and let out a disgruntled sigh. He'd used the tactic before, and it worked. Stunningly effective. Only it kind of sucked having it redirected back into his face. Karma, he supposed. "I really hate friendly enemies. At least hostile ones I know how to feel about. Kind of miss those. At least violence still solves problems there."

"And what about reluctant allies?"

That was an entirely different Tyranitar. Obviously, she meant Yates and the entire Unovan Field Operations force. Letting a criminal run around that casually drove swords into peoples' spines was no doubt _not_ on their take-this-lightly list, if that even existed for the group of collective hardass that was the UFO. Yates had _suggested_ that he see him before leaving Nimbasa, knowing full well that he had no birds on his team, and the unfortunate side effect of being unable to teleport.

"Yates wanted me to see him before leaving. I don't want to, but I'd rather not get into more trouble with the law, especially since we'll be stuck here for a while. I'll have to use my trainer I.D. and that's easily traceable. Foreigners aren't trusted, so we'll be primary suspects in case anything goes down."

"Gotta love Unova, huh." Gale blew out a breath, disturbing a stray strand of hair. "What's next then? After leaving Nimbasa and getting scolded by Yates?"

Riven shrugged. "Not sure. I still have gaps in my team and as much as I like Boagrius, he isn't fit for fighting like the others are. He's a good support, but sometimes I need that offensive or defensive capability. Boagrius has neither. Right now, my team gets shit on by birds, electric types, ground types, can't do much against dragons, and utterly gets fucked by fairies outside of Efrain. I get fucked by fairies and steel types when Aine and Baron aren't around. Oh and I can't answer to water types. Casca practically one shot Aine with a hydro pump."

Trainers couldn't rely on their pokemon all the time, not in times like these. Or against criminals and mercs of this nature. Maybe that's why so many died in Sinnoh; they were ill-prepared and had never fought an opponent that wanted them dead.

"Get an electric type? They cover most of those weaknesses. Poison type or move wouldn't hurt. I think they sell poison jab TMs. Could be useful for Baron and Aine to fight back against fairies. They're pretty frail, I've heard."

"Yeah," Riven considered. "We'll hit the stores later."

As they walked down to the pokemall in central Nimbasa, Riven dialed Will's number. The holo caster buzzed as a projected image of Seren appeared. The fox pawed at the projection, trying to sniff Riven's image.

Riven didn't know whether to assume this was normal, or consider it a prank. It wasn't often that Jolteons answered calls.

"Uh, Seren? Why did you answer the call?"

The jolly fox gave a happy yip, panting and sparking.

"Where's Will?"

Seren turned to the side, yipping and barking into the distance. When Gale peered back to see Riven talking to a Jolteon over the holo caster, she decided not to ask much questions.

"He asleep?" Riven asked. Seren confirmed it with a bark. "Can you wake his lazy ass up?" The Jolteon looked glad to do it, wandering off and away from the holographic image. There were some barks, yips, and what sounded like electricity. Then there was a crash.

Seren was back, black eyes filled with glee as Riven heard complaining in the distance.

"God dammit, Seren." Will came over, picking the electric type up into his arms as he sat down in front of the projector. His hair was frizzed from the shock and his shirt was singed from the electricity.

"What do you want this early?" He ground out, scratching his head. "Still… tired." He nearly fell asleep again.

"Seren, shock him again." The Jolteon responded by sending out another weak discharge, jolting its trainer awake. Curses followed. "Will, where are you?"

"Stop shocking me! I'm in Black City. Lucia's back at the UFO branch here, if that's what you want to ask. Hargh... Still watching over Gale?"

"Hi, Will!" Gale called.

Red eyes went wide. "Holy shit, she woke up?"

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?"

"She's kind of a windy person now, if you catch my meaning."

Will took a moment to register that. "Ohhhhhhhhhh. Damn. Congrats? I think?"

"She needs your help controlling it."

"Why don't you help her? She's _your_ girlfriend. You got abilities too."

_Fucking asshole_. Riven growled. "I can't advise her. My abilities come from somewhere different and they're much harder to keep a lid on. You figured yours out without much help."

"I don't know what wind, err… flying is like though. Quil helped me though, he pretty much said to let it out. And to burn stuff down if it looked at me funny."

Riven frowned. Suddenly, that made a lot of sense.

"Can't you at least try?"

"Maybe if you come to me I can try. I can't leave Black City right now."

"Why not?"

"Remember I told you that I wanted to start a Hoenn based force like the UFO?"

That's right, he did. Riven dismissed it as a silly notion at first since the guy wanted the official uniform to have a cape while also getting the females to wear combat skirts, but now it just made him frown. "Don't tell me they agreed to train you?"

"I'm going to learn what they do. They already approved me, heh! That way if I want to start my own branch in Hoenn, I won't look like an idiot. I'm serious, Riven. With all this shit going on, I don't want Hoenn to go to the Houndooms either. The police are pretty much worthless. The UFOs are fucking _badass_."

Riven held back from gripping the bridge of his nose, breathing in deeply. "Fine. We can head over there if needed. Also, how are Amy and Seab doing?"

"Blue boy has broken ribs, and spiky ponytail girl got a massive cut on her leg. There's a light scar now. Which sucks because she has nice legs—and I mean _really_ nice legs. I can see why you liked her at first." He waggled his eyebrows.

Riven flipped him the bird. "We'll head over there in a few days, I guess."

"Can't you just fly? It's not that far. On bird, I mean."

"I think Emile and Kyne could use a rest from flying so much. Plus, it'd be good to see what the trainer population is like, and it would give Gale more chances to adjust to her abilities," Riven reasoned. "I also need money somewhat badly. My foreign bank account was frozen since the incident, so I have effectively shit for cash. Smashing plebians is in order. You should probably check your bank account too."

"Oh fuck," Will said to himself. "Need to go to the bank soon… Good luck with the trip though. Watch out for crazy asshole Sayres though. We'll be here then, but lemme warn you, Black City is fucking huge. Everything lights up at night, like a sci-fi movie! Isn't it cool?" The fox in his arms agreed, licking his chin. Squirming out of his grip, the Jolteon gave him another mischeivous shock and bounded off like a hyperactive Buneary. "Seren! Come here! Casca, help me catch him!"

Riven ended the call, knowing it would take Will the better part of an hour to calm the electric fox down. Maybe he wasn't blue anymore. Nah, better not to hold his breath.

"Want to head there the traditional way?" Gale assessed. Riven nodded, telling her to put on her running shoes. "I don't mind walking. When are we heading out?"

"Today or tomorrow, if you want. I need to make another stop first."

"Yates?"

"Unfortunately."

"Urk, that isn't going to be fun."

"You're telling me?" He remarked sarcastically.

Gale grinned like a Haunter. "Poor dark boy."

"Crazy wind girl," he shot back.

She opened her mouth, slightly ajar. He wanted to play? She could play. "Edgelord."

"Airhead."

"You should buy a fedora."

"You should get hit by a bus."

"But then you'd miss me."

"Hah, no I wou-" Riven stopped himself and scowled. "Damn you."

The brunette couldn't contain her massive shit-eating grin as he exhaled through his nose, nostrils flaring.

Riven grumbled and stalked ahead, leaving Gale behind as she giggled.

"Fucking swear… like a female Will…"

* * *

When they entered the UFO field office, they found Yates calmly sipping some coffee. "For a dark type, you sure wake up early," he remarked, drawing a twitch from Riven.

"I'm not a bloody Zubat."

"I'm aware," he replied, hiding the tiny smirk behind the mug of coffee. He saw brown hair standing behind Riven and tilted his head. "Ms. Serna. Nice to see you've awoken. Harrowing experience you went through. I'm surprised you recovered so quickly from the injury, however." The operative gave Riven a quick, but skeptical glance.

The mercenary kept his face blank.

"Yeah," Gale managed, a little nervous. "It just felt like a really long sleep, and my cut still hurts, but the painkillers help a lot. The Chanseys made it a lot better. Thank you for your concern."

Yates nodded with a brief smile. He turned to face Riven. "I assume you're here to inform me of leaving Nimbasa, Prime?"

"You know my name," Riven stated, more of a question than anything else.

"I also know of numerous secrets that I can't divulge. Mercenaries take exceeding care to keep their identities hidden, and yours is linked with a secret that can't be revealed to the world in its current state. As such, Riven Cerul of the Cerul clan doesn't exist. Isn't that right, Nathan?"

"You're fully correct," Riven chuckled. "Silly me."

"However," Yates began, "I need to warn you. We only let you off the hook because you assisted us in what can be described as a regional emergency. Unova is grateful to you, but know that our gratitude will not excuse any more than this. If you kill others without cause again, you will face the law. There are limits to what we can cover up."

Cover up. Those two words rubbed Riven wrong as he remembered what Tesla said. It bothered him enough to comment, knowing he shouldn't. "Yates, why did you use mass amnesia on the civilians? They're going to remember it later; it's just going to come back and screw you."

The operative shook his head, signing a form. "Sometimes, we have to do things we're not proud of. I'm sure you understand that better than anyone, Prime. We have to quell what we can. Riots and protests with negative undertones can escalate and make matters that much worse. Then we'll play right into Singularity and the Sayre supporters' hands."

"Careful with that mentality," Riven warned. "Good intentions can lead to terrible decisions and lead to a lot of dead people. Those who fight monsters are destined to become them, or so it goes."

Yes, such was true of many operatives. Years of seeing atrocities sometimes pushed them to the edge, turning them down a darker path. Cases like those were always difficult to deal with.

"And you?"

"Don't worry." Riven gave him a smile that was all teeth. "I'm already a happy little monster."

Yates scoffed. "Keep an eye out. Stay out of trouble and try not to murder people openly."

"So you're saying I _can_ do it?"

"Prime…" Yates scowled in disapproval. "Just make sure to keep it a secret. If it's absolutely necessary, make sure I don't hear about it. Some things have to be done, things we, as a law enforcing body, cannot enact. Should the Elite Four or the Champion decide to have words with you, though, I won't lift a finger to help you."

"Got it."

"Also, you should see Elesa at the gym," Yates mentioned. "She mentioned she wanted to see you before you left, said she had something for you. As for you, Ms Serna, keep an eye on him, will you?"

"Who else will?" She shot back, earning a chuckle from the operative.

"Good, now I have to get back to paperwork. Winter is coming soon, so I advise you prepare for it. Hoennites fare poorly in Unova. Spoiled children and your tame weather."

Both Riven and Gale snorted as they left his office, relieved that it wasn't a monumental lecture. They fully expected an authoritative monologue of actions, consequences, morals, recaps of laws, and mountains worth of hardass. Luckily it wasn't to be so.

Elesa's gym wasn't too far away, and when they came into view of it, Riven snickered as he saw construction crews patching up the giant hole in the wall.

"What the hell happened to the gym?" Gale asked, gawking. "Did it get hyper beamed?" Watching Riven cackle, she punched him in the arm. "You didn't."

"I made a dynamic entrance. Worth it," he explained. "Will's idea."

She wasn't surprised at all. The two boys had more in common than they liked to admit.

"Of course it was."

When they stepped inside, they watched as Elesa battled a challenger, a smile on her face as the challenger's pokemon bravely faced off against her own. A man with long hair, oddly striped pants, and a red scarf around his neck stood beside Elesa, cheering both her and the challenger on.

When the battle was over, Elesa congratulated the boy with a badge as her Emolga was defeated. Seeing Riven and Gale in the stands, she beckoned them both over to the back of the gym before her next battle.

"Hello again, Prime. I almost didn't recognize you without your mask. You look… young. Yates gave you my message?" She asked. The guy next to her eyed Gale with wonder, pulling out a sketchbook.

"Yeah, he did," Riven said, watching him suspiciously. "What is he doing? Who's this guy?"

"Why, how pleasantly insulting kiddo! I'm Burgh! Castelia City's gym leader and artiste extraordinaire!"

_Shouldn't he be in Castelia? Managing a gym?_

Burgh held his hands out. "I'm also Elesa's significant other, so I'm visiting her today to provide excellent moral support and scout potential models for my sketches. But my, I must say, who is this beautiful girl beside you? Her eyes are a fascinating grey I've never seen before. Like storms, I love them!"

Gale reddened as she shook hands with Burgh. "I'm Gale, his traveling partner."

Burgh grinned widely. "Hey, do you mind if I make a sketch of you? I've been trying to capture trainers on their journeys. Especially beautiful ones. It's a little project of mine. What do you say? Elesa's next match is in an hour, so we have some time. I'll hang your portrait in my gym if you ever want to see it."

Gale accepted readily. She caught on fairly quickly that Burgh did it to give Elesa and Riven some privacy. Getting sketched wouldn't be so bad either.

As they left, Elesa sighed sadly.

"Miss him?" Riven guessed.

"Every day," she said soberly. "It's only been a week and yet it feels like years. The rest of my team aren't taking it well either. The rumors don't help. Everyone assumes he died in an accident. It bothers me, like he wasn't important."

"I'm not going to say it gets any better, but you'll have to move on eventually. Is everything else relatively fine, at least?"

"Aside from the giant hole you punched into my gym?" She reminded wryly.

Riven smiled nervously. "Yes, aside from that."

"I suppose. Relations haven't completely deteriorated, but the other gym leaders are worried sick. Security got ramped up in the other cities and more operatives are on standby now. They're afraid the Tournament will make its appearance again. I hope winter slows them down."

"Think that's what everyone is counting on. Anyway, you mentioned you had something for me?"

"Yes." Elesa excused herself for a moment, returning after a minute with a striped black and white egg in her hands. Riven's face fell. "It's Lancer's offspring," she explained. "He had it with another Zebstrika of mine two weeks before he died. I planned to incubate it but with the tour coming up I couldn't. And now…" She made herself breathe. "Since you saved my life, I'd like you to have him in order to honor his memory. Zebstrika are powerful pokemon, and you can use them to get around fairly quickly too, if you can handle the ride."

Riven took the egg into his hands, frowning. "Elesa… I can't take this egg. Not with the situations I deal with most of the time. If I was a trainer, sure, but I can't risk hatching an egg with my line of work. Too volatile."

He tried handing the egg back but she refused.

"Then hatch him when you're ready," Elesa replied. "They can be placed in storage, right? Incubate and nurture the egg on your downtime."

Riven sighed, not wanting to take care of an egg, but also not wanting to disappoint Elesa either. He had a soft spot for last wishes. And he could use an electric type. Part of him was also frightened at the fact that he'd be raising a baby pokemon, and having never had parents in his life past the age of seven, knew absolute dick about parenting.

Begrudgingly, he nodded. "Alright. I'll take it. Just… don't blame me if I push the Blitzle a little harder than normal. My pokemon have very intense training regimens."

"That's fine. If his offspring can grow to become powerful enough to be considered an asset on a mercenary's team, then that's more than enough to honor his memory and make me content. When you decide to hatch it, can you notify me?"

Riven nodded, cradling the egg. It felt out of place in his arms as he touched the surface of the shell. He sighed and brought out a pokeball, sucking it in. "I'll try and raise it the best I can."

Elesa smiled. "Great, now where's Burgh?"

They found Burgh sketching a glowing Gale, who somehow had changed into a white dress. She posed as the artist quickly drew away. When he noticed Riven standing there in shock, he beamed.

"Oh, wonderful! I have some clothes for you here too! Now if you can please stand beside her that'd be great. Her smile contrasting with your dour look will give a message that trainers come in every shape, size, and personality! Truly a union that can seldom be found anywhere else! Hey, Gale, if you convince him, I'll let you try on some of my outfits if you're ever in Castelia. You can also keep that dress, it looks fantastic on you."

As Riven was about to protest, Gale pouted while mouthing a silent plea. Free clothes were great, and Gale did look rather flattering in the dress. Riven struggled to say no to the girl, groaned, and picked up the bundle of clothing.

* * *

**Life has highs and lows. This is a high. Enjoy the respite while you can. Just like Riven is going to enjoy experiencing the wonderfulness of baby pokemon rearing. **

**No exp share here boys. **

**Now, where is my evil mastermind laugh?**

**Gonna go to a pokemon go event with over 5k people going today. I'll update scrub chronicles tomorrow, with some other entries from hunts previously. **

**RIP Dratini nests. :(**


	67. Paths

There was something strangely hilarious about visiting a supposed crime scene. Even more so if _you_ were the one that caused it. Good entertainment was hard to find.

Riven and Gale stood in the destroyed clearing of route 16, alongside several other trainers and onlookers, surveying the destruction. There were a few rangers there as well, taking notes and closing off some of the area to do whatever it was that investigators did—mostly stand around and pretend to do something, probably. It had been Gale's idea to go back and see how much of the forest she wrecked and wasn't surprised to find some sort of law enforcement. The incident had raised quite a bit of concern from the local trainer community as well as the side of Nimbasa closest to the route opening.

They prodded a couple of the rangers there by asking typical curious bystander questions—what happened, what is this, who do you think did it, should we be worried, and if the officials thought it was serious.

As expected, it turned out that they didn't know much at all, and with Gale and Riven-the supposed victim and murderer- standing right there, a considerable effort to not giggle maniacally was made. When the ranger noticed Gale's and Riven's less than suitable trainer attire, he figured they'd just left Nimbasa.

He asked a few questions about last week's events and immediately showed disdain when they told him that there'd just been loud booms and explosions with lots of commotion. Obviously they knew a shit ton more than that, but it was fairly odd that the broadcast of the Nimbasa attack wasn't on every news board in Unova. The UFOs must have locked it down fairly quickly, but they were sure a few people saw it, otherwise there wouldn't be rumors of Sinnoh spreading around. Everything could be dismissed as hearsay since no one really knew what happened apart from people who were present in Nimbasa when it happened, and due to the fact that nearly everyone got a dosage of surprise amnesia, hardly anyone present knew anything.

All of which meant that the truth would rear its ugly head soon enough and then the problems would start. You could block comms, radio, and television coverage, but the one thing Riven learned was that you couldn't block everything forever. Somehow, information would slip by and someone would find out.

Interestingly enough, they did find out that most of Nimbasa's infrastructure was constantly kept up to date; including plumbing, gas lines, and other forms of piping—more out of a need for tourists to see more good than bad, and as a result, keep coming back. Faulty piping and leaks were horrible on customer reviews.

What didn't work well with that was the conveniences that shitty infrastructure _did_ provide. Things like excuses for collateral damage.

The thing about modern cities was that if there were supposed "gas leaks" and resulting explosions that destroyed a quarter of the city, nobody with half a brain cell thought they were accidents. Oh sure, the public might be fooled, but the Elite Four and just about every other law enforcement agency were _not_. Neither were the rangers, having been spread thin since most of the UFOs and police had been rerouted to the cities in anticipation of "anything".

They were taking this mighty seriously.

The trainers had been left in the dark and told not to worry, as per usual. Whether that was a knee jerk attempt to curb mass paranoia and prevent rioting like Yates said, no one—wait, yes they did. Of course it was, that's how _everyone_ knows that something's up.

Riven scoffed. Like that ever worked.

It was still one week after so there were hardly any chances of something _major_ happening, per say; even as things were though, it was far from convincing and the few trainers they did see wore an uneasy look as well. Then again, life had a way of screwing with you. As far as Riven was concerned, the domino was just starting to roll. It'd reach the high point sometime in the next coming months, which was daunting if people were starting to get antsy. Or not at all, if winter was as much of a bitch here in Unova as they made it out to be.

At the current moment, however, there was nothing to do and he had shit for money. Gale wasn't much better in that regard. She'd had the foresight to withdraw some money before the fiasco, but even that was a tiny sum which couldn't even feed one of Riven's fighters(or him), much less her entire team. As a result, they were in clothing poorly suited for a training environment, broke, and slightly lost from the foreign layout of the region.

Gale's map was great for cities, not so for routes. The thing only showed trees and a manmade road which led trainers to the Marvelous Bridge or back to Nimbasa. Not much for navigation or specificity but enough to be useful.

While they progressed through the route, they noticed there were more than a few trainers on the route, but a majority of them looked weary from travel and generally tended to rest more than battle. The ones that were up for bouts weren't very strong and not very rich either.

Which meant more scraps for money. Riven hadn't missed being broke. He also didn't miss smelling terrible.

That ultimately led to foraging for food and murdering cute pokemon for sustenance. Haona and Evie had no problems with this as they brought back several Minccinos from the forest to get promptly massacred. Riven ate mechanically as per usual but Gale seemed rather troubled that she was eating something that had been very cute and very alive approximately an hour ago. She even held back a wince when Haona's horn and Vizi's talons ended their lives in one swift motion.

Alas it came to pass. The effects of training, she surmised.

Then Riven decided to do something insane- well no, not insane. Just like him, in fact. While munching, he stopped mid chew and told her to punch a tree once the idea presumably popped into his mind, like a deranged scientist.

"I am _not_ punching a tree," Gale replied flatly. "You're crazy. I'd break my wrist. Will's getting to you. You might come from dysfunction junction, but I'm not entirely off my rocker yet. I'm going to _bed_."

She groaned in irritation as Riven grabbed her by the shoulders as she turned to her sleeping bag, hoisted her up like a misbehaved Meowth, and redirected her back towards the large tree in front of them. The rest of their teams looked on with wry amusement as they saw the two humans interact. One in curiosity, the other in knowing glee. Even Evie cocked her head in mild concern but didn't press the matter.

"Look, I'm not saying you need to punch it hard enough to break your wrist, but just hard enough to do something. Anything."

"Okay. How about…no! This must be one of your dark humored jokes." He blinked twice and she threw up her arms, tried to leave, but was once again redirected back toward the infernal tree. Now she felt like blowing him away, but was frustrated to find that she didn't quite know how yet. "Come on, really? How much do you think this is going to hurt?"

He shrugged. "It won't. Pinky promise."

And it was almost convincing when he did hold out the pinky.

"Why do you sound like a doctor that's about to shove a needle in a toddler's arm?" She asked skeptically.

"Hah. Obvious nonsense, do I look like I have any medical experience?" He said with a wicked smile that for a second made her stomach do a flip in mortification."Now then. You. Tree. Fist. _Fly_."

Gale cringed at the bad joke and tried to reason with her team, but they seemed to be too intrigued by the situation to really care. Riven's team was a lost cause, they were as insane as he was. She'd _seen_ their routines. For three damn years! Baron was smirking! Aine wore the same grin!

_Why do I listen to this guy? I swear this is insane…_

"Just a regular punch?" She asked with visible unease. The tree seemed a little sturdy.

"Yeah. Step into it, use your body for extra power like Baron showed you. Think you'll be surprised." He brought out a potion. "If the bark cuts you, I'll just have to show you how incredibly fucking great having access to instant healing is. These things are amazing."

"Why don't you punch a tree…"

"What's that? Do I hear attitude?"

_Ugh. He probably already did. Idiot climbs spires that are hundreds of feet tall for small green rocks,_ she thought, frowning while she prepared herself.

_Okay… breathe in, step back, rotate the torso, extend and expel-_

A compressed pocket of air exploded between her fist and the tree as knuckles met bark and air, sending tremors reverberating back up along her bones, wrists and forearms, with the skin of her knuckles seemingly peeling off in bloody tears as friction and air currents worked against her. She recoiled her hand in stinging pain, both at the blood dripping off her knuckles and how much her entire arm seemed to throb. A stray piece of bark flew past her so quickly that it drew blood as it cut across her cheek and up to the hairline, embedding itself into a nearby branch like a wooden spear.

Ignoring the searing pain for a moment to look up, her jaw dropped. There was a solid crack going through the trunk of the tree past the blasted bits of the bark that her accidental wind powered punch had destroyed. Not terribly deep, but deep enough to clue anyone in that no human short of a professional boxer with a build like a Machoke could achieve. That a girl who scarcely weighed more than a hundred and fifty pounds would be able to deliver that equivalent was frankly impossible.

Gale knew that, everyone knew that. Only reality seemed to warp around her insane time traveling dark boy of a traveling partner. And here she was roped alongside him, having turned into pseudo bird.

She hissed and was brought out of her thoughts when Riven sprayed her arm and then her cheek, watching as her skin mended itself as if by magic. Wiping her face of blood with a cloth, he couldn't contain his grin.

"I was right. No wings, but your bones don't seem to be hollow like a bird's are. At least, they're sturdier than a bird's. You've seen them hit trees head on. Broken wings are the most common injuries in pokemon centers, I've heard. That means you can be more of a fighter, and aren't as fragile. Must be the human physiology…"

"Oh, how great," She managed, voice dripping pain-fueled sarcasm. _My arm still hurts… I think I might have broken it._ "Being able to fight is great and all, I guess… I'd still rather fly honestly."

"We don't always get what we want," Riven reasoned, turning his head to look at her team, "but you can provide their wind. Think about it. If you can call wind in a hospital room with no breeze in it whatsoever, imagine what you could do in the skies. Might even be able to fly faster against headwinds, and you know how much trouble they give birds. You can be a force in the sky no one can match."

Everyone always thought of the flying type as "something with wings or some kind of bird", but Gale didn't seem to exhibit those traits. In fact, it seemed this was a form of some kind of aerokinesis, or wind type as he'd gathered. Maybe it was just a human difference, and if by extension, something like dragon or bug was possible. How that'd work was anybody's guess, but he figured a bug type human would be fairly disgusting. Dragon type got scales and, uh, liked sunbathing?

Dragons seemed to like doing that.

In the same vein, Will also seemed to do some strange things with his fire. He was able to control the direction, shape, and intensity of the flames rather easily; that was something he hadn't seen pokemon too entirely capable of. Intensity perhaps, but being able to form rings of suspended fire or jet streams of it from his hands like a giant blowtorch? No. He doubted they weren't intelligent enough for it, since pokemon _were_ highly intelligent, but maybe it was just the difference in typings for humans as opposed to pokemon? Or was it the creativity of the human mind? Dark type moves also behaved similarly, and he was able to use night slash in ways that Haona couldn't. Like forming a blade out of literal darkness or reforming Protect into a more condensed area, which maximized protection if aimed precisely and made the move less prone to failure.

That made him think. What if pokemon _could_ be instructed to use them differently, but trainers just didn't know _how_? Of course during the Elite Four and Champion battles he had seen there were some interesting combinations and moves he'd never seen before, but nothing like this. He'd have to test it later, when he was less tired and his feet weren't dying.

"I guess I could," she muttered, holding her hand to her stomach as she tried her best not to gasp in pain. Riven noticed. That punch must have hurt more than he'd realized. Must have, from how that little air bubble exploded like a firework against her arm. He didn't think it did anything apart from theatrics, but it appeared to have caused some sort of shockwave that really did some damage. Looks like elemental types did have to watch their own attacks. Well, at least it was a good thing that his typing wasn't the only one with downsides apart from the usual.

Gale's _literally could_ kill her. That seemed to kind of suck.

"Does it hurt? Let me see it." Riven said, gently grabbing her arm and giving it a prodding squeeze. She grit her teeth and whined loudly. "That punch shouldn't have hurt you that much. Shockwave from that air thing did it. Sure it's not broken?"

He gave it another squeeze and she swung at him with her other arm. A wave of air followed and nearly cleaved his head off. Riven remained nonplussed on the surface, despite feeling a little worried when he glanced at the poor tree branch above his head. It was sliced in half.

"I don't know," she growled. "You're the one that told me to do it! Aah! Stop moving it, it hurts!"

He pursed his lips and let go lest she take his head this time for sure. Unfortunately, potions didn't mend broken bones or stabs quite as well as cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

"Yeah, well I had no idea you'd form an air grenade before you did it. Now that I do, I'll think twice before asking you to do anything physical. Please don't try to cut my head off, I kind of need it."

"_Fuck_ you." She bit out, voice dripping with contempt. She quickly deflated when Riven paused at the sudden outburst and she'd realized what exactly she said. "Crap. I-I'm sorry- I didn't-"

"You don't have to apologize," Riven dismissed, still a little astonished. "But damn… That was verbal _acid_, I'm just a little surprised you had that in you. Are you sure you're all right?"

He examined her with a tilt of his head, touching her forehead to see if she was delirious. Her skin was colder than normal from her sensitivity to the cold, but otherwise she was fine. Physically, at least. Mentally… well-

"No! I mean yes!" She laughed nervously, half in pain and the other half in disbelief. She ran a quaking hand through brown hair, slightly shivering from the cold of the night. She expected the motion to do something, but nothing happened. "No… not really. Riven, I've never felt like this before. I feel… more aggressive, somehow. It's not me."

"I noticed. Does it seem like Vizi's behavior after her evolution? Sudden aggression?"

That seemed to strike home as the girl went rigid. It scared her that it was changing her without even realizing that it was doing it. Riven also figured that evolving changed peoples' behaviors as well. Will had gotten more heated and energetic since evolving-not significantly, anyway-and although it was a subtle change, the fact remained that he seemed more animated than before, even allowing Quil to get more passes to burn things for satisfaction.

And there was that odd attraction to fire. For Riven himself… well, resisting the urge to tear idiots to pieces in the most savage way possible had increased two-fold. And when encountering a problem, there was a sadistic drive to murder first and ask questions later. It drove his stress levels through the roof, hence his white hair problem. Buying black hair dye had gotten _exceedingly_ annoying.

Gale's mannerisms changing concerned him. Most bird pokemon did get considerably more aggressive when evolving, so if Gale was experiencing the same thing, then her entire personality was susceptible to change. Perhaps not a good change, either. Although, thinking about Gale trying to be threatening made him snicker. She didn't look nearly as amused though, quite the opposite, in fact, as she stood mortified.

" I-I have to get this under control. Fast. Or I'll kill me and someone else. I'm afraid if I try to train with Baron like usual, I'll kill him or something. He's a fighting type and I'm… you know. I have to calm down… just breathe…"

Riven wasn't really sure of what to do or say, instead opting to stay silent while she calmed herself. A small feeling of guilt came over him, but he washed it away with the logical reasoning that she'd get through this on her own. She wasn't weak. After a while, her quivering eased and she took on large breath, exhaling slowly.

"Now I have to go to the hospital to get this set, thanks."

She sat back down in front of the fire, bringing her arms to her knees and sulking. She was shaking too. Riven watched her huddle into herself and sat down beside her, beckoning Baron over with a finger. Healing the arm would make her feel better at least. The psychic knelt down, examining her arm. Giving it a twist, Gale let out a _profoundly_ coarse expletive, to which the Gallade simply nodded in finality.

Green hands began to glow as pink light enveloped her arm, dulling the pain after ten minutes and diminishing it considerably.

"The pains gone…?" She breathed, flexing her fingers. "Ah, not quite but… that's… wow. Completely different from the other times…"

"Heal pulse works better on us too," Riven explained idly, "just not that well on me for obvious reasons. Healers are invaluable, although I advise not using that arm for a good week. Your bones are still going to be a bit weak afterwards, but it won't hurt at least. It's not a perfect system and Baron is better at breaking things rather than fixing them. Was her arm broken?"

"_Yes, it was,"_ Baron confirmed, clicking his tongue. "_Not just her arm, but her knuckles and wrist too. Good job, stupid trainer. Injuring my student like that. No wonder you can't keep a woman."_

"Pft, neither can you, apparently," Riven shot back, flipping him off. The Gallade smacked him. Boagrius floated over and bobbed in the air, rotating oddly on his side like a small, amorphous planet.

"_Trainer! Please apologize! Gale human is angry with you!"_

Haona and Aine joined in too, with the Absol urging him with a headbutt and a bite. Riven's eyes traced the small stone that hung around her neck but decided against touching it. Aine punched him in the shoulder hard enough to bruise.

Riven tried very hard not to meet Gale's expectant glare. With a petulant huff, he gave in. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressured you into punching a tree. I'll think of something more sensible next time."

_Maybe a steel door_? He thought darkly.

She shook her head and sighed.

In contrast, Gale's own team was about ready to rip his face off. Especially Evie, who was snarling spit and abusing a poor patch of grass with her claws. Yukiko had turned a portion of the forest into an ice sculpture. Gale had to tiredly wave her arm to get the Mightyena to calm down.

"I'll forgive you right now since I'm too tired to scream at stupid boys doing stupid boy things. Going to bed now," she said. "Please don't stop me. And please don't suggest anything else that pops into your mind unless you've tested it on yourself _first_. Wait, no. You _would_ test it on yourself. Don't do that either."

"What's the fun in th- Alright, I won't," he assured, having learned his lesson, albeit with a bit of disappointment at her last comment. "Don't want Evie to…uh, tear my face off."

She stopped mid rotation. "Riven? Sorry for earlier. I wasn't myself."

"I told you, don't be. Cursing is healthy for the soul. Haven't you ever put all the hatred and contempt you've ever felt into a single word? Feels good. Like biting into something crunchy."

Gale gave him a tired smile and disappeared into her sleeping bag afterwards, leaving Riven to deal with the multitude of glowers.

He reached for his own sleeping bag with a disdainful scowl, instructing Haona not to let Evie bite him while he was asleep or there were to be no battling privileges for the next few days.

* * *

When they awoke the next morning, they continued through the Marvelous Bridge with little difficulty, although the bridge itself was long as all shit. On the boat it appeared much smaller, and not nearly as long.

Well it was.

It took nearly two hours to walk across it and the route that followed was covered in mist so bad that visibility was virtually nonexistent, making traversing the route rather stressing. Gale kept going on about air sirens, for some reason.

The trainers found there were also strangely much stronger than those on the other side of the bridge, and gave Gale quite a bit of trouble. Riven less so, due to tertiary evolutions and his propensity for hellish and unusual training.

On the other hand, Boagrius using hail to set up for Yukiko was utter _bullshit_. Sort of cheating too, mainly because Riven lent her the Castform. The ghost was practically _impossible_ to hit. It took them about three days to reach Black City's gates, and by that time the girl had single-handedly managed to piss off three fourths of the route's trainer population. She was known as the annoying Froslass girl and after some time, trainers had gotten wind of it and outright refused to battle her in the mist. Made for an amusing time because for once more trainers challenged him than they did Gale—apparently, fighting a frustrating opponent outweighed the need to flirt. Gale hardly complained.

Black City though… Wow.

Riven hadn't been this surprised by large cities in a while but Black City was a marvel.

They arrived at night and it could best be described as a bustling metropolis that had closely packed skyscrapers and residential buildings made of sleek designs of glass and metal, reflecting the light of the moon and stars. Fluorescent lights gleamed along the edges of the structures and streets—green and cyan illuminating the dark city with a futuristic glow that represented the cutting edge technology that it was known for. The floor wasn't cement, instead replaced by a thin but extremely hard glass that was black as the nighttime sky. It even made their shoes squeak slightly.

Whereas LaRousse was a technological city built upon the foundations of clean energy and a symbiotic relationship with nature, Black City was devoid of anything natural in favor of a design that was highly geometric and sophisticated; everything about the city seemed immaculate and modern, from the street signs to the cars that traveled its fluorescent streets.

It was like it was made from a computer simulation.

Gale and Riven took a moment to gawk, adjusting to the dark ambience of the streets. There were no light posts, since the entire city was illuminated by the buildings. Everything felt… dim, but not completely dark. Riven adjusted quickly, and if it weren't for the interesting effects of evolution on her eyes, Gale wouldn't have been able to make out a face from across the street.

Hell, even the pokemon center had fluorescent lighting, this time in red, allowing trainers to easily spot it from a few blocks away. Riven was confused, having not spotted a single degenerate since leaving the city outskirts. Usually they'd be in an alleyway, or congregated together in a little group having a therapy session. Not this time. Although that probably was due to the increased UFO presence from last week, and with the passing of police vehicles along the road, crime seemed to be rather diminished here.

Made sense why they transferred the wounded operatives here. Large movements would be noticed, given the subtle presence of cameras that blended in with the dark cityscape.

When they entered the pokemon center, they were a bit surprised to find that the inside was the same as other centers. Silly thought, of course it did. Why would it be different? The Joy in front welcomed them in with a smile. Trainers were lounging around the sofas and chairs, and they could hear the chatter from the common room and cafeteria.

Handing over their pokemon to get healed, Riven and Gale went straight to the showers, got rid of the characteristic smell of route sweat, and shoveled food into their mouths afterwards. Following the meal, they didn't even bother trying to converse, opting instead to hit their respective beds by falling on them from exhaustion.

Daytime arrived and the cityscape had changed, with beautiful streams of color spread throughout the city, advertisements running along the giant buildings that scraped the sky. The overall theme had also changed, shifting away from black and blue to a richer white, red, purple, and orange. The city would have been even more impressive if the sky hadn't been overcast. At least there wasn't any heat.

Riven had woken up earlier than Gale to run an errand of sorts and left her a message to meet up at the local trainer mall. When she arrived, she found him in the plaza staring profoundly in thought at something in his lap.

"Hey, Archimedes," she called, to which he lifted his head. When she got a better angle, Gale blinked in surprise. "I thought you said you couldn't hatch eggs at the moment. Is that Baron's egg? Doesn't look like it."

A yellow and black striped egg lay in his lap, protected by the glass of an incubator. So that's what he needed money for. Eggs usually hatched on their own if left outside a pokeball, given a month or two. Incubators sped up that process, turning two months or more into a few weeks.

Riven's fingers held it like he wasn't quite sure what to do with it, and judging from his utterly lost expression, he _didn't_. "No. It's Elesa's Zebstrika's egg. That one that-" He lowered his voice and whispered, "-died? Remember? I told her-no, promised… fuck- that I'd raise the baby to be on my team. I guess it hurt her too much to raise it herself. Reminds her of her pokemon. I can understand the sentiment and well… she looked about ready to lose it then and there if I didn't."

"And you couldn't say no?" She said with a raised brow and a small grin. "Soft spot for pretty girls? Elesa _is_ gorgeous."

He let out an exasperated huff. "Someone told me not to make girls cry."

"Ah, Birch's words of wisdom?"

Riven bit his cheek as she laughed. "Okay. Not the best role model, I admit. But it's hard saying no, like telling a Poochyena to stop trying to use your stomach as a bed."

Okay, that one was pretty hard to say no to. Evie had been adorable as a puppy.

"You should know, since you're always pushing me into things. Like that photoshoot with Burgh. That was terrible."

"Not that terrible. Quit whining, you looked good in a suit." She grinned again when he grimaced in displeasure. "So, going to raise a kid, huh? That'll be fun to watch."

"Besides, seeing a gym leader cry… that isn't something you should ever see. This though—I have no idea how to handle baby pokemon," he said with the least amount of confidence she'd ever heard exit his mouth. He was starting to worry excessively, his over-prepared nature racing to try and tackle unforeseen circumstances long before they happened. "How do I… what do I feed it? What if I'm in the wild and-"

He suddenly blanched in despair, coming to a realization that could shake the fiber of the entire world.

"Zebstrika's and Blitzle's don't eat meat."

"Yeah," Gale reminded amusedly. He did consider meal times to be a team bonding exercise."They eat grass though. And berries. There's a ton of that everywhere, obviously. You don't have to quite feed them as much as you do Haona and the others, but if it's a baby Blitzle you shouldn't let it wander. Stop worrying! It's just a baby pokemon. They're not as troublesome as human ones. Those aren't too bad either."

"Have you ever taken care of a human baby to know that?"

"Nope!"

He facepalmed. "Hypocrite."

"Oho, I do wonder who taught me that giving lessons without following them is perfectly fine!"

"He must be quite the philosopher to make you an expert then. And quite handsome, and charismatic, and great."

Gale's grin grew into a sarcastic smile. "No, he's just good at shooting the Tauros and pulling things out of his ass."

Riven scoffed. "Aw, you're going to make him blush."

After their laugher died down, he frowned at the egg.

Incubated eggs couldn't be returned or confined in a pokeball, so he had to keep it out until it hatched. Most trainers didn't have a problem with this since they were pretty sturdy and could be held securely with an additional strap to the trainer bag, but normal trainers also didn't regularly fight with swords or get shot at.

Or, you know, have things try to routinely kill them. That might not work out too well for an egg.

"Going to hatch it since we theoretically should have some downtime?" Gale asked, swinging her legs back and forth below the bench. "Knowing you, it would have been a bad idea if you were planning on getting in trouble."

"That was the plan," Riven admitted, frowning again. "I'm just asking for it to stay this quiet for the entire time we're here—or at least, if worse comes to worse, after this hatches."

"Something tells me there's a but."

"There's always a but, Gale. Usually I'm it at the end of a joke from life."

It took Gale a moment to get it, but she rolled her eyes. "Come on then, you got your incubator if that's what the errand was. We need to get to the center on the other side of the city. No point in dallying around being a broody Riven." She brought up her map and pointed eastward. "That way. Large pokemon center in the middle of… Linuc Street. That's where Will is right now. I don't think you'd want to enter a UFO building right now, do you?"

Riven shook his head, settling the incubator in the specialized incubating strap that settled over his shoulder and clung to his side, leaving a large incubation capsule sticking out of his person awkwardly, but snuggly. He sighed again and hoped that he wouldn't have to wait too long for the egg to hatch.

Midway towards the pokemon center, Riven watched as another wide-eyed group of traveling trainers passed them, all young and smiles and awestruck glances. The two of them, however, had stopped smiling like that. At least, Gale did. She'd smiled even less-truthful smiles, anyway-than she had before he'd left. And as for him… well, smiling was never something he had a reason to do much, given the circumstances and his upbringing.

"Are you angry?" He asked quietly as they passed a signpost that read Iso Street. "That I turned you into an Origin? I mean, I did do it without your permission. Some people might not want it. I didn't give you that choice."

Gale continued walking, only glancing at him from the side. "I forgot you like to ask abstract questions on walks in cities. No, I don't. Because… I wouldn't know if you didn't. I'd still be stuck in a coma, or dead, by now. Right? If you hadn't, I wouldn't have known. That I'm having this conversation now is only because of what you did. Even if I didn't want it, I'm alive, and now I have to live with that. I admit that I don't think it's the most super cool blessing as of right now, but I have _powers_, Riven. That's something trainers only dream of… As Will puts it, it's freaking awesome."

She hesitated, her cheer falling apart.

"At least when it's not breaking my arms and almost killing my friends. Or that I can't use it in front of other people. Or anywhere that isn't the wild. This isn't as great as it's cranked up to be, is it? I expected a savior/messiah vibe but…"

"Welcome to the real world, adventure girl," Riven smirked wryly. "Where not everything works out like how you intended it to, regularly disappoints you, and sometimes, just _sometimes_, things go wrong. Just a simple security job… Oh, I'll just take a leisure stroll through Granite Cave, nothing will happen…"

A sardonic snort.

"Right."

"I'm not angry though," she said, offering him a small smile. "Why the concern?"

"You don't smile as much." He said evenly. _You look like me_. "I thought it was because of something I did. Frowns don't suit you. I don't need another me, I'll just get depressed."

"I'll try not to." Gale reddened a slight bit as she stared down at the floor, looking back at her reflection. "But with everything going on, and seeing how much goes on behind the scenes—scary things too—I'm not sure if I could continue to act like everything is fine. It's just- it's harder to smile and feel happy about things when someone nearly kills you." She traced the area where her scar was. "And what happened with Elesa… that was horrible. The worst part is that it isn't even over yet."

"I know," he said ruefully. "A lot of things happen that people don't know about. This world isn't as overt as mine was, but it has just the same potential to fall apart. In fact, there's a lot of it that's upheld by thin cables that can snap at anytime. Everything is secrets and smoke and mirrors; what you have and how it could be used to get your way. With all this technology, it's easy to get the wrong idea and undo years of work. It only took one video for Sayre to change the world. That's the reality now. Makes you wonder if ignorance really is bliss."

He adjusted the incubator again and grunted when it stuck out awkwardly and dug into his side. He opted instead to hold it in his hands.

A woman then all but crashed into him and immediately upon seeing his attire, called him human refuse and strutted off. She looked to be high class, from the way she was dressed, but an opinion like that shocked them both.

"Did she just call me trash? Did you fucking see that?" Riven gestured incredulously. He flashed a knife. "Yates did say I could kill people discreetly. I just need an alleyway and-"

"Not regular people! Put it away before someone notices you!"

Riven pocketed the knife with a snarl.

Gale exhaled in relief. "Do people not like trainers here or what?"

Come to think of it, a lot of the people on the streets tended to avoid trainers, and they'd gotten more nasty looks than Haona did just about anywhere. That was saying something. Many of the restaurants also maintained a no pokemon policy, even in the ones that weren't high class in the slightest. What was it with this city?

When they entered the larger pokemon center, they spotted Will chatting with Amy and Seab in the dining hall, his messy black hair giving him away. He had a black UFO trainee uniform on, something that didn't go unnoticed by the other trainers. Riven and Gale joined them at the table, greeting them all with a wave.

"Gale! You're okay!" Amy beamed, standing up to give Gale an Ursaring hug. "Hey, Riv. Looking as glum as ever."

He scowled. "And here I thought I was the symbol of happiness, thanks for pointing that out."

"What she was trying to say is that it's nice to see Nimbasa wasn't a total disaster," Seab put in. "You both look fine, and I'm glad Gale was able to recover. We were worried for a while but after Will told us you were both okay and that Gale had woken up, we finally got to breathe."

Gale smiled warmly. "Yeah, I got injured pretty badly, but I'm okay now. Thanks. How are your ribs, Seab?"

"I'm trying not to breathe too hard, or laugh. I'm on painkillers but it still hurts to do anything intensive. I can't even dress myself properly. Amy has to help me."

The blonde was incredibly pleased with it too, causing the Sinnohan to flush. "I don't mind that _all_," she purred.

"Err… Shouldn't you be in recovery too, Gale? You got operated recently from a pretty significant injury," Seab noticed, edging away from Amy, however useless it was being window side.

Before Gale could open her mouth, Will tapped on the table. "Yo, look at her eyes. Don't they seem a little different?"

Amy and Seab did, noting that they'd gotten lighter.

"Did Riv…?"

Riven's face remained impassive. "I had to, otherwise she'd have died."

The two trainers exchanged uneasy looks. "What type?"

"Flying, funnily enough," Gale answered. "I can't control it yet, though. I broke my hand trying to. Baron healed it faster than I thought, though it's a little sensitive still."

"How does it feel?" Amy inquired, green eyes wide. "All Will can say is that it's hot and feels awesome. That doesn't really help. I want to know just how cool it feels! I mean, look at what you can do! I wish I could shoot lightning, or ice, or fire. Anything really. Being normal doesn't seem as fun anymore. Imagine fighting with your pokemon!"

"It's not all fun and games," Riven cut in. "Trust me, I've fought enough pokemon myself to know that it sucks ass. They're still stronger than you in general. Anyway, that's why we came here. So Will can train Gale or at least somewhat help her try and figure out her abilities. She nearly took my head when she got annoyed. Wind is scary."

"Not as scary as yours," Amy pointed out, to which Riven frowned guiltily. "I don't think you realize just how bad that dark aura of yours makes… everything feel. The first time I saw that eye my instincts told me to get the hell out of dodge as fast as possible and I listened."

"Maybe it was for the best," Riven said soberly. "I did get into a disaster after, so you dodged a bullet. Several, in fact."

"I didn't," Will snorted. "Got firebe- I mean uh, got fire abilities so it's cool. How did you get a sphere though? There aren't any ruins in Nimbasa."

"Tesla gave one to me," Riven mentioned simply.

Will stopped talking. Amy and Seab followed suit.

"I must have misheard," Will laughed in fake amusement, "I thought you meant that the _enemy_ gave you the key to saving the life of a person they almost killed. It's crazy, isn't it?"

He buried his face in his hands.

"You're a fucking idiot. You saved Gale so I can forgive it but _fuck_ man. You did say he was kind of weird but I seriously wasn't expecting this. What did he want?"

Riven lowered his voice, checking to see if anyone was listening. No one seemed to be paying any mind, but he spoke in whispers to be sure. "Sayre followers are a problem, even for him. Mercs don't always agree with what their employers are doing, and his boss is using the Sayre followers to challenge the region's authorities and who knows what else. Tesla doesn't like it and since he can't do anything overtly, he asked me to help, giving me the sphere in exchange for being less hellbent on mucking up their operations during the interim of the region shutdown. That and the Plasmas were framed. We also got used like a wet dish rag to salvage the situation to work out in Tesla's favor. He went around spreading that rumor hoping that someone would pick it up. I took the bait. Had things gone differently, Unova would be a fucknest right now."

"Clever scum. So a ceasefire of sorts for six months?" Amy assessed. "That'll be hard to keep with… what's the word?"

"Lunatics?" Seab provided. "Idiots? Fanatics? Cultists? Murderers? Sociopaths? We have a lot of names for them back in Sinnoh, believe me."

"All of the above then. How do we know that the followers won't do something else? They already tried taking over Castelia. No joke, Riv, but their pokemon aren't pushovers. Neither are the operatives', and they took out a lot of them _and_ us. We're not going to be able to steamroll them if they mobilize enough."

"We also heard some pretty outrageous things from the wounded UFOs that came later," Seab said. "About a woman whose skin bullets couldn't scratch. Know anything about something like that?"

"Probably from the steel clan," Riven figured. "Vacer clan. It was kind of like mine and the Rose clan in that it was a family name more so than the name of a place. They were smiths and provided a lot of the metalwork other clans needed. There was a reason that the Roses didn't kill them—too valuable. They also didn't aid us because doing so against their natural weakness was tantamount to suicide. Their skin was rumored to be impervious to blades. I never found out if it was true or not, but I assume they're as much of a bitch to deal with as other steel types I've encountered. Hitting them with special attacks is the only way of real damage, apart from fire moves. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them made it here and became a merc. If we encounter her, don't try and fight her head on. One hit will be like getting hit by a sledgehammer."

The blue-haired trainer thought about that. "So typings change even the composition of a person's skin? If that's the case, why didn't Gale grow feathers?"

"Not sure," Riven said truthfully. "Never met a wind clan or flying clan. This is entirely new for me too, although there are history books and folk tales that imply otherwise. I couldn't possibly verify their authenticity, so I wouldn't know if they were real. Gale calls wind with her mind, or by thinking about it. Something of the sort. Will, do you think about how you want the fire to act and how hot it is?"

Will rubbed his chin, finding it a bit difficult to recall without using it at the moment. "Kinda like that. I mostly think about what I want the fire to do and sometimes it's more difficult if I want to make the fire do more things, so I have to coax it. I tried making it hotter and brighter like a welder's torch, but that really takes it out of me. It's not really instincts either because when I first started out I burned myself quite a lot trying to get things right."

He showed them calloused hands that signified hours upon hours of training, with the burn scars to prove it too. Riven was surprised to see that Will had worked so hard while he was gone, especially with his typing. In contrast, he'd opted to forgo his as much as possible.

"You're going to have to practice a lot, Gale. Can't just pick it up and expect to get good at it. I couldn't shoot a flamethrower for months. And when I first did-" Will whistled loudly. "I blacked out for half a day. Since you're wind, I don't think you'll have to keep your clothes from catching fire, heh. Just don't slice your clothes up or I might see something that'll make Riven je-"

Riven slapped him with blinding speed.

"Well, I made a wind bomb that exploded and broke my entire arm if that helps," Gale replied in understanding. Bonding in painful experiences was always good for the soul. "So does that mean you can teach me?"

Will continued to rub his cheek. "Uhhhhh… it's going to be pretty hard teaching you here in Black City. I can't leave since I'm currently classified as a trainee, and the UFO division here doesn't really know about this so…"

Gale's face fell. "So that's a no?"

"I didn't say that for sure." Will paused to scratch his head. "We could always go to the routes outside after training?"

"There's a lot of grass and wooded areas," Amy interjected. "I don't know but fire and winds to spread it is a good way to get a forest fire started and trainers blamed, as if it wasn't bad enough already. Don't even think about releasing Quil when Gale's around throwing air."

Seab nodded in agreement.

"Amy has a point, you need a more discreet location. The city gets very dark and dim at night, so fire is going to be very noticeable. Wind on the other hand, isn't. There aren't many cameras on the rooftops, but there are delivery guys running the roofs."

"Delivery guys?" Riven asked.

"They traverse the buildings to get mail to people and deliver items discreetly. Black City isn't everything it seems, you know."

"Is that why those non trainers were leering at us? A woman on the street called me trash. I almost stabbed her there and then."

"The wealthy, probably," Amy sneered. "Black City is divided into social categories, like all places but worse. To a degree that makes Castelia look nice and equal. Those fancy snobs you see order people around are at the top. Trainers don't even classify, yet we can still walk around the city smelling like… well, you know how we smell after days of the wilderness."

Terrible was one word for it. Amy continued, her tone growing in irritation.

"They hate trainers 'dirtying' their beautiful city, up in their terraces and balconies. They're all located in the color district. The area of the city with all that purple neon crap? Screw those guys. It's not surprising they support the Plasmas. Idiots."

That instantly got Riven's attention. "They support the Plasmas?"

"Not openly, that'd look bad on their resumes. Oh no. They think training is a scourge, even when it does bring in money. Can't convince stupid people they're stupid anyway. Or bigots."

The blonde noted Riven's face as he seemed deep in thought, blankly staring at a section of the table with a slight curl of the lips.

"Uh oh. Gale, stop him before he gets an idea to go up there. They have armed guards, they'll tear your ass to pieces. You'll piss off the UFOs and the authorities too, which there are a lot of, if you hadn't noticed! Seab, help me here?"

The Sinnohan pretended to be concerned eating. "Huh?"

"Will?!"

"Hey, don't look at me. Once he gets an idea, there's no stopping him. He's every flavor of nuts. Watch him come up with something insane, like having Gale fly him up there so he can parachute in and-"

"Nothing. I'm not doing anything," Riven answered flatly, to the disappointment of everyone and himself.

While mowing through a bunch of hapless guards, fighting his way up through a building, and interrogating a high socialite with a pair of pliers like a badass was all fun and cool, it wasn't practical or made any logical sense-yet another reminder that reality was pretty disappointing. Connections were needed and if nobles and Dukes were anything like high caste socialites, then the best way to make those needed connections was through favors and casual conversation at a high class restaurant or social gathering.

Obviously, he couldn't prance in there, announce he was a merc and expect a civilian with little experience in dealing with dangerous men to comply. Socialites were snobby, not sinister. Some were, yes, but the majority weren't. Torture would work poorly also. Authorities would hunt him down in a day if he did. Criminals wouldn't be missed. An important shareholder or executive in a company?

Definitely.

If they knew anything about the Plasmas, then they were a valuable resource. Socialites did exactly what their name implied: socialize. Like it or not, rich people _knew_ people. Important people. This time, however, he had no funds and no way of faking his way into a high class party. Not having access to Circuit and Nera's resources sucked.

So in a way he was back at square one, with nothing to do but wait.

"History repeats itself…" Riven muttered as Will thumped him on the chest. He looked up, still deep in thought.

"Well? What do you plan on doing this time? If Gale's going to be here with me, she can't travel with you. If you go out by yourself out there, there's a high chance trouble is going to find you and make you disappear for another three years. Lay low for once."

Riven tilted his head to stare at Will, like he'd just sprouted horns. "Did I just hear something sensible come out of your mouth, Will? Holy shit you can understand subtlety?"

"Know what? Fuck you. Go die then. I'll just focus on being an immense badass while you go get yourself thrown in a ditch. Have fun. Gale, why do you like this idiot?"

"Well, uh, he's… he's…hmmm." She trailed off with a finger. _Think nice things, think nice things…_ _Crazy? Violent? Possibly sociopathic-no! I can't say that! _"Um, driven?"

The two boys frowned.

"And you said I suck at compliments. You're downright terrible. Regardless, I think I'll stay within the city limits for a while until I figure out what I'm going to do. It'll give me some time to hatch the egg, at least. I do have a question though. Actually, a bit of a request. Amy, Seab?"

Both of them gulped.

"Oh god," Seab whispered fearfully. "Save me…"

"Please tell me it isn't about defending another city because I don't think we'd like to visit the hospital again." Amy gestured to the slash running down her leg. It would scar over for sure. Fairly badly too. "There go my bikini days. Not that it matters anyway. Never liked them. Shorts though… I'll miss those."

"It's just a scar, Amy. I'm sure it won't diminish anything about you." Amy shot him a sly smirk as Seab shook his head. "I for one don't want to break my ribs again. It's difficult enough as it is."

"Not asking you to do any of that," Riven assured with a not very reassuring laugh. "Can you talk to the pokemon professor here? I read some articles she published back in Kalos, and I know she was based in Unova. Nuvo… Nuva something town?"

"Nuvema," Will corrected. "Nuvema town in southeast Unova. It's pretty damn far from here. It'll be a long trek, but with a Salamence it shouldn't take long. At least, if they let you ride a Salamence at all. Cross regional flights with dangerous pokemon are prohibited unless it's in a dangerous area like the desert. They told me that when they saw my Flygon, which by the way, still makes people shit a ton of bricks. Ban allows the Braviary service to stay in business and limits the regular people from having heart attacks."

The others were about to ask but quickly realized why that was. A dragon flying over a city was always a cause for concern or alarm, and given the circumstances… well. They figured some idiot must have been flying over a route and accidentally used draco meteor or something. Wouldn't be surprising, some trainers had lead for brains.

"Where is Nuvema To-Oh fuck all," Amy groaned, pulling up a map. "You want us to cross half of Unova to ask the professor a _question_? What the hell, Riv?"

"What I want you to ask her can't be discussed on the phone. I'd go myself but Will's right. If anything happens, I'll be able to see it from inside the city. Out on a route I'd be blind. I also really want to hatch this egg before I get caught in a proverbial mud pit." He looked at them both and rubbed his forehead. "I hate asking you to do this, and I wish I could be in more places at once, but-"

"No, you go. I'll lend you Emile," Gale cut in, stopping him mid sentence.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"I'll lend you Emile," Gale repeated. "Seab's ribs are still recovering and I don't want them getting into trouble either. Amy wouldn't be able to walk much on that leg." The blonde nodded. "They can't recover as fast as we can. You'd probably cross half of Unova on broken ribs if you had no choice, so we don't have to worry about stalling progress. You told me to punch a tree for god's sakes! You're crazy, they're _not_."

"You made her punch a tree?" The other three asked at once, wearing looks of befuddlement.

"Yes, yes he did," Gale confirmed bitterly. "That's how I broke my arm. Plus the wind bomb."

"Slight miscalculation," Riven deadpanned, the humor in his eyes betraying him.

"Anyway, as for the ban… using Emile to fly under the radar when routes are less policed can let you cover more ground faster. And you're a mercenary, there's the most leeway for you if you get into trouble."

Pragmatically, yes. No one would bat an eyelash if a merc casually beat up a few rangers. Relatively speaking, at least, since assaulting a ranger broke about fifteen different laws—all of which could throw an idiot in jail for life. It was dark, but what she said was undoubtedly true. As long as they weren't dead and their pokemon were just unconscious, there was little harm done. Again, theoretically speaking.

"If anything happens, I'll call you. Seab and Amy can hold down the fort, right?"

Riven blinked, puzzled. "Wait but-"

"A-a-a-a-a-ah! Not this time. You'd kill yourself out of boredom if you stayed here," Gale giggled wryly. "I saw how wound up you were before Nimbasa happened. Cities are bad for you, but idleness is worse. If you stayed here while Will teaches me, you'd drive _me_ nuts and turn the rest of your hair white."

The older trainer tried to object but Gale wouldn't have it, shoving Emile's pokeball into his hand.

"Take care of him, okay? And try not to do anything outrageous, like challenge a dragon. He's not over it still."

Enclosing his hand around the minimized ball, Riven sighed miserably. "Emile's not going to like it."

"Emile's a big baby," Gale laughed loudly. "He'll just have to get used to it, like it or not. He always complains about not getting out enough and being used as a flight service instead of for battling, so I'm giving him his wish. Oh, and that goes for you too. Stock up on potions! I'm not going to be there to give you a hyper potion every time you decide to use them all up and test a theory of yours. And please, take care of yourself. Don't make me worried."

For such a tall guy, Riven looked incredibly small at the moment, as if being scolded like a child. Will, Amy, and Seab had to grin as the supposed "fearless mercenary" pitifully resigned himself to taking orders from a girl about five inches shorter than him.

"Alright," he said, straightening. "I'll be back in… weeks maybe? A month? If something happens, to hell with the rules, I'm flying back. I'm sure the UFOs wouldn't mind. I'm not leaving yet, I admit I'm a little curious about the rooftop runner scene, I'll check it out when it gets dark."

"Reminder of old days?" Will grinned.

"Yeah, gotta remember the classics," Riven nodded. "What path should I take to get to Nuvema?"

Gale pulled up her map, tracing a red path through the routes with a finger as the holograph solidified. Luckily, Black city and the southeastern part of Unova were separated by a range of tall mountains rumored to contain very strong wild pokemon and as such, remained largely uninhabited, with very few hikers attempting to traverse them. Naturally, this meant that most trainers would rather take the detour back around through Nimbasa and central Unova, then head east.

Riven was a simple man. He was also an idiot. Riven saw mountains and his days of scouting to conquer a difficult climb came rushing back like a drug—a worthy challenge.

If he crossed the mountain range, he'd end up on the Nacrene City side of the mountains. From there he'd only have to pass through Striaton, Accumula, then finally reach Nuvema near the ocean. The journey would probably take at least two weeks or more, even with periodic low-profile flights with Emile. Those routes had an increased ranger presence due to more beginner trainers, and made flying illegally pretty difficult.

Thinking about the journey, it probably was best that Gale had convinced him to go instead. It would have been damn harsh on Amy and Seab with their injuries.

When they'd finished their meals and wrapped up their talk, Gale and Riven explored a bit of the city to kill time. Will had gone back to meet up with his sister to learn about the importance of paperwork and reports(something he hated with burning passion), while Amy and Seab just preferred to rest in the center.

The rooftops really were a sight to behold at night. While everything was dark and Gale had a bit of a hard time seeing, Riven led her around, watching runners flip and run across the dark city's rooftops. She flew them up to one of Silph's corporate buildings, adorned with huge neon letters spelling out Silph. They sat in silence for an hour, enjoying the momentary peace before departure tomorrow.

It'd be strange traveling alone again, but he had his pokemon with him this time, and Gale wouldn't be what felt like a world away. He also had a flying pokemon and his holo caster. His thoughts turned to the egg as he brought it out and held the incubator in his arms, watching the soft glow that came from it as it heated the egg.

"I hope the baby doesn't give you too much trouble. It'll probably hatch while you're out there," Gale mentioned idly. In the dark he could see the melancholic dull in her eyes.

"You don't sound too happy about that."

"I've never seen a pokemon hatch before, so it'd be a cool experience for me. As much as I'd like to come with you, I can't. I need to get this under control." She felt the wind lick her hair, blowing locks of brown hair in every direction. "Seems like we can't travel together all the time, huh? Something separates us constantly."

"We all have our duties," Riven said soberly. "Paths don't always align, even if we wish they would. I'd say I'd miss your nagging, but that'd be corny. I'll be fine, Gale."

"Promise?"

Riven was quiet. Promises… he'd made so many of them already. To his fallen friends, Nemos, Sam, Sarim, Wattson, Roxanne, Elesa… Promises were easy to make, but difficult to keep. No, he wouldn't promise.

"No promises, Gale. I don't like lying to you. Things might happen, they might not. The one thing I can assure you is that I'm a bit hard to kill."

In the darkness, Gale smiled sadly, reality seeping in. She leaned her head against his shoulder, exhaling.

"Yeah. I'll hold you to that."

Life wasn't all adventures, or tragedy, or love, or humor. Sometimes, it was wishing for things to be different. A feeling that would only get stronger in the coming weeks.

* * *

Riven left Black City the next day stocked up on potions, peanut butter, non perishables, and a few pokeballs in case he saw a pokemon he liked. He'd also gotten sturdier clothing for the trek ahead of him. He looked like more of a hiker than a trainer at the current moment.

It took him several hours to even reach the dense part of the forest outside Black City, near the mountains. He considered using Emile, but the bird was beyond bitchy about the situation, pecked his head in annoyance, and stubbornly refused to fly while giving him his usual snippy attitude. Obviously the Pidgeot was going to be a gigantic cock on the journey, so he'd give him some time steaming in the pokeball to untangle his feathery panties.

Useless fucking bird. Why couldn't she give him Kyne instead? He was substantially less annoying.

When nightfall arrived after plenty of time using Efrain to slash through the denser foliage blocking his path, Riven was within eyesight of the mountain range. There were no lights at all, and even the minimal light pollution of Black City hadn't affected the sky above him. Unova was in the Northern Hemisphere so the North Star was fairly visible in the sky, so he went opposite its direction. The path to Nacrene should've been almost direct, so if he kept his position and kept heading south, he'd reach it.

After mountain climbing that is.

He saw a few wild pokemon scurrying about and had Baron teleport stab them since Haona was fairly restricted in the dense foliage. After the sun had come up, he reached the base of the mountain at midday, using Aine to hop him over to where the incline began.

Securing the incubator with an extra safety latch and putting on his gloves for vertical slopes if needed, he began trekking his way up the mountain.

It took a bloody fucking week to get up that mountain. He could have used Emile to fly over, or Aine to jump him over, but nooooooo. He was a stubborn, stupid man with too much pride and too big of a climber's ego to let a mountain conquer him. By the time he saw Nacrene over the edge, he was drenched in sweat, exhausted, and tired of sleeping sitting up on rocks.

"Well, we made it." He said to himself with a sharp, finalizing breath, placing his hands on his hips. The view was breathtaking from up here though. Back in the direction he came, he could clearly see Black City and the Marvelous Bridge. No one else but the incubator listened to him speak. Granted, it couldn't hear but it was the thought that counts. He made it a point of talking to the egg, which he named Omy to his own amusement, seeing as how the Blitzle patterns looked similar to an omelette.

He'd probably give the Blitzle a different name, but he kind of liked Omy. If the newborn was female, it'd be short for Omlynne. There was _totally_ no way he'd name one of his pokemon after an omelette.

Riven then decided the unborn Blitzle would be Omy. Because he hatched it from an egg and since he was incredibly hungry, eggs would be the first thing he'd eat in Nacrene.

He'd gotten a bit curious and wandered into the gym to see what it was like, and upon seeing the library maze in there, Riven immediately turned back. He had fighters which could beat the absolute hell out of her pokemon, but that maze of hers… Lenora could keep that badge. The gym trainer in the front just laughed in pitiful understanding once she saw him scrunch his face in mortification and go in the opposite direction.

The trainer remained in Nacrene for a day, buying more non perishables and peanut butter for the trip ahead. It wasn't mountainous so there'd be an abundance of pokemon to hunt, and the path was generally straight forward. Luckily, no strong pokemon jumped out at him during his time in the mountain or the forests below, aside from the occasional Braviary nest, which he respectfully bowed away from.

Apparently Charles said that they were territorial and since the bird was protecting her chicks, Riven _really_ didn't want to mess with her. Especially not on a steep mountain against a bird known for being able to lift and crush pick-up trucks. Human pincushion was not something he'd dreamt of becoming.

Uneventful was a double-edged sword, however.

The road to Nuvema was, simply put, extremely, extremely boring. None of the trainers were a challenge since they were all pretty young, and the ones that did seemed more interested in seeing his pokemon than actually battling. The few older trainers he saw were visiting family and thus had no desire to battle. Hunting didn't prove to be difficult either, given his pokemons' relative strengths compared to the weak wild creatures that roamed the route forests.

After the craziness of Nimbasa and just about everything else, as well as the planning and preparation the UFOs made, this seemed hair-raising in comparison.

He was more uncomfortable with nothing happening than with people trying to kill him.

At least Omy was doing fine in the incubator. He checked to see if the journey had damaged the capsule, and to his satisfaction, not a single scratch was on it. The thought that Omy was finding the journey unpleasant was rather amusing, and to find some form of entertainment Riven began to make conversations with himself and the egg, making up an epic tale of their conquering of the mountain.

There were messages in his holo caster from Gale, and he'd replied to some of them when he had reception in Striaton, Nacrene, and Accumula. Unova was far larger than he gave it credit for, or maybe it was because that mountain pass had stalled him, but the fact of the matter was that four weeks had passed.

He noticed that Omy had begun to move midway through route 1 and watched as the egg shook and wobbled. Riven immediately released his pokemon to watch the spectacle of new life with a sense of horror, fascination, and wonder. Removing the constraints of the incubator, the egg wobbled along the grass and soon enough, begun to crack.

The shell cracked as a tiny form of a Blitzle emerged, small enough to hold in his arms. It was covered in amniotic fluid and stretched its legs, not quite used to moving its body yet. Cries came from the baby Blitzle and when it opened its eyes, the first thing it saw was an Absol's face.

Riven felt strangely giddy and took a picture of it, sending it to Elesa and Gale with the heading: LOOK AT IT. They replied back quickly, with the gym leader expressing her utmost gratitude. Elesa gave him pointers on how to train it and how to act as a parent first.

Also, Omy was female. Made all the more hilarious was that once the Blitzle recognized the need for sustenance, viewed Haona as her mother and gave an… _experimental_ nip below. What followed was an embarrassing explanation from the Absol to the newborn Blitzle that she wasn't, in fact, her mother. Omy replied by way of confused whinnies.

Of course, that didn't stop the oddly quiet, but obedient pokemon from following Haona around everywhere. Incredibly curious too, since she prodded and whinnied at everything Riven did. Elesa had advised him not to introduce Omy to the pokeball until she was a little older, so as not to scare her.

He'd dallied around the route to give Omy a chance to stretch her legs and get used to the world a bit. She grew used to things quickly, but still didn't listen much to what Riven or the rest of the team told her. Riven tried using Baron to translate, but apparently psychics couldn't understand baby either.

And so the little Blitzle followed him to Professor Juniper's lab. After four weeks, a lot of walking, a hatched egg, and steadily dropping temperatures, he'd arrived in Nuvema.

Tranquil place, as expected of a small town, which reminded him of Littleroot, minus the waterfront being so close. The smell of seawater was in the air as he made his way through the quaint little town until he spotted the large pokemon lab in a more secluded part of the town. A large ranch was connected to the facility, and in the middle, feeding a bunch of pokemon gathered around her, was a woman dressed in a white lab coat.

Riven directed his gaze down to the tiny Blitzle. "Omy, should we head over to the fence, or wait? Your call."

Blue eyes warily caught sight of the Emboar spitting flames into the air and she cried softly.

"Bliii."

"Are you scared? They're not that scary. Just an overgrown fire type with more ego than brains."

The Blitzle pranced in place, nudging his pant leg.

"Blii-bli. Bliiiiiiiii."

She then got distracted by a pebble on the ground. He didn't quite understand what she was saying, nor did the rest of his team, but they all agreed it was baby for 'I-don't-like-that.'

Upon seeing Juniper return to her lab, Riven walked up to the front door and knocked. There was silence until he heard a woman's voice approaching the door.

"I shouldn't have any starters coming in today, maybe it's the mail-" She opened the door, green eyes blinking in confusion at the young hiker in front of her. A very, very small Blitzle apprehensively glared at her, a soft cry coming from it behind the trainer's leg.

Riven, on the other hand, was surprised to find such an… attractive looking professor. He expected an older woman, like Birch, Oak, and the others. Not… this. Her blouse was a little disheveled from the feeding, revealing a little more than it would have normally. She didn't seem to notice even when he really, really did.

"A trainer?" She asked blinking. "I don't get those much, not with their own pokemon and almost a full team!" Juniper pointed at the pokeballs along his belt. "And that Blitzle, my, it's so small! Is it a newborn?"

She bent down to coo at Omy and doing so made Riven lose his train of thought instantly. He was far too quiet for a few moments too long.

_Wait. Did she say something? Oh, right._

"Uhhhh, yeah. Just hatched over in route 1 and a friend of mine told me not to introduce her to the pokeball yet."

"Is that so?" Juniper smiled, holding a finger out so the fawn could inspect it. "That's good advice. Not many trainers know that and it drives breeders crazy!" She looked up at him with a tilt of the head. He tried not looking down her shirt, focusing on the lab instead. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Accent?" Riven guessed.

"Yes, it sounds… very strange, like a mix from different places. What region are you from?"

"Hoenn, but I got my license in Kalos," he said, scratching the back of his head and laughing innocently. "That might explain it, heh."

"Wow! You must be pretty traveled then. I know the Blitzle is native but what about the rest? Come inside! My assistant is in Aspertia giving some rookie trainers their starters, so it's just me for now. Are your pokemon Hoenn based or Kalosian? Mr…?"

"Nathan," he said, extending a hand.

"Hello, Nathan!" She smiled brightly, shaking it with earnest. Again, he thought that no pokemon professor should be this damn attractive, it made him feel very awkward. "I'm Dr. Aurea Juniper, expert in pokemon origins. What brings you to Nuvema all the way from Hoenn?"

"Actually, I was in Unova already but I got a question that's been bugging me for a while. Couldn't take it anymore so I came out here looking for you. Said you're the person to go to."

"Oh, really? Where were you staying? Nuvema is far from most of the main cities. I assume you arrived in Castelia?"

Riven glanced at a sketching of the anatomy of a Haxorus. He laughed again. "Well, I came here from Black City."

"Black City?" She repeated, surprised. "That's incredibly far for just a question. Quite driven! I like it! How long did it take you?"

"Four weeks? Give or take."

"What speed… Four weeks to pass through Nimbasa, Castelia, the desert and all the way around? Either you move incredibly fast or you flew."

"I climbed the mountain range," Riven said breathlessly. "Figured why not. Shortcuts are cool."

"You… climbed the Nacrene mountain range?" Juniper's mouth hung open. "Hostile Braviary and Bisharp make their nests in those forests and mountains. Not just run of the mill, either! They'll kill if provoked, I'm glad nothing happened to you but that's not advisable at all! Tell me you won't do that again?"

Riven twitched. He remembered the last time he tried fighting a Bisharp, who had beaten his ass pretty soundly until he cut into its eye. At least he had Aine now. And Boagrius if he was desperate. Catching a Bisharp would be awesome, but then he remembered that in the wild they tended to lead entire packs of Pawniard, which were pretty much small, bladed monstrosities. Wild Bisharp strong enough to lead a Pawniard pack also would absolutely not listen to any trainer under any circumstance. "Yes, ma'am."

"Trainers worry me these days," she said with a sigh, ruffling Omy's tiny mane and standing up. "Care to come outside and show me your pokemon? We don't get many Hoenn pokemon here, and I haven't traveled to the region in some time."

They went outside and Riven released Aine first, who immediately caught the attention of the others in the ranch. The Emboar in particular eyed her warily, snorting flame from its nostrils.

Juniper was then stroking Aine's feathers, making several observations of her features, even crouching to squeeze her leg muscles. Aine didn't mind, in fact, she seemed rather pleased.

The professor stepped back in wonder. "Wow, a Blaziken. You know, I never get tired of seeing them. Or Sceptiles. They're fascinating. Yours in particular seems to have excellent leg strength, and is in tip top form. How often do they train?"

Riven had to snort sardonically. "I don't think they know the definition of _stop_."

He released Baron, who blinked at the sudden change of location. Upon seeing the professor, he waved. _Hello_.

Juniper turned into a whirlwind of geek as she examined Baron, growing more excited as he flicked his blades. He shot Riven a sly grin, causing his trainer to shake his head.

Bloody show off.

"Now I can see why they don't stop training," Juniper remarked, examining Baron's muscular arms. "Having multiple fighting pokemon can test a trainer's patience, I'm surprised you can manage them."

"Well, I am _quite_ the special snowflake. Ain't that right, Baron?" Riven mused, which drew a mocking cough from the Gallade. "Want to see the rest?"

"Yes!"

He released Haona and Boagrius, to which Juniper responded with gushing. She thought Boagrius was adorable. If only she knew his voice could shatter windows. She was currently testing how squishy he was.

Riven kept Efrain in his pokeball for obvious reasons, keeping it inside his pocket rather than on his belt. That was one pokemon he definitely didn't like showing off. Emile wasn't his so he couldn't do that anyway. When the rest of Riven's team- sans Omy- went to interact with the pokemon in Juniper's ranch, she invited him inside again.

"Okay. So, what did you have in mind to ask me?"

Riven clenched his jaw, forming his thoughts. Omy remained motionless in his arms, eyeing the woman still.

He'd have to word it in a way that would make it seem like he was entirely clueless and just immensely curious. "Since you're the expert of pokemon origins, I just wanted to know about the origins of something."

"I see. About pokemon? Any specific pokemon or type? I've compiled a long list of recorded history and genealogies for multiple breeds and types if you're wondering. They've definitely served breeders in the past. I also have books if you want to look at those. Ask away!"

Dark brown looked straight into enthusiastic green.

"I want to know about the origins of humans."

* * *

Took four weeks to get out because I didn't like the original chapter I wrote and I was like 8k words in so that sucked.

I imagine Black City to be a mix between the Tron cityscape at night, and the city of Glass from Mirror's Edge during the daytime. Think of it as a cross between the two games, which have Black City in one version and White Forest in the other. This way it's still a city but fits the theme for both nonetheless.

Also, I like Tron. I really do. Fluorescent lights are great.

Also, in case you guys didn't notice, Omy is a reference to a certain web series about a boy named AJ who hears voices. Only mon indeed.


	68. Blindsided

Green eyes blinked repeatedly as the professor watched Riven like one would a Noctowl twisting its head.

"That, Nathan, is a very interesting and divisive question. I'm a little astonished that a trainer would ask that. They're usually not too interested in many scientific aspects, they just get their pokemon and go. Or should I say, sprint out. Science is the last thing they care about, you should see what happens when you ask them about physics! Their heads practically roll off!"

"Same," Riven shrugged as the woman laughed heartily. "I won't lie and say I care about all the science behind it, but I would like to know. Should the science get a little… complicated—can you simplify it for me? An introductory biology lesson had me wracking my brain for a few days."

"I see," she nodded understandingly. "First, however, I want to know how you became so interested in this topic? Did you see your pokemon perform amazing feats and wonder, 'why can't I do that?'Truthfully, I believe every trainer out there has thought the same thing, wishing we could fly or blast our opponents with torrents of pressurized water. Silly dreams but common among all trainers. Settling for being trainers is the most we can do."

Juniper appeared melancholic, remembering younger days as a little girl wishing for the same.

Riven deliberated for a few seconds too long, purposely making it seem like he was thinking seriously hard about the subject. Honestly, it did feel kind of a dickish thing to do, lying to a pokemon professor and all. Still, appearances were important.

"I guess… It's just, well, every creature on this earth- in the sea, land, and sky- is a pokemon and can do all these crazy things-you know? And then there's us. Humans just don't fit. We're not durable, we can't shoot lightning bolts, or fireballs. Pokemon are just as intelligent as us, so why are we so different? Why do we have buildings and societies and pokemon don't? Why are we so weak?"

Juniper took a long, steadying breath. "There's not really a simple answer to that. Professor Rowan, a colleague of mine in the Sinnoh region, studies the evolution of pokemon in particular and how they adapt to their environment. He's currently in Alola studying the pokemon there. Anyway, getting sidetracked—um, in simple to understand terms, his theory is that humans split off from a common pokemon ancestor in the past. A weak, simian normal type, and since we had no redeeming qualities, we had to band together in order to survive."

She raised a finger in the air, which Omy traced in the air as she wiggled it. She extended tiny hooves trying to reach it.

"Back in the primal era it was assumed that there were far stronger pokemon roaming around, and they were absolutely not friendly by any means. The only reason pokemon are known as unaggressive today are because routes are policed by rangers-and to a smaller extent, trainers- to drive away the stronger ones further inland,. The ones closer to the routes are generally docile or relatively harmless. That's also the reason why there are fewer stronger pokemon in the wild, as a result of trainers removing the competition for them to grow in experience. The ones you do see in the wild are thus extremely strong and are likely to be impossible to train. The influx of humans and trainers have pushed wild pokemon populations to be comprised of primary and secondary evolutions, with a few incredibly strong and aggressive outliers."

"Aberrants," Riven added darkly. "I've seen what those can do."

"Those are a different matter entirely. Those pokemon… they shouldn't be that strong. They're a dangerous field of study. A few researchers who dared have already lost their lives," Juniper said, swallowing. "Regardless, this was important in the development of primitive humans. With more abundant predators, humans had to turn to pack behavior and technology to survive."

"Humans had to be smarter, but in a different way," Riven concluded. "Pokemon are intelligent… but because they're strong enough to defend themselves on their own, they didn't quite have to rely on the same tactics then?"

"Yes, exactly!"

Juniper gave a large smile, happy a trainer could somewhat follow her after two sentences. Such an event was rarer than a legendary it seemed. She'd always thought that if a trainer willingly came to ask her about her work she'd have to check if judgement day had arrived.

That glance she gave outside to see if fire and brimstone was raining down wasn't noticeable at all.

Riven nodded. He knew this, obviously. Considering the Remnant army and its squads employed the same tactics, he could give some very proper credence to the theory. You couldn't kill an Arcanine yourself, you'd die. Fast. Even with a weapon and armor, it couldn't protect you from fire-infused fangs or smoldering flames. You had to work together or die a fiery and horribly painful death.

So, in a way, Rowan's theory and assumptions were correct.

"And what about the perks that came with being a pokemon?" Riven asked. "Normal types can use quick attack and stuff. Humans can't."

Brown eyebrows furrowed as Juniper rested an elbow on the countertop, tapping a finger on her lip. She excused herself and went over to a cabinet, pulling out a file from the cabinets.

Returning, she handed him a dense bundle of pages. He flipped through the pages, squinting at some of the language found within. It might as well have come from another galaxy. With a completely lost expression he gave it right back to her. The professor couldn't help but chuckle.

"Dr. Rowan's theory on how humans could have lost their pokemon like traits, and why our method of reproduction developed." Juniper shook her head and made a face at it. "Although _that_, still makes researchers and other scientists lose their minds. Many a friendship and scientific partnership has met its end when discussing this very topic. It's so divisive that just asking about it will get the room crazier than a room full of toddlers and baby pokemon. Except with grown adults who, for the most part, are _supposed_ to think rationally. I remember the last time I attended a debate, someone tried to sic their Charizard on another researcher. That led to an impromptu battle royale which the regional officials had to control."

"Did anything get destroyed?" Riven asked, interest piqued. Destruction was always an accurate assessment.

"Half the building, two marriages, and many, many egos," Juniper grinned wryly.

Riven snickered.

"And I thought discussions among trainers about who the best looking gym leader was bad. By the end of the discussion the route is unrecognizable and everyone hates each other. Half a building though? That's new."

"Unfortunately it's quite common. Old scientists get a little… antsy when their theories are questioned and take it as a personal offense. Human origins has become a bit of a dead Ponyta in the scientific pokemon research community," Juniper said with a defeated sigh. "Beating it just becomes an exercise in futility until we get more evidence suggesting otherwise. Right now we can just study pokemon and see whether that will uncover any more answers. Bisharp and the Pawniard colonies are a point of intrigue, if that interests you."

"What about them?" Just saying the name Bisharp seemed to cut him. Too many edges. Thinking about them having colonies made little shivers break out too. Colonies made up of little bundles of blades and death. And one big metal clad murdermon with armblades and little to no weakpoints as a leader. He wondered in what strange, demented corner of God's mind that seemed like a good idea.

"The way they form colonies and elect leaders shows that they're evolving human-like traits in the wild, even despite not having natural predators. They've begun to show more regimented movements and vastly intelligent techniques for dealing with predators. Even fire types steer clear of them."

Thinking about the red, black, and steel menaces thinking tactically was bad. Thinking about them forming their own societies and armies scared him in more ways than one.

"That's… that's terrifying," Riven managed, dazed. "I fought a Bisharp once. Without a type advantage. I'd say it went well, but that's a goddamn lie. I got my ass beat."

Juniper held in a giggle, no doubt having heard the same from many a lucky trainer who wandered into their nests and bit off more than they could chew.

"Yes, well, Pawniard colonies are threats that rangers absolutely implore that trainers stay far away from. Their metal coats prevent tranquilizers, so they all have to be fainted through battling. When a colony found its way into Opelucid, they all had to be fainted individually and relocated back into the wild. Some rangers and their pokemon still have the scars. Bisharp and Pawniard wounds can be horrible, the Pawniard are arguably more dangerous, preferring to stab rather than slash."

Riven almost laughed at himself. Dangerous? Try Scyther. Jagged blades did wonders for the skin. Helped…exfoliate—perfect for beautiful, impeccably scarred skin. Side effects may include severe bleeding and or death.

"Pawniards are nice and terrifying, but going back to the original discussion, say the ancestor wasn't a normal type and had a different typing… would that be possible? Would humans still be able to form societies even despite having the same capabilities as pokemon? Bisharp seem to be in the beginning stages, from what you say."

"I'm sure it's plausible. The normal type ancestor was just a guess, mainly because it was the most logical choice relative to how we are now. Should typings be involved in human evolution over hundreds of thousands of years… it wouldn't make too much sense that typings were somehow favored out. Losing something like that isn't beneficial to the organism at all. If humans had typings before, they would have them now. That's my assumption, anyway."

_You're not too far off._

"What could cause humans to split off from pokemon? Even with typings and whatever it is they have?"

"A mutation, most likely. Humans take genetic traits from the mother and father, resulting in a wide range of phenotypes. The DNA in humans compared to pokemon is highly unstable—in a simple manner of speaking. It's not really but you can elect to think it is if it makes the analogy easier. Our interchangeability is something pokemon don't experience. Pokemon change in size, strength, and shape according to breeds-with some stronger than others- but they hardly look different. If you cross a Dewott and a Simipour, you don't get a mix of the two. You get either an Oshawott, or a Panpour. What carries over is what moves they can learn, oddly enough. Human babies… anything goes. We believe mutations are a large part of why humans are the way they are. Eevees have a similar genetic makeup and experience rather odd mutations themselves, some even giving way to new evolutions. Most pokemon have clearly defined genetic structures, in contrast. Treeckos have been the same since ancient times."

"So if say, a dark type human and a… I don't know, steel type had a child—it could be anything? And you wouldn't be able to tell?"

"Going by human genetics… yes. The appearance of the child could be a mix between the parents, but the pokemon traits… those could go either way." A wave of the hand. "According to what we observed, anyway; it's hard to test a theory that can't really be tested. We take what we know and extrapolate the best we can."

That was interesting. Very interesting. Riven had wondered how that'd work, and applying it to his own world, that certainly seemed to be the case. Female prisoners of war were often bound and gagged so they wouldn't end their own lives to escape what followed. When they gave birth, no one knew whether the child was one or the other. It was a mixed breed, not pure. The social stigma that resulted was prevalent in a lot of the other clan cities and often led to the deaths of the newborn children. Not so much in his own due to a lack of people, but it was a big deal elsewhere. They also didn't really take POWs as a rule of thumb. Extra mouths to feed led to food shortages, which were plentiful compared to actual, _edible_ food.

So now that he thought about it, hiding as a dark type would have been useless. Someone would have figured out when fire didn't shoot out of their fingertips, regardless if they didn't know they were supposed to have dark type traits. His people were kept-no pun intended-in the dark; the rest of the world wasn't. Fighting really _was_ the only choice.

He swallowed, getting somewhat an idea of how the types in humans came about, and how the clans could have first formed. Loyalty to a clan, or a group dynamic formed pride. Pride that could poison the minds of those within the group, leading to mistrust and prejudice. Unova certainly showed those traits with how foreigners were treated. And Sinnohans just about everywhere else, particularly Sinnohan trainers.

Typings just gave people a tangible, biological reason to hate one another and put themselves above the others. Pokemon didn't experience it in the same way because they didn't really think like humans did. At best pokemon hunted each other or foraged for food, ignoring most species. The only exceptions were human trained pokemon, which exhibited the same values as humans more often than not, but weren't nearly as biased.

Most were adverse to killing as well. _Most_. Severe loyalty was a fatal flaw, evidently.

Omy squirmed in his grasp and he set her down, mulling over it a bit more before slouching in his chair.

"Something wrong, Nathan?" She asked, green eyes concerned. "You look troubled."

"Ah, no. Just thinking over what you said. Thank you."

She smiled again.

"Okay then, I'm always happy to answer any scientific questions trainers might have. Goodness knows we could use more field-trained scientists. You can't really get a feel for pokemon unless you were a trainer yourself." Juniper eyed him as he remained quiet. "Is that all the questions you have for me? I'd find it a little difficult to believe you came such a long way for just a conversation. Seems excessive."

He shrugged, chuckling to himself. "I get very determined when something bugs me. Or if I want something. The information you gave was insightful, so I'd say it was pretty worth it. But…"

"But…?" She echoed, raising a wry brow.

Riven hesitated, face turning a little pink from embarrassment. He pointed at the Blitzle, who was too busy inspecting a nearby chair, licking it with her tongue. "I hate to do this and I know it's a little intrusive… Uh, professor, I need a place to stay for a while until I can put Omy in her pokeball. She nearly wandered off several times on the route and training around her can be dangerous. Should I fall asleep and she runs off and gets eaten…" He whispered something about Elesa murdering him. "Let's just say that'd be bad. I'd rather err on the side of caution. Here in the lab it's a safer environment. I'll help around the lab if you want? At least until your assistant returns?"

He hoped that was a good enough deal. Really, this place didn't have a pokemon center but it was quiet and secluded. Riven had noticed the healing machine in the corner of the room, so he figured it'd be good for some training sessions with his pokemon. Since they'd begun to move so frequently as well as residing primarily in cities, his pokemon hadn't gotten enough training in. Rust would set in if they didn't.

What he wasn't sure about was if Juniper was okay with letting a stranger stay here. And a man at that.

His worries were for naught as the scientist jumped much too eagerly at the offer. "That's wonderful! I need someone to help me feed the other pokemon, and they're often rowdy so I can't give them exercise myself. I have a lot of work to do so having help would cut down on my duties to let me focus. As you can see," she gestured down to her shirt, and with that, two large beautiful things, "my clothes get pretty dirty and singed. You can have the room my assistant is using for now. It might smell like girl, though I'm sure you don't mind."

"Girl is good. Smelling like vanilla is much better than route sweat."

Juniper smiled in understanding, scrunching her nose a little. "Oh, I know. You might want to use the shower right now, actually."

He sniffed himself and agreed.

"Heh, guess I do." With a polite bow of the head, Riven excused himself, taking Omy with him to get the stink off him. "Thank you."

"No problem! Get some rest!"

He set his things down in the room, which was personalized… well like a girl's. Rather than pay it any mind, he took out the extra pair of sweatpants and shirt that he'd packed and made his way to the restroom.

Now freshly out of the shower, Riven left Gale a message.

_Staying at professor's for a few weeks. Going to get some dedicated training time so you don't call me a slacker. Omy needs to grow a bit before I put her in a pokeball. Can't assign training from deepest pits of hell yet. How's training? Don't kill Will. Cut off leg if being annoying. Take care. Update if things go to shit, thanks. _

Setting the holo caster down, his gaze met Omy's, the little Blitzle being far too focused on him. She stood motionless at the bottom of the bed, looking up at him. They had a good minute long staring contest until she cried, he caved like a house of cards, and placed her on the bed. She took a moment to feel the softness, let out a snort, and decided that the floor was more comfortable.

He threw up his hands as she resumed staring at him.

"I don't get babies," Riven muttered as he felt baby Blitzle eyes dig into his back as he laid down.

And would you look at that, the bed did smell like vanilla.

* * *

The following morning he made sure to wake up early and see what Juniper had him do. She was still dressed in sleepwear and had dark circles under her eyes from working all night, but she generously showed him around and what to feed the pokemon.

Apparently the Emboar was a certain trainer's, though she wouldn't say who. Her Cinccino also made its appearance as it clambered out of the professor's room, rubbing sleep out of its eyes. Omy declared the fuzzy pokemon worthy of inspection.

After pokemon feeding-which also paid off because he could feed his team too-he headed to the center of the ranch, still under the watchful eye of the Emboar. Riven could tell it was very strong, and had a lot of battle experience under its belt, judging from the way it analyzed him and his pokemon. Too strong, in fact. He wondered whose it was.

He released everyone except Efrain, looking them over with a sadistic grin on his face.

Haona's face dipped as she saw Riven's far too toothy smile and tried to bolt. Baron instantly caught her, hauling her back in line.

"_When we suffer, you suffer too,"_ the Gallade joyously mentioned. The Absol spat back at him, kicking his leg with a paw.

"_AGREED!"_ Boagrius added obnoxiously, his voice carrying over the field. _"WHAT SHALL BE THE TRAINING HENCEFORTH, TRAINER HUMAN, SO THAT WE MAY CRUSH OUR FOES AND DANCE ON THEIR CORPSES!"_

"_But you don't have legs,"_ Aine pointed out playfully, poking his squishy body with a claw. This didn't deter the cloud of energy as his boisterous grin only widened.

"_IT'S A MANNER OF SPEAKING, MI'LADY! NOW THEN! THE TRAINING, YES?"_

Riven raised an amused brow as they turned to face him expectantly. Within the next hour, he had them running drills around the complex and sparring each other. Unfortunately, his team wasn't built for defense, and thus couldn't wall anything if they tried. He'd accepted that a while ago, and with the addition of Omy in his future team, that reinforced the notion that he shouldn't build up their resistance and toughness. Getting used to hits wouldn't matter if they were squishy anyway.

Speed and strength would matter more in the long run, as well as the ability to think on the fly. And so offense became the center point of his training. Baron and Aine were generally good on that front from all the sparring they did while he was gone, but those were one on one fights, and more training never hurt.

Now that he was here and it was more likely that they'd be fighting in multi-enemy combat conditions, he had to get them used to being attacked from different angles. Being fighters and bipedal, Aine and Baron were well suited to the type of reflexes training he had in mind, so the focus was on Haona primarily.

Ordering Aine to shoot fire at her while Baron assaulted her up close, with Boagrius shooting weather balls and powder snows, he saw that a lot of Haona's moves required both space and momentum. Ice beam was the exception, and she had a bit of trouble hitting a fast moving target like Baron. Should there be a fast opponent that could pressure her at close range, like a Weavile, then Haona would have a largely difficult time recovering, let alone counteracting. Megahorn helped, but it was in the same vein as night slash, and required the use of her horn, which was limited by the rotation of her head. Maybe he could teach her iron tail to turn her tail into a weapon, while also covering Haona's and his own glaring weakness: fairies.

There also weren't really any dragonslayers on his team, nor did he think electricity would do anything against a dragon, so Omy was out. Haona was his best shot, and if she couldn't land her ice beams before tiring herself out, that'd put his entire team in jeopardy. Riven knew Gallades were capable of learning ice punch, though he had zero idea of how to teach Baron that. Last time he checked, ice punch wasn't a TM move. Maybe if Isole was here he'd think about it, had there not been a communications blackout with the other regions. Learning a new technique like that was also time consuming, and time was something he didn't have.

After reflexes training, he had Boagrius and Haona try and hit Baron as he teleported through the air, making himself as hard to hit as possible to work on their aim.

It was much like using a bow really, only beams didn't listen to gravity at the cost of giving up speed. He also tried to see if his theory could work with the Absol. Instead of using night slash in the way it was typically used, he tried to get Haona to manifest a blade of dark energy rather than cut with a momentary flash of it. His own experience with it helped pretty greatly, because he could directly explain the way the energy flowed through his own body, and what it took to visualize it.

Darkness was tricky to work with because it was like turning the intangible into something solid, and required less coaxing and more… imagination. There was a shape you wanted, and you kind of had to will it there with your mind, otherwise it'd slip away and dissolve. There wasn't any resistance, rather, the energy itself seemed to want to run away. The concept was similar to what Efrain had described of using sacred sword, only… different. The difference was hard to explain, but it made the two moves completely opposed in how they were able to be formed and used.

Haona seemed to grasp the general gist, showing difficulty with it since she fought primarily at an instinctual level compared to his fighters, who he'd trained to fight intelligently. Riven figured it'd get better in time.

When it came time to train Baron and Aine, he released Emile and gave the Pidgeot the permission to beat on them and use whatever cheap tactic he could think of. What followed was a very frustrated Gallade and Blaziken. Emile was a much older pokemon, and even if he hadn't had as much experience as the other two, he was a crafty one.

The bird played it just like a bird with the advantage should have, faking out aerial aces and approaches while blowing them back with gusts and slicing skin with air slash, rendering their fighting type attacks useless. Riven knew that birds presented a problem in his current line-up, and even with Efrain, dealing with them was tricky and beyond annoying. His selection of long range, super effective moves bar ice beam were slim to none. Omy would fix that, he hoped, but she was still far too young. From what he last checked, the Blitzle evolutionary line was stronger with physical attacks, but its special attack wasn't too far behind. That was good.

Baron still knew thunderbolt, which was a plus, but his usage of it was… well, abysmal. While it wasn't strong, it was strong enough to cause blinding pain(he tested it on himself), which gave Riven ideas. Instead of using it as an offensive move, he could use it as a short to medium range stall so Aine or Haona could move in quickly and clean up. At close range, Baron channeled the electricity around his fists for a brief moment before contact, producing a clap of electricity that exploded outward and allowed him to follow up on the opponent. In essence, a walking stun gun. Pretty useful.

Aine, on the other hand, needed to learn how to use her flames to zone effectively and cut off the enemy's chances of escape. Flaming punches and kicks were devastating but useless if she couldn't approach safely. She didn't even really have to use very strong flames, either.

Unless it was a rock type, walking into open flames was generally a bad idea for obvious reasons. Burns hurt, a lot. Water types tended to require being hydrated externally as well, and hot flames evaporated the water on their skin pretty effectively. Fire's effect was diminished on them, but the point was that they still had _skin_, meaning they were vulnerable. Heat also pressured the opponent and kept them uncomfortable. Battle wasn't just about who was stronger-a fact he proved when he managed to kill that Pangoro and defeated Efrain- but also about who could outsmart the other.

A brute could win a one versus one battle of straight confrontation. Riven didn't train his pokemon to do that, he trained his pokemon to turn that single battle into a three versus one dirt stomp that used whatever means to win.

Which was why when it came to his practice with Baron and Aine, he grabbed a fistful of kicked up dirt and lobbed it into Baron's face as he ducked under a flaming kick, spinning low to sweep the Gallade's legs out from under him with a quick attack enhanced kick. Aine even chastised him for not expecting it.

With a grunt, the Gallade flipped to his feet, a little irritated.

"I see you're training hard," Juniper said to Riven, who wiped the sweat off his forehead with a rag. Night had fallen already and the stars had emerged above the quiet little town. "You run your pokemon pretty ragged, I watched some of the training you did. Brutal close combat, and a little dirty. It's a little unorthodox for battling, though. Are you a double or triple battler?"

"I'm a whatever-happens-I'm-ready kind of battler," Riven responded with a friendly smile. "Can't always expect one on one battles, especially if you get jumped. So I prepare my pokemon for anything. If 1v1 is all they know, getting ganged up on would mean a swift defeat or hell, even death if it's that bad."

"Seems a little too specific, but I see your point. I was also surprised you actually _fight_ your pokemon, that's nuts!"

"They hold back their punches," Riven explained instantly. "First few times were rough though."

"I'm sure they were," she laughed, greeting Omy as the filly pranced over to her and rubbed her mane on the professor's leg. The woman gave a sharp yelp as she was shocked momentarily. "Ah, her mane is starting to collect electricity. That's a good sign! Was she exposed to any during your training?"

Riven shot a dirty look at Baron. "Did you shock her?"

The Gallade put up his hands defensively. "Gall!"

"Right. I mean she is small enough to dismiss when training…" Riven's eyes began to dance. "Wait… Hey Baron, use thunderbolt on her. Weak one. Well, weaker than usual anyway."

The psychic punched him on his way over but listened regardless, summoning a fair bit of electricity with a finger. Omy didn't back away from the display, mesmerized instead. The lightning bolt absorbed into her mane and her tiny body flashed momentarily as a white light enveloped her legs.

The baby Blitzle gave an excited whinny and darted away into the forest like a pint sized bolt of lightning, leaving tiny little sparks in her way. The grass then caught fire in a straight line as she entered the tree line, rapidly spreading.

"_Shit_," Riven summarized accurately.

"Oh," Juniper remarked. "I swore she had lightning rod. Looks like she has motor drive instead. I'll go get a water pokemon, go find her!"

With a grumbled sigh, Riven went after the resident baby of the team.

He found the Blitzle scared out of her mind in the darkness of the forest, giving terrified whines as she wandered through. Her distressing naturally gave Riven a pretty good idea of where to find her, so he told the others to split off and search the area around the crying in case something popped out and wanted to turn Omy into a snack.

A little while later, Haona called out to the others with Omy in tow, having her follow behind, her head hung low. If Haona could carry her by the scruff of the neck, she would be. Riven kneeled down, having Aine give them some light, and stroked the growing mane of the Blitzle.

"Hey you. Elesa entrusted her dad's offspring to me. Should you get eaten she's going to have my ass, you know. Don't run off so suddenly like that, alright?" He kept his voice low and friendly, so she wouldn't think he was scolding her too hard. "We all make mistakes and you're young, so learn that the forest is a pretty scary place if you're young and foolish. I have plenty of experience, heh."

Omy didn't quite understand, but she let out a random spark. Good enough, he supposed.

When he got back, he checked his holo caster to see if Gale had replied.

_Omy? Pffft I see your taste in names is getting worse. _

He scoffed. Omy was a great name.

_Will set me on fire today. I blew him off a building and had to use Kyne to save him. Hes making my blood pressure go up by the day._

Riven almost choked on his spit, fumbling with the keys.

_What the hell is he doing to you?_

Twenty minutes went by and the caster buzzed as he was getting ready to go to bed.

_Hes CRAZY. I miss your training cause I just hate you for a while. Will makes me fear for my LIFE. I crushed a table today though! Btw(means by the way), people are getting suspicious of the trade block and telecommunications to other regions. Lots of complaints. UFOs worried._

Yeah, that wasn't surprising. He had a feeling people would start noticing that they couldn't export anything, and with the docks shutting down, no ferries were going out or in. In fact, he imagined the pokemon smuggling trade unique to Unova was losing its collective shit right about now. That hardly boded well for the authorities and could cause complications down the line.

Regardless, it wasn't his problem right now.

_Alright. Keep your training up to get those wind powers up to speed. Dont slack with your other pokemon or theyll fall behind. Btw(did I use it right?) Emile is being a cock._

He raised a brow when she responded with something that looked like a face.

"The fuck...?"

* * *

For the next two weeks he continued training with his pokemon, working on their cohesion as a unit and how to use their moves more tactically in a battle. In truth, he was training them exactly like a dark type would fight. Call it pidgey-holing but it was effective. A distraction could prove just as useful as a solid hit. Fighting fair was for idiots.

Omy grew rather fast in two weeks, growing to nearly two feet in stature. The growth was damn surprising, and when he asked Juniper about it, she immediately took Omy to the lab. She spent nearly a day in there, coming out at night to show him the result with an incredibly happy smile on her face. Naturally, he was lost.

The Blitzle had gotten pokerus, a beneficial and symbiotic virus that infected pokemon and allowed them to grow twice as fast as they would normally. Juniper guessed she picked it up from her little expedition into the forest, and told him that exposing it to his other pokemon could help them grow faster as well.

They were a little skeptical about it though. Haona deemed it gross, and Baron rejected the offer immediately. Aine didn't mind, and Boagrius expressed an ear rupturing desire to become one with his tiny friends. In a few days, the two had come down with the virus too, and Omy's had since disappeared. Riven tried getting Efrain to partake in the accelerated growth, but apparently being half dead and made of metal didn't work well for viruses that needed living, non metallic hosts. Bummer.

Pokerus was awesome. Aine completely surged in training, her punches getting considerably stronger and faster compared to Baron's. Boagrius' attacks also increased in intensity, particularly his weather ball, although it didn't help his aim much. Omy had since then begun to form words and started to understand basic commands. Riven took her to the route outside Nuvema and had her beat some Watchogs into the dirt. He kind of cheated by having Baron boost her speed with thunderbolt, partly to get her used to teamwork and the speed that motor drive provided.

Soon enough she was dancing around the rodents fast enough to make their eyes spin before she careened into them like a cannon.

He kind of wished that thunderbolt TM was still around when Omy finally learned how to channel the electricity inside her and charge it on her mane, causing it to glow and flash brightly. Riven was even further pleased when Omy learned one of the most bullshit status effect moves known to the training world: thunder wave.

Many a trainer had expressed their desire to see the world eradicated of that blasted move.

Not only did it provide Omy with a way of weakening her opponent to make the fight easier—the move was also a _godsend_ when hunting. All he had to do was teach Omy how to aim it, and then the poor pokemon flopped to the floor waiting for death.

Laziness was the mother of innovation, after all. Electric types were so unfair.

Juniper's assistant had also returned from her trip. She was a blonde girl with green eyes, a dopey expression and glasses. She wore a green hat on her head and a baggy orange jacket for the cold temperatures that had begun to settle over the region. Her name was Bianca.

Their first meeting went about as well as a match coming into contact with an open fuel canister. She went milk white as she saw him lounging around in her room with three menacing looking pokemon and a cute cloud, then immediately drew conclusions. Riven began to sweat as she looked down at his hands and saw him sharpening knives. On her bed. His natural scowl didn't help anything.

God damn it, Juniper probably forgot to tell her. That woman's head was in the clouds often, as expected of a scientist.

Bianca then screamed and summoned a large green snake that held its head high, regal red eyes staring down Riven's team with a soul piercing glare—a Serperior. The second pokeball flew out and a familiar blue simian emerged, which immediately stood in front of the girl and began to hiss. "Serperior, Simipour! A-attack! Hydro pump! Leaf Storm!"

"Hey, girl! Wai-"

Razor sharp leaves in the form of scales came off the Serperior's body, and with a whirl, began to swirl in the air, shredding paint off the walls and slicing into drawers. The Simipour's hydro pump rocketed forward with a boom, punching an enormous hole into the wall as Aine and Haona dodged, destroying the window and several trees as the attack kept going.

Baron formed a protective barrier against the leaf storm, breaking it to intercept the following leaf blade from the Serperior's tail with a psycho cut. Aine kicked outward with a fire wreathed foot, slamming it into the grass type's side, driving the Serperior back to Bianca's side with a pained hiss. She didn't press the attack, wary of the Simipour.

The girl wasn't stupid, because she ordered her pokemon to follow her back into the lab, where the area was less packed and Riven's fighters would have less of an advantage. However, that was with the assumption that he was here to kill her. Instead, Riven waited patiently as he heard high pitched yelling and hyperventilation coming from the lab, no doubt where Bianca was freaking out in front of Juniper.

He had his pokemon form a veritable wall in case she returned and tried to hydro pump them again. Brown and blonde poked out into the doorframe as Juniper and Bianca made eye contact with him. With a cautious wave, he invited them in.

Once inside, Bianca turned beet red. "Oh my god! I'm-I'm sooo sorry! I just thought that- I thought you and your pokemon- you, like, looked so dangerous and I… I'm really sorry please no hard feelings? And gosh why do you have so many knives!?"

Riven looked at Juniper, who just shrugged.

"It pays to be prepared?" He slowly got up in the half destroyed room and told his pokemon to relax. The shield wall came down and they seemed to breathe the same sigh of relief as their trainer. "I thought I was jumpy, name is Nathan. I'd say sorry for surprising you, but I _expected_ you to be _informed_ that I was staying in your room when you arrived. I'm sure _no one_ totally forgot about that."

He shot a glare at Juniper, who looked far too pleased with the outcome. Joke was on her, she'd have to pay for the damn repairs.

Bianca clumsily came up to him and shook his hand with a little apprehension. "I'm Bianca, Professor Juniper's lead assistant." She frowned at the damage. "Aww, I destroyed my own room. That's a total bummer…"

Riven turned around to see the extent of the damage and the numerous amount of scales that were now permanent decorations in the wall. "I'd say it suits the place perfectly."

"D-don't make fun of me!"

"Well, I don't know, you did attack me…"

The blonde girl deflated like a balloon and apologized furiously to him again and his team, hanging her head in shame. "Can I have my bed back? I need to put my stuff back… That's ok, right? I mean if it isn't too much trouble I can just go somewhere else-"

He stopped her before she began apologizing again.

"No, that's alright. It was your room anyway. Although I don't think it'd be wise to sleep in a room with a giant hole in it."

"Uh, yeah! That's true. I really messed up, didn't I?"

"Don't worry about it too much," Juniper dismissed, waving her hand. "Simple mistake. Nathan has an effect on people. He might like knives a little too much but he's a nice boy that trains his pokemon very hard. He's helped a lot since you were gone, Bianca."

"Oh, really? That's totally awesome! Thanks!"

Riven gave her a polite smile. "No problem. Working around the ranch is pretty cool in and of itself. It's quiet out here too, I can see why people like it."

Bianca gave a wide grin, her embarrassment disappearing.

The professor tapped her on the shoulder and nodded once, motioning for them to follow her. Juniper moved them to another guest room. The interior was fairly barren, but at least it didn't have a hole in it. There were two beds across from another, with two dressers on the side for their clothes.

"I know you want your room back, Bianca, but Nathan's right. That room will be vacated until repairs are done. So here's the guest room. I hope you two don't have an issue sharing a room," Juniper said, raising a finger sternly. "You're both trainers, correct? Please don't break anything else."

Riven and Bianca nodded as they set their belongings down. Juniper's face softened as she turned to the younger girl, curious. "So, how did it go in Aspertia?"

"I saw Cheren again!" Bianca said cheerily. "He said some of the trainers at the school look promising, and the ones I gave their starters to are all from there! Isn't that cool?"

"And how is Cheren doing? He did say that being a gym leader is stressful. How's he now?"

Bianca went a little quiet. "Well, he said some weird things have been going on lately. He also said that Elesa hasn't been doing well, so he was concerned about that. Oh! Aspertia had more security and UFOs too. Maybe something is happening?"

"Team Plasma?" Juniper guessed.

Riven was very, very quiet. So they had no idea either, huh? Given they were in Nuvema town, as far removed from conflict as possible, he did expect a pokemon professor to be kept up to date with things. He listened further, seeing if he could learn anything else.

"Cheren is doing great though. He's excited for the Unova Challenger Rush in a month so he can finally test his old team again. It's going to be back in Nimbasa this time, but I hear that there was an accident there, so they might change it somewhere else. Elesa also doesn't seem to want to host it this time, I wonder why. That's odd of her, she's usually really up for that kind of stuff."

_Her childhood companion and strongest pokemon just got murdered_, Riven recalled to himself. _Being a celebrity and keeping up appearances is hard when you're trying to grieve. _She deserved peace to accept the loss and work through the pain, she really did, but for the sake of the region, she had to pretend like everything was fine. He saw her when he left Nimbasa, even through the smiles and the cool behavior, she was a wreck.

Burgh realized it too.

And no one else knew, constantly asking her if something was wrong, reminding her every day that her friend had died and no one cared. A spark of anger flared inside of him, though it was quickly snuffed out. There wasn't anything he could do about that. And it wasn't Juniper or Bianca's fault for not knowing. He listened to the two talk for a while, their voices lulling him to sleep as a whole day of training took its toll on him.

Four days later, Riven was directing his pokemons' usual training when Bianca came running out to him, frantic.

"Nathan! You need to see this! Someone's hijacked the news!"

Riven exchanged panicked looks with his team, returned his pokemon, and quickly followed the girl into the lab. When he entered, the television screen overhead was turned onto the Unovan News, with Juniper and Bianca glued to the screen. The blonde girl was biting her lip, while the professor's green eyes were hoping that this was a prank.

It wasn't.

A black-haired woman was seen on the podium, taking a resolving breath to collect her thoughts, dressed in formal attire. On her jacket she wore a lapel pin, on it the symbol of a team that not only sent Riven's stomach into the floor, but struck Bianca and the professor as well.

Plasma.

Riven immediately thought it was the Sayre followers, as they had impersonated the Plasmas before, and it very well could have been. There was no way to know yet. Hard, but scared brown eyes peered into the camera while the woman prepared herself.

"Hello, people of Unova. Trainers and non-trainers. My name is Sabine Fullon, I was the second in command of the non-violent Team Plasma Coalition. And seven weeks ago, an event took place which tarnished our very name and identity. Many of you have been wondering what has been occurring with the increased security in cities, and many cannot seem to remember."

Oh god. God no. They didn't. The UFOs couldn't have let her speak, they should have been monitoring her and the rest of the Plasmas. How was this happening? If this got out…

He dialed Allen's number frantically, eyes still glued to the screen.

"Seven weeks ago, during Elesa's tour in Nimbasa, murderers wore our uniform to commit deplorable acts, one of which was the murder of Elesa's lead Zebstrika, Lancer."

Bianca gasped, her friend Cheren's words now sinking in. Juniper made the connection a second later, her eyes widening when she looked at the girl in horrified realization. She mouthed something, unsure whether to comfort the girl or sit back.

Riven's jaw clenched. They were too engrossed to notice him calling.

"They framed us, and our leader betrayed our cause for petty scraps of paper and personal gain. I am here to tell you that not everything as it seems. Nimbasa was attacked by foreign terrorists and trainers! Dozens died. And do you guess what the UFOs did? What the authorities did?"

The holo caster rang, Riven desperately hoping Allen answered. Allen picked up, his voice distressed. "Prime? We are in up to our knees right now, what do you-"

"Look at the fucking television, Allen," Riven hissed lowly. "She shouldn't even know what happened! Did your people do this?"

"We're trying to find that out right now! Yates is fucking furious. She wasn't supposed to talk, this was supposed to be confidential, trust me. God damn it… someone must have talked. Everyone's scrambling, if I get an update I'll warn you. Wait… I can't talk now, they got a location on Sabine. Don't do anything reckless, please."

There were orders being given as the line went dead. Reckless? He was in Nuvema, with no way to get anywhere quick enough; he couldn't do _anything_.

"Shit," Riven whispered under his breath. Sabine continued to speak, clearing her throat.

"The UFOs hired a killer no better than the murderers who attacked Nimbasa to take care of the mess they didn't have the power to stop or prevent. What you're about to see is the kind of person that the authorities have placed their trust in. They _cannot_ protect you."

His heart skipped a beat.

The image went black, and seconds later, another replaced it. Riven could see himself in the plaza, moments after the Plasma impersonators had killed Elesa's security team. Blood splashed and blades rent flesh as he saw his masked self tear through them, cutting them down with a chillingly casual stride. He didn't bother to spare the ones crying in agony either, swiftly ending their lives. At the time, he'd made it look like he was bored to unnerve the others around him, but here and now, the footage just painted him exactly like Sabine was accusing him—a cold blooded killer. He would have disabled the cameras, but Elesa's life hung in the balance and he had to make a choice. Even now he didn't regret that choice.

However, the video was taken completely out of context, and they didn't even bother to show what happened before or after, when everything descended into chaos.

_Why? And where did they get the footage? The UFOs confiscated all the tapes._

Miles away, Gale and Will went white as they realized who they saw, the characteristic red blades giving Riven away. They weren't horrified by the sight, they were horrified by what it _meant_. They knew what had transpired that day and just how badly everything had gone, all of which paled in comparison to what would follow if this took.

Sabine came back to the screen. "And so you see, a mercenary who holds no regard for human life. He didn't even flinch as he tore a man in half! You cannot trust this man, this… _thing_. He must be brought to justice along with these terrorists. Remember this man and his Doublade, should you find him, bring him to justice, whatever way you can."

Riven's fist went white from the pressure he was closing it with.

"To people watching in Nimbasa, don't you wonder why your memory is hazy? Why you can't focus when you think about that time seven weeks ago? I have remained silent at the behest of the poor excuses for authority we have. But no longer. Our team is done being the pacifists we once were, and needs new leadership. Just like the authorities of this region! They illegally used mass amnesia on all of you, to sweep the events of this under the rug to not incite panic! Are we to believe that a gym leader was almost murdered and no one realized it? Instead of addressing the people they chose to cover it up and make it appear as if nothing happened! Wake up! Even now, you cannot contact your loved ones in other regions, trade is barred! Try it now, and you'll see!"

True to word, Juniper took out a phone, finding the call going to voicemail as she tried to call an associate outside of the region. She stared at the device as it played, her hands shaking. "The call… it-it isn't going through."

"Unova is alone!" Sabine's voice boomed, with it bringing a wave of dread. Then her voice dropped low and foreboding. "A new threat has arrived. A threat the world hasn't gotten yet rid of. We warned you all of the dangers of training. And now it's begun again. Humans misuse the gifts of pokemon, and now the Sayre followers have returned. I implore you, people of Unova, to take caution and remove your trust in the government, for they have failed you. Those years ago in Sinnoh, while gym leaders died and trainers were slaughtered, the government and the officials did nothing. Will you let them do the same this time, and watch this region go down in flames?"

Loud banging was heard as Sabine closed her eyes, wincing with each bang. Pistol shots cracked and booms that sounded distinctively like those of a hyper beam went off. A nearby door was heard getting smashed in, and suddenly three UFO agents apprehended her, the recording still running. There were agonized yells. An operative reached with a gloved hand and shut the recording off.

The laboratory was dead silent as Juniper and Bianca stood in place, shocked. They didn't even notice Riven leave.

Riven rushed back to his room, packing his things in as much of a hurry as he could. Silent fury rushed through him as an urge to find Sabine and drive a blade into her neck intensified by the second. He snarled as he left through the hole in Bianca's room, releasing Emile. With a beat of the wings, he was off.

Upon reaching the skies, Riven unleashed a rage filled scream, his fury drowned out by rushing winds. Removing the Diancie stone necklace from his neck, a kaleidoscope of colors appeared as negativity surged below. In just a manner of minutes, fear overtook an entire region.

Damn it. _Damn it all_.

* * *

**Think about the implications of this and what happens when questionable decisions come to light. Try it, it's fun. Thought about it? Are you scared yet?**

**Mood whiplash is a fine thing.**


End file.
